new post!!

finally, eh?  well i've pretty much been training nonstop for the last few weeks...  three weeks ago i spent the week in the field for "rear area security training".  i was the platoon sergeant and was in charge of coordinating patrols, gaurd duty, and a react force around the clock.  i know that this means nothing to most of you, but basically i didn't sleep or shower for 5 days.  that's pretty much what it boils down to.  also there were horrendous temperature differences between night and day.  i've never experienced anything like it.

two weeks ago i spent the week getting classes on iraqi culture from an iraqi.  this was extremely valuable training in my opinion and they've gotten it down to a science.  i was impressed with it, and i learned a lot.

all this week we've been doing ied (improvised explosive device) defeat training which culminated in ied lane training where we went on convoys through an ied laden field.  we would sometimes spot the ied and call it in over the radio, and sometimes we wouldn't spot it and we would get blown up and would have to call in for a medevac over the radio.  lots of explosives and chaos so i liked it a lot.  

next week:  240G training.  a 240G is a machine gun.  i don't know how they are going to stretch the training for it over a whole week, but i guess they are really going to turn us into some 240G experts.  i'll let you know how it goes.