Good training!

Well, I've just finished a week or so of good training!

We did about 6 days of Mounted Convoy Patrol training, and that was pretty good stuff. Our STX had a few glitches, but was a good learning experience. The Virtual Convoy Combat Trainer (essentially a large First-Person Shooter game that simulates being in a vehicle) was also a very useful tool for training.

For MCP, the mortar section was remanded back to 3rd platoon, and trained with them. In the VCCT, we were the rear vehicle. We got two missions, one that was "familiarization," and had a LOT of opfor to shoot at, and another that was a "real" mission simulation wherein the environment was much less target-rich. On the familiarization mission, we had a situation where a large Greyhound-style bus came driving up behind us quickly (remember that this is in a computer game, not real life or even simulated training). Because the bus got so close so quickly and because we had been engaged so many times already by opfor in pickups with .50 machineguns, I was a little jumpy and shot the bus up. I probably hit it with about 15 rounds or so.

Then it blew up. The section has been ragging me ever since for killing a schoolbus full of muslim children on a field trip to the local museum.

That's why I say the VCCT was such a good training tool. It put us much into a much better simulation of a crowded, lifelike environment than we have been able to simulate thus far. The VCCT was far more challenging than the lane exercises, although the gunners helmet and kit tends to make you queasy due to the misalignment between the gun POV and the helmet POV. Still, it's a valuable tool and I'm glad that the military has invested in it for our training.

Yesterday we had Land Navigation, which is the one thing that the infantry does that I consider myself to be GOOD at. So I had a great time with that. Our group missed the class record for the final exam by 12 minutes, and I know we could have made that up if I had not made a particular error on one of our objectives. It's always good to be reminded that you should double-check your work. TWELVE minutes. /sigh

Today, we had a 4 mile foot march and then stress fire. Basically, we were driven to a range, then four miles on down the road. Dropped off, divided up into firing orders, or "chalks" and sent to walk back up the road to the range. When we arrived at the range, we were safely gotten onto the range, then an "IED" exploded nearby and we ran to our firing points and loaded our magazines. As soon as everyone was ready, the targets started coming up and we shot until we were out of ammo. I and my cohort (two people per firing point, instead of just one) managed 57 hits, which wasn't bad at all. Oh, and yes, I'm back to using my M-4 instead of the SAW now. Thank God for that, because I don't think I would have enjoyed marching 4 miles with a 16lb SAW slung over my shoulder!

Still, between 6 days on the dusty road, land nav. yesterday, and a 4 mile foot march today, I'm feeling a bit worn out. Oh, I forgot to mention that I had a slight lower GI issue for the last few days. Basically, from Sunday until Tuesday evening, I had a bit of a stomach flu and didn't eat anything. Drank lots of water, yes, but ate nothing. Today, I'm feeling quite a bit better, thank you for asking.

It won't be much longer and we'll go home for our leave prior to deploying overseas. I know everyone is looking forward to that. God bless you all and if you have any specific questions, post them in the comments and I'll try to answer them insofar as they don't risk Operational Security.