CAUTION: WET FLOOR
another week at firebase gloria has gone by. I'll be back there again tomorrow to continue the TRAP course. Last week was mostly classes and then the SERE thing (which I found out stands for Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape). We started in 4 to 5 man teams, with about 12 teams or so. We all went out in full combat loads..helmets,flaks,M-16's. Some got the real cool gear, GPS locators and night vision goggles. Of course only the senior Marines got those..and a few of the younger ones..but none of the brand new guys, i.e. me, got any of that. We had a few hours before mission launch, so we were briefed. We were to "pretend" that our mission was taking place in the Philipines. The whole scenario was based on actual intel, and a lot of things they told us was quite secret (they also told us a lot of classified information from Iraq..but I am not at liberty to discuss...sorry..heh, thats so badass)anyway..our mission was to go recover this Marine who was accidently left behind on a previous mission, and was presumed dead. However, some punja tribe found him and now we have to go get him. We got an hour or so with our maps to plan a route to the harbor site where we were to link up and verify with this individual. a few more minutes later prepping gear and loading up, we stepped off on a few 7 ton trucks and a couple of humvees. Apparently another twist in the scenario was that we were dropped off in the middle of a company sized element of the enemy (the trucks were supposed to simulate helo's)..so as soon as we 'landed' we were running for our lives, sirens going off everywhere, and voices over loudspeakers shouting for us to give up. almost immediately my team decided to split up into 2 man teams to make it easier to evade. for some reason the 2 new PFC's got stuck together with no night vision or GPS, while the 2 senior lance corporals went their way with NVG's (night vision goggles) and probably a GPS too..I don't know how that happened..but it did, and we had to work with it.
the harbor site was about 4 clicks to our north east (not very far because all TRAP mission has to be within one nautical mile for it to have much of a chance of success) initially we moved due south into a tree line to gain some cover and concealment. right away we had to move very strategically as it was obvious someone was tracking us. there were about 10 or so SERE instructors on the prowl and who knows how many dogs with handlers in tow on our scent..and it was a pitch black night mind you, as we were inserted at bout 2100 (or 9pm to the civilian). We moved in bounds..about 20-30 steps at a time..stopping every now and then to listen for trackers..we played this cat and mouse game for about 2 hours till we were finally pretty sure we had lost him. for the next 2-3 hours we kept moving toward the harbor site, but not in a straight line, like the enemy would expect us to. Mission deadline time was 0500 that morning..at that time me and PFC. Arrellano, my partner, were maybe less than a click from the harbor site..I mean we could see it, but there was a lot of movement around us..and we had no idea if we were hearing other Marines on our side, or the enemy..so we just stayed put in some bushes. Even though we didn't make it to the harbor site, I was almost ecstatic that we didn't get caught, cuz that was my main goal anyways.. only a handful of Marines actually made it to the harbor site, and they were almost all senior enlisted personnel like the platoon sergeant, 2 other sergeants, a few corporals and the platoon commander lieutenant Wagner. they all had the fancy gadgets to get them there..but whatever.. most of the rest got caught and interrogated..I guess they were just lucky the dogs didn't eat em up.
this coming week we continue the course with 7 STX (sticks). don't ask me what that stands for, but its these training missions where we get inserted by helicopters and do all this stuff and get extracted by helo's too. We get to use this MILES laser system on our weapons..basically its the most expensive game of laser tag ever..and we use blanks so its more realistic too. so..I can actually "die" and "kill" other people..so yea.. anyway, enough about that..I'll update on those happenings later..when they've actually happened..
let me see.. oh yea, I found out it was actually 5 buddies from SOI that got killed instead of 4..not all died in the same incident..and I don't know who died with who..but I now know it was Atkins, Acosta, Campos, Richards, and Bjorklund. Bjorklund the brother of my guide in bootcamp (his last name was Samel..not sure why they don't have the same last name..but whatever, they were brothers) and since he was the next name to me in the alphabet, we were rackmates for half of SOI..till we split into our MOS's. He was an 0311, rifleman..the MOS I wanted but didn't get.
hmm...hey! I actually have I date I'll be home now..for my pre-deployment leave..its from June 25 - July 10. it feels good to have some solid real estate in the future, a time I know I'll be home...
"Don’t depend on me
to ever follow through on anything
But I’d go through hell for you and
I haven’t been this scared in a long time
And I’m so unprepared so here’s your valentine
Bouquet of clumsy words, a simple melody
This world’s and ugly place,
but you’re so beautiful to me"
the harbor site was about 4 clicks to our north east (not very far because all TRAP mission has to be within one nautical mile for it to have much of a chance of success) initially we moved due south into a tree line to gain some cover and concealment. right away we had to move very strategically as it was obvious someone was tracking us. there were about 10 or so SERE instructors on the prowl and who knows how many dogs with handlers in tow on our scent..and it was a pitch black night mind you, as we were inserted at bout 2100 (or 9pm to the civilian). We moved in bounds..about 20-30 steps at a time..stopping every now and then to listen for trackers..we played this cat and mouse game for about 2 hours till we were finally pretty sure we had lost him. for the next 2-3 hours we kept moving toward the harbor site, but not in a straight line, like the enemy would expect us to. Mission deadline time was 0500 that morning..at that time me and PFC. Arrellano, my partner, were maybe less than a click from the harbor site..I mean we could see it, but there was a lot of movement around us..and we had no idea if we were hearing other Marines on our side, or the enemy..so we just stayed put in some bushes. Even though we didn't make it to the harbor site, I was almost ecstatic that we didn't get caught, cuz that was my main goal anyways.. only a handful of Marines actually made it to the harbor site, and they were almost all senior enlisted personnel like the platoon sergeant, 2 other sergeants, a few corporals and the platoon commander lieutenant Wagner. they all had the fancy gadgets to get them there..but whatever.. most of the rest got caught and interrogated..I guess they were just lucky the dogs didn't eat em up.
this coming week we continue the course with 7 STX (sticks). don't ask me what that stands for, but its these training missions where we get inserted by helicopters and do all this stuff and get extracted by helo's too. We get to use this MILES laser system on our weapons..basically its the most expensive game of laser tag ever..and we use blanks so its more realistic too. so..I can actually "die" and "kill" other people..so yea.. anyway, enough about that..I'll update on those happenings later..when they've actually happened..
let me see.. oh yea, I found out it was actually 5 buddies from SOI that got killed instead of 4..not all died in the same incident..and I don't know who died with who..but I now know it was Atkins, Acosta, Campos, Richards, and Bjorklund. Bjorklund the brother of my guide in bootcamp (his last name was Samel..not sure why they don't have the same last name..but whatever, they were brothers) and since he was the next name to me in the alphabet, we were rackmates for half of SOI..till we split into our MOS's. He was an 0311, rifleman..the MOS I wanted but didn't get.
hmm...hey! I actually have I date I'll be home now..for my pre-deployment leave..its from June 25 - July 10. it feels good to have some solid real estate in the future, a time I know I'll be home...
"Don’t depend on me
to ever follow through on anything
But I’d go through hell for you and
I haven’t been this scared in a long time
And I’m so unprepared so here’s your valentine
Bouquet of clumsy words, a simple melody
This world’s and ugly place,
but you’re so beautiful to me"