Capstone

So we made it through our Capstone project.

Capstone is very much like how it sounds. It is designed for us to take everything that we have learned up to that point, and apply it in a near-to-life setting. For us these days, that means that we create an atmosphere very much like a forward operating base in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

We had about a 5 mile road march out and then setup in fairly nice tents, and even had warm showers somewhat available to us. The main thing was having us all work through some additional training and practice of material in this type of setting.

That included being awakened in the middle of the night with simulated mortar and gas attacks. I am happy to say that I survived them all.

One highlight was that we were able to do patrol practice with some basic trainees. It was really nice to work with them and get to know them all.

I found the experience to be a good amount of fun. Challenging, but fun. You get to know a good amount about yourself and others when you are put in these kinds of stressful, sleep-deprived situations.

I will say that I was very happy to return to my small apartment and my larger bed. You really appreciate the little things when they are removed.

So now we have a week of training and certifications, a training retreat, and then my family will be here, and we have a final week of training the following week and then we are done!

Pretty exciting stuff. It is amazing to consider all that we have covered, learned, and applied in the last 10 weeks.

Blessings,
Corey