Hello. On yet another pass. 4hrs woohoo...

This past week was easy. Sat around Monday training on the M240B, 249, AT4 and land nav while we sat out the hurricane rain. They also tricked a bunch of us including my 18x buddy and some guys with RIP contracts. They called a formation and told us our contracts were gone and we were needs of the Army headed for a nice 18month tour in Korea. I was in shock. Some guys even started to cry. It was pretty bad lol. I was like well at least I'll have more training and then I could come back and pick a new duty station but I probably couldn't get Aiborne and would have to wait for any Ranger or SF stuff. It turned out to be that we had gave more then $5.00/month for the Army charity donation deal so the Command Seargent Major thought we were being pressured to donate more. So anyhow it was all cleared up and no one is going to Korea who had other contracts.  

Hmm we marched 10.8miles Tuesday morning at 3am. We did some squad training which is pretty lame considering we sit around for a few hrs. You get maybe about 10mins of actually running through the training then its more sitting around and doing concurrent training. Thursday I skipped Breaking Contact and Near Ambush to help setup for the USO Army Concert they held Saturday night. I got picked cause i'm squared-away . The show was fun. There were a few hot Army chicks performing and we pigged out on junk food.  Thursday and Friday is MOUT training. During our FTX the drill SGTS are going to play OPFOR and we get to attack the MOUT site and get our asses kicked.  

We have 2 1/2 weeks of training and a week of gear cleaning and sitting around till OSUT is done. Then its straight to Airborne though I should get the weekend off before the school starts.  I'll check in next weekend.

later

If you were at Ft Sam right now....




You would be getting laid!

AHHHHH.  A little over 2 weeks left. We did two days of MOUT at the awesome Malone Mout training area... It was so realistic, not..... We did some short range marksmenship drills, squaring our bodies and engaging targets. Learned how to enter a room in a fire team, how to deal with stair wells, entering 2nd story windows from the ground and moving across open area towards the target.  It was ok but nothing to wild. They are limited in what they are allowed to teach us.  

I'm sick due to the wonders of living with 52 other guys in one room. Luckily about 48 of us were able to rack out for about 3 hrs yesterday and not get caught by the duty drill sgt.

Wednesday we leave for our FTX. I'm carrying one of the six 249's. We divided into 6 squads with 7-9guys. We have 2 240B's as well for the Support By Fire Squad. I know the first few days we kind of prep our patrol bases, dig hasty's and some reinforced fighting positions. Saturday we are assaulting the Mout sight as a company. It will probably be a big cluster fuck  This FTX is supposed to be all new stuff so it should be good but I don't think the drill sgt's really know whats going on.  I think alot of you guys would be dissapointed with the training we get here. They definetely need more drill sgts to provide more training. There is often way too much time spefnt on concurent training like employing the claymore, or taking apart the 249 and 240.  Alot of it is looking busy incase the CO or Batt. Cmdr. decide to show up and see whats going on.  Coming back we are doing a 11mile foot march through the night and we are done.  Just a matter of cleaning gear and then hopefully getting a pass that last sunday and wait till Thursday for family day.  

I wish I was at home. There are too many stupid immature kids here. Last night we had guys running around naked hitting each oterh with towels, tanker rolls and whatever else they could find. Guys even pee on each other in the shower. Its good knowing that the future infantry soldiers of the US Army can act in a mature manner

Lastily, I had the chance to take RIP contract and go Ranger. As it is right now I just want a break from here for a little bit. I'm not feeling overly confident in my abilities to suceed with the SF training. Partially because I don't know what to expect besides the fact that it will be very challenging.    A@#$$@%

Take Care

Kevin

Hang in there Kev...


You think they are mature now...just wait until you see what the rangers act like.

( In otherwords dont be scared of a RIP/SF contract right now, and dont worry about your soldier skills, they are fresh, you may not be honed, but the skills are still pretty sharp, You just dont know it yet!)


what you are going through sounds very normal, and I guarantee that the turds will wash out/or ETS out sooner or later. The FTX at the end is always a cluster and they have been telling new troops that they will be " The First" since christ was a private.

Outstanding job on the 3 hr rack out, and not getting caught by the Duty Drill! Those skill's will help you in E&E


OH- And if you were at Ft. Sam right now...You would be getting laid!