An Update

Training has been going well this week. We've reviewed some things, learned new things, and been busy over all. So, where to begin?

Monday we had training in hand-to-hand combat, which the Army fondly calls Combatives. The warm-up prior to beginning was quite thorough (over an hour). The practice exercises were educational, and most of us had a good time. I will admit though, to my way of thinking if I ever have to resort to using Combatives in an actual real-life situation the world has gone to heck in a hand basket...but at least if it does I have some sort of training to hopefully allow me to get to a safer situation.

Today my platoon went to the Short Range Marksmanship training. This was actually quite cool and tied into some of the training we did in Harold while at Camp Dodge. As the name might suggest, we shot at targets that were relatively close. Unlike our standard firing range though this time we walked toward our targets while firing. This was totally new, and for the uncoordinated like myself it did take a few walk-through practices to get the new techniques down. No worries though, everyone was safe and there were no injuries. I've noticed over the years that for being soldiers, especially during war time, we don't seem to get to fire our weapons much. That made today even more fun, as well as good training.

Tomorrow should be interesting, it is the start of a four-day course in Combat Life Saving (CLS). As I understand it, it is pretty much first-aid type training, usable anyplace but especially on the battlefield. We have been told that all of us will be CLS qualified at the end of the course. That means we will have two people per vehicle with basic medical training. I'm looking forward to the training and the practical exercises that are part of the course.

Now for the not-so-happy stuff. Lately we've been hearing various rumors about the unit. Some starting with soldiers and reaching home, some starting at home and reaching soldiers. Just as an email/letter/phone call can lift morale in an instant a rumor can kill it, and often on a large scale due to their high speed. I'm not going to dignify any rumors by mentioning them, but I would ask that people consider the sources of information they hear and try not to spread anything that hasn't come from official sources. By official sources I do not mean significant others of service members, but from the Military itself. Also please remember that all the platoons are conducting different training. What might hold true for what one platoon is doing does not mean that another platoon is doing the same. The key to military life (or being family of a military member) is "Semper Gumby" (Always Flexible). The only consistent thing about the military is inconsistency.

One last good thing to end this on. I'm getting Co-Co Puffs from a unit member back home!

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