MONDAY, MAY 22nd

I finally got a chance to talk to my parents last night. It’s funny how important phone calls and mail call is to everyone here. Morale and motivation are the key to almost all the tasks we have to complete here.

Anyways, I thought I’d catch you up on some of the recent training I’ve done. I completed the night infiltration course, also known as Nick @ Night. The course would remind you of the scene out of Jarhead where the guy stands up from underneath the barbed wire and gets shot.

For 200 meters we low-crawled around burning jeeps, underneath razor-wire, between grenade explosions (simulated with a mixture of propane and oxygen), while being shot over with .308 tracer rounds from automatic machine guns, using flares to signal movement and to allow us to see where the hell we were going. It was more exhausting than I first thought (I still have some pretty deep gashes in my elbows to prove it), but also more fun and less frightening than it sounds. There were even speakers on the course playing battlefield sound effects (from We Were Soldiers and Blackhawk Down) to simulate actual combat (Medic!).

The best part (besides the end) was when I flipped on my back to crawl under some razor-wire. I guess I just had “a moment.” I was on my back looking up at my hands holding up my M16, which in turn was holding the razor-wire from my body. Beyond that was a clear night sky interrupted by the “zip” and flash of tracers, flares, explosions, and the glow of fire. Holy shit, I thought, I’m actually doing this. That fact probably should’ve occurred to me in my recruiter’s office. But whatever. Better late than never I guess, except if you sign up for the Army.

Anyways, it took about 30 minutes to crawl the entire length.

Yesterday we ran the PECS course. It’s meant to test physical endurance. It did a fairly good job. Run a mile, check. While jumping over walls, check. Cross over a pit using monkey mars, check. Low crawl while submerged under water with unknown animal feces in it, check. Crawl through tunnels, check. Cross ravine using single line rope bridge, check. Cross another ravine via suspended rope, check. Crawl under barbed wire, swing across another ravine, climb straight up 30 ft of rope, through tires, and run another ¼ mile with your gas mask on… Good times good times. Not done yet, though. There’s more to it, but I’m more bragging now than explaining. I’m glad I did it and hope I never have to do it again.

This week we learn how to drive the Army’s luxury line of automobiles: the Hummer. It only comes in two colors (green or tan camo), but accessories include a mounted .50 caliber machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, and 360 degree turret. We also qualify with the 9mm. Anyway, send letters! :)

Benjamin