He's Official

After not hearing from Ben for almost 2 weeks since his 'camping' trip, we got a 6 page letter today! We were all very anxious to know how he survived the trip. I will detail the letter part by part. I just wanted you to know that he made through this very tough training exercise & is now an official infantryman! Thank you for all your prayers & letters. It really made a huge difference in helping through this experience. (I'm just going to re-type his letter because it's kind of hard to summarize. Besides, it was fun to read them; at least for me).

From Friday, Sept. 18 Guess who just emerged from the Georgian Woods! Yup! You guessed right - me! It's been a long week! 7 days, 6 nights; miles after miles, hills after hills. Blank (yes, that's what we shot, kinda hard to 'practice war' with live rounds) after blank. 33 started, 33 finished. Ready for my "Story of OSUT" ? Sorry for all the acronyms (One Station Unit Training - includes basic training (BT) & advanced individual training (AIT))? It's a long story.

Day 1 - We all had our rucks packed day(s) prior so we weren't rushing too bad. We got transported to a very far away range where we ate a UPU (you pick up a breakfast delivered from the DFAC (dining facility) so it was an alright breakfast). Then after being lead in a series of exercises and battle drills, we had to run 1/4 mile and engage targets. Platoon with the most hits got a streamer for their platoon guide on. We didn't win it, but its probably the last time I'd fired a live round for awhile. We then got trans to our FTX (field trainig exercise) site. And that, is pretty much wraps up day 1.

Next few days, we didn't leave our site, but don't remember doing very much. I'd say 80-90% of the time, were spent pulling security. That means nothing more than sitting with your back to the ruck, watching. The hardest part was not falling asleep. As soon as contact was made, we called out the 3 D's (description, distance, direction), went up to 100% security, if not already, went prone, and scanned our sector for movements. DS's (drill sergeants) tried to probe security, changing scenarios, etc. Every breakfast & dinner, we got UPU's. We carried 4 MRG's on us for lunch and were even allowed to buy fum & sunflower seed! That made thing go by way faster!

We set our perimeter up like a triangle. 10 0'clock to 2 o'clock is the side that is most likely to be attacked. But we did it wrong and it faced a woodline. 1st squad was from 10 - 2 o'clock; 2nd squad (my guys) took up 2 - 6 o'clock; 3rd took 10-6 o'clock; and 4th intermingled. There were 3x M240B (a huge machine gun) that splits out 7.62 and brings comfort to whomever is firing it (meaning massive fire power). The M249 Saws were spaced everywhere. My line got 2 (as it got attacked the most). And everyone else kinda just filled in. The 6 o'clock got the most attention. They were always calling contact and had to be manned 24/7. Ok, so now you know what we kinda look like. Now for the rest of the story.