The Alpha Group

This is just a, "that is kind of funny" type of update.

Lately, we have been doing PT twice a day, everyday. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are run days (or something like that).

We had previously completed a one mile run as a type of assessment to see where we were all at in our running ability and speed, as well as push-ups and sit-ups.

Now, I am not much of a natural runner, but I had been working on this prior to coming to CH-BOLC. For my age group I need to do the 2-mile run in at least 18 minutes, 18 seconds. It took me a while, but I felt pretty good when I got myself to where I could do the 2-miles in about 17 to 17.5 minutes.

So, I was really excited when we did the one mile and I completed it in 7 minutes, 58 sec! I thought that was pretty good. However, I had no lofty thoughts that this then meant that I was a speed-demon.

So you can imagine my surprise this last Monday, when we were broken into running teams based on speed, and I was put in the ALPHA group. These were all of the really fast people who had been passing me in the one mile run (I might have even been lapped a couple times).

I explained to the Alpha-group leader that I thought that I might be in the wrong group and he just told me to try to keep up and to drop out if I needed to do so. Well, I stayed with them for about a 1/4 mile, and then I was looking for the oxygen tank (why do the "professional" athletes have oxygen tanks?).

I walked, jogged, sprinted, coughed, and sputtered my way through the run and got back to our starting point. When it was all said and done I spoke to our NCO in charge about my situation. He looked at his records and said that his records showed that I ran the 1-mile in 5 minutes, 5 seconds! I told him that I have never run that fast, and shared my ACTUAL time. He smiled and said that I should have been in the CHARLIE company, which is where I will be tomorrow. Hopefully I will not be looking for the oxygen tank; at least not as needfully.

Catching Up

OK, so here is the latest update...

Since the 19th here is what all we have been up to . . .

We worked on map reading and using a compass on Tuesday. This was in the classroom and we had some software that we went through ahead of time. I was kind of concerned about this portion of the training because I have never used a typographical map and compass before. However, my brother-in-law gave me some good pointers before I got here and it really helped to make it a lot of fun.

It really became fun on Wednesday when we actually went out to a remote area of the post and practiced our new map and compass skills. It was very cool figuring out where you were on a map, figuring out where you wanted to go and then figuring out how to get there. We then worked on more training with first aid, radios, mapping, and chemical attacks. Then that evening we tried our hand at doing map and compass navigation at night.
This was a bit more difficult but it was mostly because we had a larger group that we were trying to work with and we ended up with slightly different measurements. This ended up causing some confusion and so we missed a couple of the points that we were suppose to find. It was still a good experience and I think we learned a lot.

The next day we worked on more of the skills that we will need in today's modern battlefield. How to crawl low to the ground and how to move through and around obstacles with a chaplain's assistant. That was for the morning, and then after lunch we tested on the skills from the day before such as first aid, radios, maps, etc.

One side note on the lunches, the MREs (meals-ready-to-eat) of today are actually very good. There is quite a variety and they have some really tasty options. A lot of calories, but that would be a good thing in the field and on patrol.

After all of that we worked on night infiltration. Basically this was taking the low crawling skills to another location and using them in a more realistic battlefield environment. In other words, crawling through the sand, under bard wire and around obstacles while things are flying overhead and going "boom!" I thought it was pretty cool.

Then Friday we had a paper due on Army officer ethics, and three different study guides that had to be turned in, and then two quizzes. We also completed a personality inventory and had our first student-led, practice military church service. This is an exercise that all of us are going to do. Basically you are putting together a church service as though you are in Iraq, speaking to a group of soldiers who are 6 months into a 12 month deployment. It is an excellent project for us since it is very likely that we will all eventually be in a similar situation sooner or later. It is best to start working out some concepts now. The project is done with your platoon and staff group leader who has "been there, done that" before. They are able to give some real life, experience based feedback, while the other students give general feedback. The first student, Adam, did a really good job and helped break the ice for the rest of us.
We then went for a run as a class along a hilly road in a very pretty area, then had muscle-fatigue based PT this morning, at 0600. Therefore I was awake plenty early to get my laundry, shopping, and some class work done.

The final part of the evening was getting together with the other students (or at least most of them) who are going to Ft. Campbell and having dinner and getting to know one another better. We are trying to do this every Saturday and it has become a highlight of the week. Joel picked the place tonight and it was a hit. It is a place called "Yesterdays" and it is down in a college area. Great food, and very cool, historic building atmosphere.

Also, please keep in mind that allow though some of these pictures look nice and sunny, for much of this week it was actually very, very cold.

Have a wonderful Sunday,
Corey

Time Flies

Even with a long weekend, it is amazing how time flies.

Although I had an extra day this weekend, I found that I had so much homework and other things to do that I still did not get it all done. In fact, just putting this together is delaying my departure to bed so I can get up at 0445 to be ready to head to PT at 0535.

I mentioned in a previous post that we all experienced the gas chamber. I thought I would share a picture of the aftermath, however blogger does not want to do any uploading right now. But the picture does not really do justice to the situation anyway.

It was really cold, although sunny, and the tear gas makes you squint and your nose run.

So this week we are working on the ethics of a US Army officer, map reading, and first aid types of things. In addition to the other normal stuff like PT.

Please keep us all in your prayers and don't forget to send the mail and care packages. It is almost like Christmas when they call your name at mail call. It is fun to see some of us, all of which have advanced degrees, jump up when their name is called with a big smile on their face.

Continue to lift up our soldiers and their families and our leaders.

God bless,
Corey