Duty Squad

Ben was on 'duty squad' this past week - pretty intense. It's a long description if you care to know.

Here what it means: every week, a different squad from a different platoon has to set up all training events, UPU's (meals that are deliverd) and all that jazz - and last week was his turn.

They were doing BRM (basic rifleman marksmanship) so they had to set everything up for the event. He and 6 other guys had to set up the ranges, targets, ammo, and everything before the company showed up. That was a work out! One day it hit 90 degrees before 0900! He said he loaded more mags of ammo than..all of Iraq has ever seen. One day, he shot over 250 rounds, and that's just him. Imagine loading all that. Then they had to stay later and clean up lunch, brass and ammo, police the range, and some more.

One morning, they were woken up 30 min earlier by a siren from a mega phone, and told to change into ACU's & IBA (heavy flak jacket w/ metal plates. a.k.a body armor). The duty squad had to run around to all 4 different PT (physical training) fields and set up stations. One with disassembled weapon, 2x m4's, 240B, and 2x saw. Then they set up a medical station where people treat a dummy and carry it 1/4 mile. There was also ones with radios, tire flip, and log run. After it's all set up, they ran back to the company and ran with the rest of platoon to the different stations only to be timed and worked, all with no food. All this ended by 0745! And to top it off, the company did a leadership training course (that was suppose to be fun, but tiring). They were in and out of the water, trying to accomplish different scenarios.

Whew! It was pretty tough, but he got through it! They might transition into Blue phase this week!