Short Greetings from Fort Sill, OK.
I've been at Fort Sill for a week now, and I'll be here for 6 more. This update will be brief, as my roommate is just about ready to leave, and then I'll lose my wireless access. I have none in my dorm room, where I have 2 roommates. At least I have loads of free A/C.
This past week was hours upon hours of mandatory briefings, inprocessing, shots, extreme heat, rain, extremely hot rain, mosquitos, west nile virus, broken shortly by the reprieve 4th of July gave us. Unfortunately, that day off meant a huge wrench thrown in our cadre's plans, particularly because while we had one day off doctors, optometrists, ID card makers, and the like had up to 2 days off and many had shortened hours all week. (cadre is military speak for instructors).
We generally get up and start working at about 5 or a bit earlier in the morning. We're released most days by 6 pm, though sometimes we work later than that.
I've been doing a lot of reading, and I hope to visit Geronimo's tomb sometime soon, since he's buried on this post.
Next week we will have classes and mandatory briefings each morning and about 4 hours of combatives, mostly Brazilian Jujitsu each afternoon all week.
The week after that I will get more rifle marksmanship training than I have ever and will ever receive again in my career. We're no longer qualifying on iron sights, swithching to red dot sights instead. We'll be doing normal day qualifying, night fire with nightvision goggles and laser illuminators, close quarters shooting, urban shooting, and shooting at people from a moving vehicle, such as in, say, a convoy getting blown the fuck up in Iraq. I like to call that driveby training.
In any case, I'll probably update later tonight or, more likely, tomorrow. I'm sure you'll all hold your breath.
This past week was hours upon hours of mandatory briefings, inprocessing, shots, extreme heat, rain, extremely hot rain, mosquitos, west nile virus, broken shortly by the reprieve 4th of July gave us. Unfortunately, that day off meant a huge wrench thrown in our cadre's plans, particularly because while we had one day off doctors, optometrists, ID card makers, and the like had up to 2 days off and many had shortened hours all week. (cadre is military speak for instructors).
We generally get up and start working at about 5 or a bit earlier in the morning. We're released most days by 6 pm, though sometimes we work later than that.
I've been doing a lot of reading, and I hope to visit Geronimo's tomb sometime soon, since he's buried on this post.
Next week we will have classes and mandatory briefings each morning and about 4 hours of combatives, mostly Brazilian Jujitsu each afternoon all week.
The week after that I will get more rifle marksmanship training than I have ever and will ever receive again in my career. We're no longer qualifying on iron sights, swithching to red dot sights instead. We'll be doing normal day qualifying, night fire with nightvision goggles and laser illuminators, close quarters shooting, urban shooting, and shooting at people from a moving vehicle, such as in, say, a convoy getting blown the fuck up in Iraq. I like to call that driveby training.
In any case, I'll probably update later tonight or, more likely, tomorrow. I'm sure you'll all hold your breath.