Well friends and family, I have completed Navy Introduction to Army Combat Training (NIACT)and have made the next leg of the journey to Camp Virginia in Kuwait. I wanted to highlight a few of the things that I got to experience during the last week or so of training at Camp McCrady in South Carolina, it was a unique experience that I will never forget, and look forward to not experiencing again.
Top experiences during NARMY training:
1 Training to fight with while wearing IBA's (Individual Body
Armor - approximately 70 lbs of Kevlar ,and plating designed to protect the torso, groin and head area, but not designed to be worn while doing anything athletic!) I give credit to the Army guys that wear this stuff all the time while deployed, fortunately I will not have to wear it all the time while in theatre, unless of course flying shrapnel from a stapler is considered dangerous. We have spent many days just wearing the full gear, to allow our bodies to adjust physically, but the real physical test came when we did reflexive firing in "full battle rattle". This consisted of jumping out of a humvee (not as easy as you think in that gear), running up a hill, loading our magazine into our rifle, running down range shooting at targets from standing, kneeling, and laying down positions. The entire drill took 1 ½ minutes max, but I know I was huffing and puffing at the end. It seems adrenaline does most of the work for you during these exciting maneuvers, with your body paying the price for that extra pancake or two you ate breakfast later on. Needless to say I am thankful my job in Iraq does not entail wearing the equipment fulltime. 
2. Brass pick up – So if getting to shoot over 700 rounds of ammo is the best part of the training, the worst part is having to pick up the brass afterward. That included 13,000 or so casings to be accounted for on our last day of qualifications. You'll be happy to know the Navy ensured we had low level light (sunset) shooting training which of course means by the time you are done it is completely dark on the range, and you can't go back to the barracks until 99% of the casings are accounted for. Sure the first hour was fun, almost like an Easter egg hunt as we hunted through grass and sand for the brass casings with flashlights and headlights from the cars we drove onto the range. Somewhere after the first hour, the grumbling began as we searched diligently so we could go home and get some rest. My engineering mind all the time saying there has got to be a better way to do this. Of course the brass is not magnetic and therefore the supermagnet idea went out the window. If anyone has any bright ideas on an easy way to pick up 10,000 brass casings easily, send me an email, we can save the military a ton of money.
3. Urban operations - That's right from G.I. Joe to SWAT team we got to do it all, with the focus no shifting to learning to enter and clear houses safely. It was kind of fun, again pretending is always the fun part. Many of us know that this won't be part of our day to day activity, but the training is designed for defensive and survival maneuvers, should you ever have to exit your humvee during a convoy and seek shelter in a village. This was deemed particular necessary after the debrief of the now famous Jessica Lynch capture that occurred early in the war. At that time only the army teams whose job it was to clear houses where trained, but they learned it was critical that all personnel entering theatre receive basic training in weapons, land navigation, communication, urban operations, and convoy operations. That is mostly what the training period has been designed for ,and I would say the Army has done a great job in training us, despite our surly Navy attitudes toward the Army's way of conducting business.
4. Convoy Operations - The grand finale of the training was a full day in the field conducting convoy operations and land navigation exercises. They both turned out to be good fun. We got to take a convoy of humvee's through a course on Fort Jackson, that gave us an opportunity to practice spotting IED's alongside the roads, deal with local population (Army drill Sergeants simulating aggressive insurgent activity), and a roadside ambush with a firefight breaking out (we were issued blanks). Despite one of the younger overzealous drill sergeants pretending to capture our humvee with his imaginary gun, we all had a good time and learned a lot. The land navigation was pretty fun, and worthy of earning some sort of boy scout merit badge for not getting lost in the woods. We simply were given some grid coordinates on a map and a start point and told to go find the markers in the woods using nothing but map and compass. Evidently Google maps has not yet mapped this area as we all pulled out our cell phones in an effort to use some more advanced technology. But alas, a good old compass, and a map and a little shoe leather got us where we needed to go.
5. Thanksgiving dinner - This was a true blue American experience that had tears welling up in my eyes. A few of the local military veterans organizations, boy scouts, and the community put together an incredible evening for us on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We were greeted with applause, hand shakes and hugs as we entered the building. They provided a great meal, with a desert table as big as the dinner buffet. After the many speakers including a retired General, and a congressmen from South Carolina spoke. They entertained us with talented choirs, and young kids dancing, with the finale being a country music gospel singer. Needless to say we were all uplifted, and looked forward to making them and all of you proud when we do head off to Iraq. An aside, these same people actually showed up to the airport on Thanksgiving night and spent another two hours with us as we waited for our plane to depart. They provided snacks and water for us to take on the plane, and a big send off as we boarded.
The people – another "Joe perspective" into the many interesting and varied people and personilities that make up our armed forces:
CDR McRibs - This training while not as rigorous as boot camp had it physical hazards. We are all not 18 year olds running around with our hair on fire like when we first joined but many still have the spirit to give it their all. One unfortunate CDR in his late 40's, cracked a rib while diving to the ground in his IBA. The unfortunate part about this is now he will have to wait until he heals to deploy, and his relief in country will likely delay another month while he does so.
Lt Colonel Recall. This guy was a really good instructor. He had already served active duty during the the 70's and 80's, now he has been recalled to active duty to train us Navy guys to go over and serve. I didn't realize it but when your retire from the military you go into the inactive ready reserve (IRR) and until you reach retirement age (60) they can call you up as needed. This guy was now a district attorney in Ohio, and is taking a year of active duty in South Carolina to help train us Navy folks on Rules of Engagement and Rules of Force. So for all you out there who think retiring after 20 years at age 42 is a great Navy deal, make sure you understand the fine print of your contract.
IS1 Mommy- Many of you may not know but there are quite a few military members who are married to active duty military members. This young first class petty officer was a reservist married to an active duty sailor. Her husband had been deployed frequently on ships the past few years, and they recently moved to Millington Tennessee for some much deserved shore duty. She was active duty herself for a few years but when they had children she got out of active duty and joined the reserves. To their surprise a month after reaching Millington, she got the notice that she would be deploying to Iraq, and now her husband is taking care of the family back home. The story was just a reminder of the challenges the families of those deploying really face. It truly is the amazing families of all of us deploying that make these deployments even possible. The military really does take care of every need of the individual sailors and soldiers when we deploy, a place to sleep, plenty of food, and even occasional entertainment. However, families back home are all now one short of their normal complement of people to take care of the family; they truly are the unsung heroes of military, and if you are looking for a way to support us soldiers and sailors while we are we are deployed, find a family back home in your town or neighborhood and support them.
Specialist Translator - My battle buddy and I had a couple of Army reservist, Arabic translators join us for dinner one evening. It was actually nice, because they gave us a good break down of the Islamic background of Iraq. Quite frankly it was the best training we received on the culture of the people, what the real difference was between the Kurds, the Shia's and the Sunni's and what to expect from the people when we go there. They were a nice couple of guys and are going back for their second time to serve in theatre; one was originally from Lebanon, and the other from Egypt. Much of what we learned was of the peaceful nature of the Islamic people, and the genesis of the radical groups.
Bottom line assessment:
I am glad to have moved on in to the next phase, I think I have had sufficient training and am just ready to get in country and start my clock so I can return home to the family. As expected you bond tightly with the men you train and serve alongside, get to know the customs and traditions of another organization, and add a few more "sea stories" to you duffle bag.
Take care everyone back home, and God bless.
Joe
PS - for pictures check out the Photo section of week 2 - due to low bandwidth here in Kuwait I wasn't able to add them to the blog post.
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