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Situtational Training Exercise (STX)
2009-11-11 18:12:28
So we finished our STX on Tuesday evening after being awake for well over 24 hours. Our first 8 hours started out with FOB (Forward Operating Base) Operations, very boring stuff involving guard duty and working at the TOC (Tactical Operations Center). We get the mission details and forward the information out to the unit conducting the missions and then track their movements and any enemy contact they encounter and report to the TOC on a map as well as MEDEVAC support (simulated of course).
After that was done, we had an opportunity to play the enemy as OPFOR (Opposing Forces) against the next the platoon on mission. Interesting time. On one scenario we were protecting a Helicopter that had valuable intelligence. With a four man team, we set up our positions hidden in the tall grass in an open field around the helicopter. Keep in mind its the middle of the night and you can barely see five feet in front of you and of course no night vision, to top it off we're using paintballs so we have to use these mask that have been used and abused so wearing them, mean you can't even see one foot in front of you (needless to say, I wore mine on the top of my head sacrificing my face for vision). Its amazing the noises you hear when you're alone in the dark. So after laying in the dirt for what seemed like forever, an illumination round was shot up into the air lighting up the night sky, I moved my head around to take advantage of this opportunity to survey the area and noticed some movement far beyond my engagement capabilities. After the illumination round dissipated I tried to "quietly" shout to my teammates of the enemy position, they were apparently too far away. I started to hear some chatter and I took it to mean, they were going to begin their assault and then I heard footsteps rushing to my location, I starting thinking to myself, crap, they must have seen me when they lit up the sky! The moment I saw the shadowy outline of a man running directly at me, I shot three round center mass and jump to the kneeling position read to fire at anyone behind him, when I heard the following...
"GOD DAMN IT!!! I said cease fire! Don't you see the fire behind you!!!"
That when I noticed the voice was that of one of our instructors and when I turned around, sure enough the mountain had a small fire that was getting bigger. Turned out the illumination round landed and started a fire. he was running there to attempt to put out the fire before it got out of control. Felt like an ass, but I was pleased to know he didn't know where I was until he was shot in the chest three times. Needless to say, that particular mission had ended.
Some time afterwards, our platoon began our mission cycle. Long story short (yeah right, huh?), I made it all the way to the last mission (when I took over as a squad leader) without being "killed in action." We were now being sent on a mission to the same helicopter we had protected previously as OPFOR. Meaning four of us already had a good recon of the area and set up a plan to secure the area with two squads on a synchronized attack. One squad moved north along a road to the west of the helicopter, while my squad moved up from the woods to the south of the helicopter. As we approached the area, we waited for the synced time to begin our advanced. Time hit, and we moved. We set up our defensive perimeter, since I was out of air on my paintball gun, I had given the rest of my ammo to someone who could use it, I conducted the search of the helicopter. I found a brief case conveniently labeled "Intelligence," and tossed it to one of my squad members. There was a dummy there representing the downed enemy pilot, since I didn't want to conduct a search on him inside the helicopter (though since it was a dummy, I should have known better) and I pulled him out to search him on the floor, setting off a small pyrotechnic charge... the pilot was a suicide bomber >.< So now I had to lay there while the rest of the platoon had to fend off an enemy counterattack (set off by the explosion) as they called in a MEDEVAC for me. Which was done successfully.
During our evaluation, we all got high marks for our planning and execution, luckily, I wasn't docked for getting blown up =p I guess it was one of those things thats expected or whatever. The event was done and over with.
After we got back to the rear and released for the rest of the day (and Veteran's Day) I had to race over to GameStop to pick up my copy of Modern Warfare 2. Which will now occupy the rest of my free time until I beat it... too bad the hotel's internet prevents you from playing any type of online game (which is done to save their bandwidth... cheap-o's).
Anywho, long post... I'm done. -
Land Navigation
2009-11-07 14:49:20
Holy crap, I didn't anticipate the Land Nav Course here in Ft. Sill to be this challenging. Don't get me wrong, I still found all my points and finished pretty quick, but wow. I must have traveled over 10km over various terrains. I could've traveled more, but after judging the map and the locations of the points I was going to be looking for, I decided to climb over one hill top rather than walk half a kilometer back to the main road just to travel another 2km to get to my next point.
Half way around that hill top (which looks way smaller on the map), out of breath and realizing it a lot harder to maintain your footing going down a hill full of tall grass hiding jagged rocks and various other hidden things that hurt when you trip on them. Once I reached my point (identified as point 35) on the slope of the hill, tired and angry about not sacrificing my time and just taking the easier route, I looked towards the road that should be 100 meters towards the east and thats when I noticed during my "route planning" that this particular creek that stood between me and time saved, just also happened to be the ONLY creek that was filled with deep, moving water. The time I saved, I almost lost completely having to trot upstream to find a safe place to cross.
In hind sight though, I'm glad I went the way I did. Had I not, I would've had to cross the creek twice, not to mention travel time up and down the road just to get there, losing even more time than just raveling in one direction.
My last point pissed me off, not because it was hard to find, but because when I did find it, it turned out there was an unimproved road (not labeled on the map) that takes you straight from the main road to the point. When looking at the map, the point was plotted between two creeks in a valley with heavy vegetation (which there was plenty of to walk through) and once I found the point (took me a while) I also saw the path that looked like it has been frequently used by ATVs driving through. Would've saved me loads of time if I had known about it.
Had fun conquering the course and BSing with the rest of the guys and comparing our stories and talking shit. Out of a class of 35, nine of us found all seven points, 14 found enough points to pass, and 12 failed and had to retest the next day (which they passed the 2nd time with some retraining).
Good times, Monday starts our tactical evaluations by conducting student led situational combat operations. 24 hour operations here I come! w00t! -
War Games
2009-11-03 21:28:08
We got a chance to take our battle plan we had briefed last Friday into effect using a simulator, we reminded me a lot like I was playing Command and Conquer. I originally was playing the role of an Intel Officer, but for this simulator I had the opportunity to play the part of a Battery Commander for a PATRIOT Missile Unit.
The thing you have to understand, in this simulator, is that we simulate all levels of command during the battle. Commanders report to their Battalions, Battalions report to their Brigades, who in turn distribute information to other Battalions within their command. This can get pretty annoying, especially when you have multiple units engaging and reporting information (it clutters up the radio and makes it hard for you to report on your unit).
It started out pretty quiet and boring... especially in the area they had me positioned due to the mountainous terrain (made it hard for my radar to identify air threats). But as time passed, I started tracking several F1 Mirage Jets in a holding pattern to my north and FROGFOOTs (which usually carry anti-radiation missiles, bad news for my radar) to the west of my position. Once I received authorization to engage targets, I had my launchers working overtime.
My Battery became such a threat to the enemy forces, the instructor started to throw some wrenches into my operations. First he started by jamming my radar and then, undercover, he sent a Hind Helicopter. Even though I was able to recognize and identify the helicopter as hostile, due to the jamming, I was unable to engage it. I had to call for help from a neighboring Avenger Unit, but Avengers are a short range weapon system and they were several kilometers away. By the time they got to my position the Hind had already taken out 20% of my unit... which included 4 resupply trucks (carrying half of my missile loads) and one of my launchers.
Shortly afterwards we ended the exercise. I was the talk of the exercise due to the amount of kills I racked up. But the attention was bittersweet, since along with my high kill count, I also took the most losses among the PATRIOT units.
Its a bit exhausting, due to all the constant monitoring and radio communications you need to maintain. But had fun, especially since it was hands on and we got a see the immediate product of our actions on screen. We get to run a new scenario tomorrow... this time I asked to have a detail of Avenger units to stay behind to back me up in case something like this happens again ^__^ - 2009-11-02 19:44:30 Forgot to mention this on Friday (mainly cuz I was way too trashed to do so), but I took and passed my third and final test with a 92% and conducted my military briefing flawlessly, so all I have left now is land navigation and our situational training exercise (STX) and I'll be done with Advance Leaders Course. Unfortunately, I won't know where I am competitively for Honor Grad, until after the land nav course, so hopefully, I'll know something by the weekend.
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Saw Saw VI
2009-11-01 12:02:14
So yeah, watch the movie last night... can anyone say Liberal propaganda machine? Anywho, the movie is exactly what you expect; crappy acting, gore, and plot twist you see a mile away. But there's always something about watching people mutilate themselves and their almost comedic reactions the given situations.
As for a now traditional halloween movie... I say meh
Unfortunately, I'll still end up watching the next one out of habit alone >.< (what can I say? I've seen six god damn movies already, what's another gonna hurt?)
JOURNAL: kenisama (Keni )
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