Tough week of classes, and an even tougher week of PT. Our Marine Captain told us the second week of PT would be the hardest on our bodies, and he was right. Lots of running, and then some P90X type workouts on Tuesday and Thursday.
I can't wait to get to the field to put some of these Fire Suppport and Gunnery theories into practice. It gets a little old calling for fire on a computer screen for 4 hours a day. I'm ready to hear some real BANG!
Not much to say this week except that I am now home for the Holidays until January 2nd. Can't wait to see everyone! If I don't get the chance to see you, then I hope you have a very happy Christmas season!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
And so it begins...
The Gunnery and Fire Support phase of BOLC has finally begun. Tuesday of this week, we met our new instructors. I was fortunate enough to get some very squared away USMC Captains, and I think that they will work out great in the long run. Initially, I was worried about having Marine instructors, but only because of the potential of some rough PT on a daily basis, but after reevaluating the situation, I remembered that one of my BOLC goals was to graduate in great shape. Well, my friends, it looks like that will happen. These Marines don't mess around when it comes to PT. On Wednesday morning, Captain Cooley wanted to find out who could hang, and who needed a little work. I am sorry to say that I could not keep up with the 23-24 year old LTs.....yet. Hopefully, that will all change in 3 or 4 weeks. If I don't finish BOLC with a 300 on my APFT, I should be drawn and quartered!
As far as classes are concerned, imagine yourself standing in front of a ladder truck with the fire hose pointed straight at your face....then turn the water on. If the water were information, you would be in Field Artillery BOLC. Yes, it comes at you that fast. The information is not that difficult yet, but the speed at which it comes is what gets you. You spend the entire lecture hoping that you can go back to your room and understand what has been taught. We had a test on Thursday over parts of a howitzer and ammunition terms. It was pretty easy, although there were some tricky questions.
Thursday afternoon, we learned about Ballistics, and on Friday, we spent the entire day on Call for Fires and the Duties of a Forward Observer. They are kind of mixing the Fire Support and Gunnery stuff up right now, but I think as we get into it, these topics will be separated a little more.
As of now, I am feeling about 50/50 on understanding Calls for Fire, which is where you are given a target, and then are required to plot the location and direction of said target, and then call for fire on that target. You call for the initial shot round, and then walk the round into the target through a process called bracketing. If the first shot is long, you would drop enough distance on the subsequent shot so that it is short of the target. The following shots are spent closing in on the target until you are close enough to FIRE FOR EFFECT, and essentially obliterate it.
The concept of Calling for Fire is not difficult, it is the time frame in which we are required to set up our Observer Fire fans and locate the target on the map, and then to call for the fire in the correct way. If you say something out of sequence, or use the wrong phonetics while on comms, then points are taken from you. It is pretty intense. Luckily, we will spend a lot of Monday practicing our techniques. In the meantime, I will spend this weekend going over notes and practicing scenarios on my own until I get it straight. Wish me luck.
Sorry I've only been updating once a week, but I really don't have much time after classes to think about my blog. We have quite a bit of homework, and by the time I finish, I am exhausted. I'm sure you guys can go 6 days at a time without hearing from your trusty scribe. If not, then let me know, and I will try to accommodate. I can send you individual emails or something so you can get your Stevie fix. ;-)
As far as classes are concerned, imagine yourself standing in front of a ladder truck with the fire hose pointed straight at your face....then turn the water on. If the water were information, you would be in Field Artillery BOLC. Yes, it comes at you that fast. The information is not that difficult yet, but the speed at which it comes is what gets you. You spend the entire lecture hoping that you can go back to your room and understand what has been taught. We had a test on Thursday over parts of a howitzer and ammunition terms. It was pretty easy, although there were some tricky questions.
Thursday afternoon, we learned about Ballistics, and on Friday, we spent the entire day on Call for Fires and the Duties of a Forward Observer. They are kind of mixing the Fire Support and Gunnery stuff up right now, but I think as we get into it, these topics will be separated a little more.
As of now, I am feeling about 50/50 on understanding Calls for Fire, which is where you are given a target, and then are required to plot the location and direction of said target, and then call for fire on that target. You call for the initial shot round, and then walk the round into the target through a process called bracketing. If the first shot is long, you would drop enough distance on the subsequent shot so that it is short of the target. The following shots are spent closing in on the target until you are close enough to FIRE FOR EFFECT, and essentially obliterate it.
The concept of Calling for Fire is not difficult, it is the time frame in which we are required to set up our Observer Fire fans and locate the target on the map, and then to call for the fire in the correct way. If you say something out of sequence, or use the wrong phonetics while on comms, then points are taken from you. It is pretty intense. Luckily, we will spend a lot of Monday practicing our techniques. In the meantime, I will spend this weekend going over notes and practicing scenarios on my own until I get it straight. Wish me luck.
Sorry I've only been updating once a week, but I really don't have much time after classes to think about my blog. We have quite a bit of homework, and by the time I finish, I am exhausted. I'm sure you guys can go 6 days at a time without hearing from your trusty scribe. If not, then let me know, and I will try to accommodate. I can send you individual emails or something so you can get your Stevie fix. ;-)
Paulson out.....
Saturday, December 4, 2010
FOB Week!
First of all, I need to get this out of the way. WAR EAGLE! I thought I would never hear myself say that, but if the Hogs are going to get into the Sugar Bowl without any ruckus, we need Auburn to beat the Gamecocks today.
OK (pun intended), I just got home from FOB or Forward Operating Base Mo-Way yesterday afternoon around 1600, and it was a long week. This week was completely geared around two things.....Weapons Qualification and Master Resiliency Training. Both are pretty important tools in the Army. One of them teaches us how to kill the enemy by the utilization of our marksmanship skills, which are only learned with much practice and dedication. The other teaches us to deal with the stresses of being a soldier in the United States Army. Granted, the marksmanship is much more fun, but in the overall scheme of things, MRT will serve us better in the majority of our military and personal lives, especially since we won't be shooting at people every day, but will be dealing with our own issues as well as those of our soldiers on a daily basis.
3rd Platoon was the range platoon was the duty platoon on Monday morning, so we went straight to the Grouping and Zero Range first thing. The cadre wanted each platoon to have the opportunity to run a range during the week so that we would have that skill when we got to our units. Running a range involves setting up ammo points, providing safety officers, setting and maintaining targets, and the overall smooth operation of the range for that particular day. I would have to say that we kicked ass. For being the first platoon with this responsibility, we pulled it off without a hitch. We got everyone zeroed (shooting a small enough grouping with a certain number of rounds so that your weapon is accurate at up to 300 meters) and off of the range by mid afternoon, and then cleaned up the range and were back to the FOB by 1630 or so. 3rd platoon helped with setup of ranges every day this week, and although we did not run the range every day, we were counted upon to provide assistance for the duty platoon of the day. It was a lot of work, but also a pretty valuable skill to have locked away for future use.
On Tuesday, we went to the Known Distance range, where we fired from distances of up to 300 meters in order to familiarize ourselves with how the M4 rifle shoots, giving us the confidence we needed to qualify on Thursday. Wednesday was spend familiarizing ourselves with the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST), which is another video game simulator that allows us to shoot targets without expending ammunition (not to mention it was in a warm building, which we had not had all week). That afternoon, we conducted Advanced Marksman Training, which allowed us to become comfortable firing in "Full Battle Rattle," or everything we will be wearing in combat, which includes our Advanced Combat Helmet, Individual Body Armor, and FLC vests. It was pretty cool to have all of that on while firing, though it will take a little getting used to.
Thursday was qualification day. We had to hit at least 23 out of 40 targets to qualify with the M4 rifle. The distances are anywhere from 50 to 300 meters, and there are no optics on the rifles, which means shooting with iron sights. The first 20 rounds are fired from the prone supported position, with the next 10 coming in the prone unsupported (no sandbags on which to rest the rifle), and the final 10 rounds from the kneeling unsupported position. The entire class of 110 students qualified by 1500 that afternoon, which has not happened at a range that I have been on since I have been in the army. That is a pretty amazing feat.
Master Resiliency Training took place after evening chow from Monday-Thursday, and sometimes during the afternoons as well, if we finished at the ranges early enough. Each session was approximately an hour and a half. This kept us from falling asleep during the training, since we were each pretty tired after a full day on the cold, windy Oklahoma prairie. These sessions taught us how to deal with stress, put things into perspective, and help others deal with typical issues that arise for soldiers in the army. They actually made me sit back and re-evaluate how I will attempt to deal with my own issues in the future. I don't know that I will be able to do it on every occasion, but I will definitely try to incorporate these methods into my personal as well as professional life.
We spent Thursday night and Friday morning cleaning the FOB and cleaning weapons so that we could all go home at a decent hour Friday evening. Mission accomplished, and I am sad to say that we have completed the Common Core phase of BOLC-B. We will be moving to the Gunnery Phase on Tuesday of next week, which means a lot of long nights studying, and ratcheting up the stress level quite a bit since we will be dealing with Captains as instructors instead of NCOs. From what we are hearing, they like to provide quite a bit of corrective action when things don't run as smoothly as they ask. Should be a fun next 4 months.
Overall it was a very productive, although very cold week (until Thursday, of course), and we had a lot going on, but we completed what we set out to accomplish, and I am very proud to be a part of such a good class.
I know this entry might be a little disjointed, but I am still feeling the effects of my cold medicine from last night, so give me a break.
OK (pun intended), I just got home from FOB or Forward Operating Base Mo-Way yesterday afternoon around 1600, and it was a long week. This week was completely geared around two things.....Weapons Qualification and Master Resiliency Training. Both are pretty important tools in the Army. One of them teaches us how to kill the enemy by the utilization of our marksmanship skills, which are only learned with much practice and dedication. The other teaches us to deal with the stresses of being a soldier in the United States Army. Granted, the marksmanship is much more fun, but in the overall scheme of things, MRT will serve us better in the majority of our military and personal lives, especially since we won't be shooting at people every day, but will be dealing with our own issues as well as those of our soldiers on a daily basis.
3rd Platoon was the range platoon was the duty platoon on Monday morning, so we went straight to the Grouping and Zero Range first thing. The cadre wanted each platoon to have the opportunity to run a range during the week so that we would have that skill when we got to our units. Running a range involves setting up ammo points, providing safety officers, setting and maintaining targets, and the overall smooth operation of the range for that particular day. I would have to say that we kicked ass. For being the first platoon with this responsibility, we pulled it off without a hitch. We got everyone zeroed (shooting a small enough grouping with a certain number of rounds so that your weapon is accurate at up to 300 meters) and off of the range by mid afternoon, and then cleaned up the range and were back to the FOB by 1630 or so. 3rd platoon helped with setup of ranges every day this week, and although we did not run the range every day, we were counted upon to provide assistance for the duty platoon of the day. It was a lot of work, but also a pretty valuable skill to have locked away for future use.
On Tuesday, we went to the Known Distance range, where we fired from distances of up to 300 meters in order to familiarize ourselves with how the M4 rifle shoots, giving us the confidence we needed to qualify on Thursday. Wednesday was spend familiarizing ourselves with the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST), which is another video game simulator that allows us to shoot targets without expending ammunition (not to mention it was in a warm building, which we had not had all week). That afternoon, we conducted Advanced Marksman Training, which allowed us to become comfortable firing in "Full Battle Rattle," or everything we will be wearing in combat, which includes our Advanced Combat Helmet, Individual Body Armor, and FLC vests. It was pretty cool to have all of that on while firing, though it will take a little getting used to.
Thursday was qualification day. We had to hit at least 23 out of 40 targets to qualify with the M4 rifle. The distances are anywhere from 50 to 300 meters, and there are no optics on the rifles, which means shooting with iron sights. The first 20 rounds are fired from the prone supported position, with the next 10 coming in the prone unsupported (no sandbags on which to rest the rifle), and the final 10 rounds from the kneeling unsupported position. The entire class of 110 students qualified by 1500 that afternoon, which has not happened at a range that I have been on since I have been in the army. That is a pretty amazing feat.
Master Resiliency Training took place after evening chow from Monday-Thursday, and sometimes during the afternoons as well, if we finished at the ranges early enough. Each session was approximately an hour and a half. This kept us from falling asleep during the training, since we were each pretty tired after a full day on the cold, windy Oklahoma prairie. These sessions taught us how to deal with stress, put things into perspective, and help others deal with typical issues that arise for soldiers in the army. They actually made me sit back and re-evaluate how I will attempt to deal with my own issues in the future. I don't know that I will be able to do it on every occasion, but I will definitely try to incorporate these methods into my personal as well as professional life.
We spent Thursday night and Friday morning cleaning the FOB and cleaning weapons so that we could all go home at a decent hour Friday evening. Mission accomplished, and I am sad to say that we have completed the Common Core phase of BOLC-B. We will be moving to the Gunnery Phase on Tuesday of next week, which means a lot of long nights studying, and ratcheting up the stress level quite a bit since we will be dealing with Captains as instructors instead of NCOs. From what we are hearing, they like to provide quite a bit of corrective action when things don't run as smoothly as they ask. Should be a fun next 4 months.
Overall it was a very productive, although very cold week (until Thursday, of course), and we had a lot going on, but we completed what we set out to accomplish, and I am very proud to be a part of such a good class.
I know this entry might be a little disjointed, but I am still feeling the effects of my cold medicine from last night, so give me a break.
Paulson out....
 |
| 3rd Platoon running Zero Range |
 |
| Jokesters at the Ammo Point. |
 |
| Rankin firing his Zero |
 |
| LT Perry being a leader! |
 |
| Home Sweet Home. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)