(no subject)
Its weekend in the woods, redux..
seriously... no really..
Late Friday, Biblio and I decided, oh what the hell and took off at midnight for Camp Atterbury in Indiana, 4 and 1/2 hours away to watch Ditzy in her first college Ranger (used to be Raider) Challenge. Again, only girl on the team.. anywho, when I spoke to her, festivities were to begin at the usual ass crack of dawn with the PT test at 0530.. so we planned on getting there about 0430 when everyone was waking up.. OOPS. Its EST there, NOT CST.. fortunately, like all things, the challenge got off to a late start..
Before the usual, I want to say a few things.
1- I missed Chief and Sgt R this whole day
2- I missed the other Raider moms all day
3- I missed Cain, Five, Mickey Mouse, and the rest of the kids.
4- A subway, even if located on a base should have a bathroom
5- What do you mean there is no coffee???????
6- Thanks to Maj M and Capt M for not correcting me when I would call it Raiders instead of Rangers
7- There didn't seem to be the sense of... urgency to complete an event, in other words, things moved a bit slower than Raiders (and yes, maybe the 40lb ruck and the m16 and the Kevlar helmet may have slowed it down, but it still seemed to move A LOT slower.
Before anyone asks, don't know the results.. Friday night was Night Land Nav and today is the 10k (which we didnt stay for) and the results later today
So as usual, in the dark (and cold) the APFT went off. 280 cadets (both 9 and 5 man teams)vs the 80 cadets I was used to, so they have oodles of graders and you just get into a line of 6 or 7 people.
A few pics in the darkness
Th Pt Field as everyone starts to gather
The UIC teams stretching out (we had a 9man which Ditzy is on and a 5man team) Ditzy is at the 11 o'clock position
more stretching.. Oops on the flash.. damn those reflector thingys are bright when light hits em
The graders in front, teams in back, panorama right to left of the briefing
The horseshoe of graders
Then it was the usual 2 minutes of push ups, 2 minutes of sit ups and as always, as dawn broke, the 2 mile run.
To make it easier on the graders there were three heats of cadets running rather than a flurry of 280 people to try and keep track of. Ditzy was in the third heat, some of her team in the first and some in the second, so it was a pensive 30 minutes for the UIC Cadre.
Maj. M waiting on cadets to finish the run (He's the one on the right, looking down the road waiting)
More waiting for Maj. M and Capt. M (that's him behind Maj M with the black fleece and cup of coffee)
Ditzy finishing (she's the one with the yellow reflector thingy)in 17 minutes
From the PT test we went back to the barracks where the cadets changed into ACU's, got issued their M16 Rubber Duck things, and the two teams seperated into 2 vans off we went (by vehicle.. omg thank you..) to the first event where they all piled out of the van and got organized. (Chief, Sgt R, the "map reading/land nav" portion was really kind of cool. Each team is issued their maps after the PT test and the land nav is getting from one event to the next)
So they piled out of the van at the first event and gathered themselves together and got ready
As they got ready for their first event (the litter carry), Cdt F and Ditzy consulted the map and LOI
The "look, I have a pen and paper" moment, and yes, she's as happy and having an awesome time as she always has
The briefing.. set up a perimeter, assess the casualty (in this case sandbags), dress its wounds, and run it 800 meters (through the woods and mud from the heavy night the night before)
Pictures from the event
That's Ditzy on the left front of the litter
Off they go (and no, I didn't follow them in the deep mud and woods)
And they're back..
From there it was a long trek in the cold(ok, for me a quick car ride with the heat on) to the weapons assembly, functions check and disassembly event. (new event, they don't do this in Raiders)
We got there early and they had time to sit and relax a bit.
Go figure she spent it eating.
Then a hike through the woods to the event site
The briefing.. pick a weapon, assemble it, do a functions check, disassemble it (yes, timed)
Put them together
While Maj. M and Capt. M look on
Still watching closely
Ditzy and her functions check
From there, back out of the woods, and a LONG walk (ok, again, warm car for me) to the rope bridge. Still had to walk thru the woods to get to it, but they had 4 lanes, and it was luck of the draw how much or how little water your far side anchor had to go through to get to the other side. Fortunately, it wasn't bad in lane one.
So, while it's mostly for Chief and Sgt. R, there's a video here - (right click and save link as), it's long ( wasn't expecting it to take that long to do.. was used to the under 3 minute times of the past years) and here's a few pics of the end of it
From there it was off to the humvee pull, which is it's own event. Few differences - you come upon a humvee with an injured and unresponsive soldier. You set up a perimeter, extract the casualty from the humvee, assess them, stabilize and prepare for transport, and call a 9line something or other, then attach a 120ft rope to the humvee, tie handles in the rope, and pull it 600 meters (which I have to say I didn't follow, because by this time of day, I didn't want to walk the 600 PLUS meters back to the car)
So first, come upon the humvee with the casualty, extract without further injury and make the call (which my understanding is Ditzy does REALLY well)
Briefing on pulling the humvee
Tie it up, pull it away
After that came the confidence course, which was truly painful to watch. No seriously, the way the boys kept "racking" themselves and people falling, albeit gracefully, but with rather loud and unceremonious thuds.. well I think I won't post too many pictures, just to protect the injured and a few egos... suffice it to say there was much cursing, and lots of .. well.. yea...
These are two of the better ones. The obstacle is called The Weaver, its over one log, under the next, all the way up and then back down. This is Ditzy, having help from Capt M telling her how best to do it (it seems if you are short, this isnt the easiest obstacle to do)
After the confidence course, Biblio and I headed home, exhausted, but happy we went to watch and support..
Oh and there was car knitting. I had some hand dyed alpaca/merino/tussah silk I had spun from roving I got at YarnCon.. I made a panta. I did the first half on the way to the challenge (yes, in the dark) and the rest while waiting between events.
Here's a crappy pic when I got up this morning and realized that yes, indeed, I had finished it
seriously... no really..
Late Friday, Biblio and I decided, oh what the hell and took off at midnight for Camp Atterbury in Indiana, 4 and 1/2 hours away to watch Ditzy in her first college Ranger (used to be Raider) Challenge. Again, only girl on the team.. anywho, when I spoke to her, festivities were to begin at the usual ass crack of dawn with the PT test at 0530.. so we planned on getting there about 0430 when everyone was waking up.. OOPS. Its EST there, NOT CST.. fortunately, like all things, the challenge got off to a late start..
Before the usual, I want to say a few things.
1- I missed Chief and Sgt R this whole day
2- I missed the other Raider moms all day
3- I missed Cain, Five, Mickey Mouse, and the rest of the kids.
4- A subway, even if located on a base should have a bathroom
5- What do you mean there is no coffee???????
6- Thanks to Maj M and Capt M for not correcting me when I would call it Raiders instead of Rangers
7- There didn't seem to be the sense of... urgency to complete an event, in other words, things moved a bit slower than Raiders (and yes, maybe the 40lb ruck and the m16 and the Kevlar helmet may have slowed it down, but it still seemed to move A LOT slower.
Before anyone asks, don't know the results.. Friday night was Night Land Nav and today is the 10k (which we didnt stay for) and the results later today
So as usual, in the dark (and cold) the APFT went off. 280 cadets (both 9 and 5 man teams)vs the 80 cadets I was used to, so they have oodles of graders and you just get into a line of 6 or 7 people.
A few pics in the darkness
Th Pt Field as everyone starts to gather
The UIC teams stretching out (we had a 9man which Ditzy is on and a 5man team) Ditzy is at the 11 o'clock position
more stretching.. Oops on the flash.. damn those reflector thingys are bright when light hits em
The graders in front, teams in back, panorama right to left of the briefing
The horseshoe of graders
Then it was the usual 2 minutes of push ups, 2 minutes of sit ups and as always, as dawn broke, the 2 mile run.
To make it easier on the graders there were three heats of cadets running rather than a flurry of 280 people to try and keep track of. Ditzy was in the third heat, some of her team in the first and some in the second, so it was a pensive 30 minutes for the UIC Cadre.
Maj. M waiting on cadets to finish the run (He's the one on the right, looking down the road waiting)
More waiting for Maj. M and Capt. M (that's him behind Maj M with the black fleece and cup of coffee)
Ditzy finishing (she's the one with the yellow reflector thingy)in 17 minutes
From the PT test we went back to the barracks where the cadets changed into ACU's, got issued their M16 Rubber Duck things, and the two teams seperated into 2 vans off we went (by vehicle.. omg thank you..) to the first event where they all piled out of the van and got organized. (Chief, Sgt R, the "map reading/land nav" portion was really kind of cool. Each team is issued their maps after the PT test and the land nav is getting from one event to the next)
So they piled out of the van at the first event and gathered themselves together and got ready
As they got ready for their first event (the litter carry), Cdt F and Ditzy consulted the map and LOI
The "look, I have a pen and paper" moment, and yes, she's as happy and having an awesome time as she always has
The briefing.. set up a perimeter, assess the casualty (in this case sandbags), dress its wounds, and run it 800 meters (through the woods and mud from the heavy night the night before)
Pictures from the event
That's Ditzy on the left front of the litter
Off they go (and no, I didn't follow them in the deep mud and woods)
And they're back..
From there it was a long trek in the cold(ok, for me a quick car ride with the heat on) to the weapons assembly, functions check and disassembly event. (new event, they don't do this in Raiders)
We got there early and they had time to sit and relax a bit.
Go figure she spent it eating.
Then a hike through the woods to the event site
The briefing.. pick a weapon, assemble it, do a functions check, disassemble it (yes, timed)
Put them together
While Maj. M and Capt. M look on
Still watching closely
Ditzy and her functions check
From there, back out of the woods, and a LONG walk (ok, again, warm car for me) to the rope bridge. Still had to walk thru the woods to get to it, but they had 4 lanes, and it was luck of the draw how much or how little water your far side anchor had to go through to get to the other side. Fortunately, it wasn't bad in lane one.
So, while it's mostly for Chief and Sgt. R, there's a video here - (right click and save link as), it's long ( wasn't expecting it to take that long to do.. was used to the under 3 minute times of the past years) and here's a few pics of the end of it
From there it was off to the humvee pull, which is it's own event. Few differences - you come upon a humvee with an injured and unresponsive soldier. You set up a perimeter, extract the casualty from the humvee, assess them, stabilize and prepare for transport, and call a 9line something or other, then attach a 120ft rope to the humvee, tie handles in the rope, and pull it 600 meters (which I have to say I didn't follow, because by this time of day, I didn't want to walk the 600 PLUS meters back to the car)
So first, come upon the humvee with the casualty, extract without further injury and make the call (which my understanding is Ditzy does REALLY well)
Briefing on pulling the humvee
Tie it up, pull it away
After that came the confidence course, which was truly painful to watch. No seriously, the way the boys kept "racking" themselves and people falling, albeit gracefully, but with rather loud and unceremonious thuds.. well I think I won't post too many pictures, just to protect the injured and a few egos... suffice it to say there was much cursing, and lots of .. well.. yea...
These are two of the better ones. The obstacle is called The Weaver, its over one log, under the next, all the way up and then back down. This is Ditzy, having help from Capt M telling her how best to do it (it seems if you are short, this isnt the easiest obstacle to do)
After the confidence course, Biblio and I headed home, exhausted, but happy we went to watch and support..
Oh and there was car knitting. I had some hand dyed alpaca/merino/tussah silk I had spun from roving I got at YarnCon.. I made a panta. I did the first half on the way to the challenge (yes, in the dark) and the rest while waiting between events.
Here's a crappy pic when I got up this morning and realized that yes, indeed, I had finished it