Fort Bragg arrival

I arrived to Fort Bragg on Wednesday evening after a frustrating day of travel. I can't blame my frustration on the airlines though, the only obstacles I encountered during the day were due to my own carelessness. After accruing 100,000+ frequent flyer miles over the last couple of years, I did something that I usually roll my eyes at novice travelers for doing. . . forgot my Leatherman tool in my carry-on! My heart sank as I realized when the TSA guy told me it was in my bag that I was going to lose my companion of 20 years. The multi-purpose knife/tool was given to me by a Navy mentor and had accompanied me on just about every mission and motorcycle ride since. Did you know that you can pretty much fix anything on a P-3 aircraft with a Leatherman tool? Can't really say the same for my Harley, but I was sentimentally attached to the tool nonetheless (and yall know how often I actually get sentimental). Anyway, the security line was too long for me to go back through in order to mail it back to myself, so I watched in disgust as the guy tossed my tool into a bin labeled "trash". I could only be mad at myself since the guy was just doing his job, but man it sucked! As you can see from this blog post, I haven't quite gotten over it yet!

OK, enough about the sob story over my knife. . . I found my way to Ft Bragg and have been checking in on base (err, I mean "post") ever since. There's a ton of briefs and presentations newly arrived personnel must go through just to be in-processed onto post. Tomorrow I'll finish that process and start checking into the place on post I'll actually be working. The post is HUGE and I've only seen a small area of it so far, but decided to take a pic of one of the statues that seems to represent the essence of Ft Bragg- "Iron Mike." The monument depicts the Airborne Troopers of the Airborne units stationed at Fort Bragg, notably the XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC).

After avoiding owning a 4-wheeled vehicle for a year and a half, I finally broke down and purchased a car! My bike is in storage and I can't really get it out until I find a place to live. I didn't know how long that would take, so I decided it was time to become a grown-up (kind of!) and buy a sensible car. I looked around on the lemon lot and perused the internet, but I couldn't find anything I wanted and/or trusted for a decent price. I arrived at the conclusion that I hadn't owned a new vehicle (other than my Harley) since 1987 and that as long as it got good gas mileage (25-33 mpg) and would last for a while (5-year warranty), it was a wise choice. Actually, I convinced myself that if I was sensible with the four-wheeled purchase that I would be able to upgrade my two-wheeled purchase soon :-) Although non-descript, I'm satisfied with my 2009 Hyundai Elantra.

With the freedom of wheels, yesterday and today I got out-and-about in the gorgeous upper 70/lower 80 degree weather to look at potential areas to live. There's a town called Southern Pines to the west of Fort Bragg that I really like and spent the day out there. It's a bit of a commute since you have to go across the whole forest known as the Fort Bragg Military Reservation to get there, but I really liked how quiet and spread out the landscape was in comparison to the options right outside the post in Fayetteville. I found this lake at Reservoir Park and walked the 2-mile trail around it as I cleared my head with the wooded smell of fresh pine.

Tomorrow I'll continue the process of becoming a member of this military community and trying to establish a new residence. Hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy the weekend and get a preview of the refreshing spring weather to come!

Moving on. . .

Today I checked out of Alpha Company of the 187th Medical Battalion at Fort Sam Houston. Tomorrow morning bright and early, I fly east towards my new duty station and residence- Fort Bragg, NC. North Carolina is one of the few states I've not been to so I'm pretty excited about this new adventure. This time last year, I was still getting settled into my new apartment on Coronado and anxiously anticipating warm Southern California weather. Wow, how life can change in 12 short months!

In the midst of packing up and checking out, I had the privilege of presenting to the young officers going through the Army Graduate Program in Nutrition here at AMEDD. It's always fun when you're asked to do a presentation on something your passionate about and to pass on some "words of wisdom" to folks coming up in our field. I got so fired up from getting THEM fired up about the role of performance nutrition in the military that I have a renewed sense of mission as I head to Ft Bragg!

One of the other cool things we got to do this week was go on tours of a couple of facilities here on post built especially for Wounded Warriors and Warriors in Transition (terms used to describe Soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan as they recover back here in the States). The Soldier and Family Assistance Center (SFAC) had some of the most state-of-the-arts entertainment technology I've ever seen as well as a huge fully stocked, wheelchair accessible kitchen for families and Soldiers to cook for themselves and others. I also went on another tour of the Center for the Intrepid (CFI) this week. I was equally as impressed by this center specializing in advanced rehab of amputees and burn patient veterans as I was the first time I visited it back in October for Ann's retirement. It's humbling to be around so many folks dedicated to helping these Soldiers adjust to their new bodies and lives and advance towards a new norm. I had to smile as I gazed upon the numerous pictures of Soldiers participating in various sports. I recognized many Paralympic events and wondered how many of these Warriors would some day find themselves competing in a sport they had never even participated in before.

As for off-post excursions, I didn't get out a whole lot other than when Pam & Ski and the kids came to visit me. I made it out to the River Walk a few times and saw some movies at the local theaters but didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing or going out. Since food is one of my passions, I did eat out way more than I needed to though! One of my favorite spots was the Canyon Cafe at the Quarry Market. The Black & Bleu Quesadilla accompanied by their signature Top Shelf margarita was my meal selection more than once during my stay here!

Another favorite that was much closer to base was Siam Bangkok Thai Cuisine right out the gate by Kim's Alterations. This quaint little establishment doesn't need any type of advertisement since word of mouth packs the place most nights. It's owned by the husband & wife team of Kent & Cynthia who make you feel at home every time you come in. My favorites on the menu are the Tom Kha Gai soup and Pad Thai. I ate there probably a half dozen times but never took a picture of the food because it was so tasty that I was usually half way through the meal before I remembered I had my camera on me! The portion sizes are HUGE with great presentation. Unfortunately, the only picture I have to post is of the Pad Thai leftovers that I took home and ate tonight for dinner!

As I finish up OBLC I tried to think if there were any nuggets I should pass on to future course students looking for information to prepare them for the training. I think the week by week posts give a pretty good sense of what the training and schedule is like. One important suggestion I have about logistics though is to BRING A VEHICLE! With only a motorcycle that had to be shipped ahead due to time constraints, I didn't have a vehicle to bring anyway, but I can tell you that not having a vehicle was a major drawback. I'm a walker and am not daunted by a mile or two trek to a destination, but I usually didn't have enough time to make it to where I needed to be on foot. The bus system isn't great, so bumming rides or constantly hailing a taxi becomes the norm. I spent a lot of money on rental cars that's not reimbursable, so if you have a vehicle and are able to drive it here, I suggest you do so.

OK, that's it for OBLC training. I'll be busy getting a thorough passdown and looking for a place to live the first week I'm at Ft Bragg, so not sure how much posting I'll be doing at first. Stay tuned though, I'll catch everyone up as soon as I can!

OBLC- Weeks 7 & 8

Yesterday I graduated from OBLC (Officer Basic Leaders Course). I still have another week to go of Dietitian-specific training, but the basic Army skills portion is done. It seems like just yesterday I was scrambling to pack up my apartment in San Diego and finish up projects with the USOC so I could come out here to San Antonio to start training. With the blur of last weeks' classroom instruction & this weeks' graduation, time seems to be in fast forward!

I tend to only make it home to see my family about once or twice a year, so my parents took advantage of my close proximity to Louisiana and drove out here for my graduation. The ceremony itself was short and anti-climatic. We wore ACUs (essentially a working uniform) instead of our dress Blues which we wore the day before for an inspection. Undeterred by the lack of emphasis, my parents maintained the streak of attending all my important graduations (Navy boot camp, undergraduate and masters degrees). It was great to spend a little time with them before I head out to Ft Bragg next week. In the pic above in ACUs is myself and Goguen in front of the AMEDD school static display after the graduation ceremony.

I thought this side by side comparison of me from my "boot camps" would provide a chuckle for those of you who have known me through the years. The one on the right is of me as an E-1 in my whites during a liberty pass at the end of Navy boot camp in 1989. The one of me as an O-3 in my Army dress blues is of me during the OBLC inspection in 2009- twenty years later! I was way skinnier from the smoking & drinking back then, but I am much healthier now! I remember asking Mama Babin (my maternal grandmother) once before I left for boot camp if she felt old. Of course, to a 19 or 20 year old, 60-something seemed ancient. I'll never forget her smiling and relating to me that although her body had aged, she still thought of herself in her mind as being my age. Although 41 is not old, I'm just now starting to appreciate the truth in that statement all those years ago. I may look different, feel different and have experienced so many different things since that picture of me on the right was taken, but I still think of myself as being that age. To be sure, I have days where I feel the weight of my age physically or the weight of my experiences emotionally, but for the most part, I'm still the same! I'll continue to move toward the next big adventure!!

Not sure how next week will flow with the move, but I'll post when I can. Have a great week!!

The Ski family!

I set the stage for this long holiday weekend to be one of relaxation. After weapon turn-in and arriving back in my room on Thursday, I immediately got online and cashed in some Hilton Honors points and reserved a room here in San Antonio to get away for an evening. By 9:00 pm, I was relaxing in a whirlpool bath in my deluxe suite eating a slice of pecan pie and sipping a glass of Cabernet wine from room service! I know, I know, the field wasn't exactly arduous, but I felt like pampering myself! I enjoyed a late checkout Friday afternoon and lazed around in bed watching movies and then getting a message.

Yesterday afternoon, I hooked up with Pam & Ski and family. Although we've kept in touch with each other through annual Christmas letters, I hadn't actually seen them in 15 years! Through Facebook, we realized that we were only a few hours from each other, so Pam & Ski loaded up their two kids, Adam & Anna and headed towards San Antonio. After giving them horrible directions to the base (I guess land nav didn't really cure my terrible sense of direction after all!), they finally found me and we all headed to the Riverwalk for dinner.

Pam & Ski met in VP-17 back in Hawaii and got married after they got out of the Navy. They have two wonderful kids who have definitely inherited both of their playful personalities. After dinner at the Riverwalk, we hung out reminiscing about our old Navy days and even texted a few former shipmates that we keep in touch with who couldn't believe that we were all together again! We laughed and caught up on each other's lives until we finally got tired and called it an evening.

This morning, the Ski family picked me up for breakfast and a day of sightseeing. We started off at the Natural Bridge Caverns north of San Antonio. Although I had been through underground caverns before, I like this one because it wasn't cold! With 99% humidity, the dense air was actually much warmer below ground than the air above! We descended around 180 feet amongst huge stalagmites and stalactites. Because the caverns remain sealed by climate proof doors, the caverns remain "alive" and are still forming the grotesquely shaped rock formations. I'm always fascinated by unique construction methods of mother nature!

From the caverns, we headed back south towards downtown San Antonio and had lunch at the Buckhorn Museum & Saloon. This unique establishment has been in continuous operation since 1881. Apparently, the impressive collection of horned animal busts began back in the 1880s when a stuffed animal head could be traded for shots of whiskey or beer! As you can see in the pic of the saloon, there have been a lot of thirsty hunters over the years! Being the animal-rights activist of the family, Anna preferred a tour of the Texas Rangers Museum over that of the Museum of Horns, Fins & Feathers!

It's been a while since I've posted a food picture, so I thought a pic of my purely Texas lunch would be a fitting one for today's post! The BBQ brisket was super tender and went well with my Shiner Bock beer. Although the sausage & coleslaw left a bit to be desired, the chunky potato salad was pretty good. The Haagen Dazs Belgium chocolate milk shake obtained down the street from the Alamo that followed wasn't half bad either!

Tomorrow is another day off so I'll do some reading and catch up on paperwork before classes crank off again on Tuesday. Hope everyone had as a great a weekend as I did and that treasured friendships will pop up unexpectedly in your life too!

OBLC- Week 6

FTX-3 (3rd week of Field Training Exercise) was a short one. With Friday as a training holiday and Monday President's Day, we only stayed in the field for 4 days in order to accommodate the 4 day weekend. How's that for a work to rest ratio?!

This last FTX week, AMEDD (Army Medical Department) skills week put everything we learned up to now to test in a simulated war scenario. As a Dietitian who has specialized outside of the clinical realm for the whole of my career, it's been an adjustment to think of myself as a medical health care provider instead of simply a performance-enhancer specialist. Every time I shout our class motto, "Train to Save" as we're called to attention in formations, I am reminded that I am now part of a team who's primary mission is to save lives on the battlefield.

There are various levels of medical care provided to Soldiers during engagement. Although the lines blur and don't follow such a well-defined linear pattern in today's modern battlefield, the basic concept is the same. Level 5 is the one most folks are familiar with and think of when they hear about casualties of U.S. Soldiers. It's the huge medical facilities found here in the States like Walter Reed Medical Center in DC and Brook Army Medical Center here in San Antonio. Level 4 are places like Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. This is where Soldiers are evacuated from the theater of operations and receive definitive medical care in a permanent facility. But what happens to them in-theater?

It's easier to go backwards from here. The Soldiers on the "front lines" have combat medics embedded with them. For my Navy friends out there, a medic is the Army's version of a corpsman. Like independent-duty Navy corpsman, these Soldiers are not only skilled as First Responders, but also provide the day to day care required to maintain the health of their troops through preventative medicine. Like the Navy corpsman, they are usually called "Doc" even though they aren't Physicians. The immediate care that they provide at the point of injury is known as Level 1 care. The medics are supported by Battalion Aid Stations. The mission of the Battalion Aid Station is primarily to collect the battalion's sick & wounded, stabilize the patient's condition, and provide emergency medical evacuation to a combat support hospital or other facility. The Battalion Aid Station can be split into two functional units that can operate independently for up to 24 hours- a FAS (Forward Aid Station) and a MAS (Main Aid Station). For our exercise, I was assigned to a FAS. In this pic, you can see the "wounded" that we collected and were getting ready for evacuation. Click on the pic to see how we identified the "gunshots to the buttocks" injury!

The next level of care is level 2 which is the first level of resucitative care. Level 2 consists of highly mobile forward surgical teams that directly support the gunslingers in the field. Level 3 is known as a CSH (Combat Support Hospital, pronounced "cash"). CSH is a modernized version of MASH (yes, like the TV show!). The Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals of yesterday could provide intensive surgical capabilities but was not equipped for primary care capabilities (e.g. internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, etc.) required by today's battlefield environment. Today's CSH is a mobile 200+ bed hospital that can do all that as a single unit or can be broken down into smaller forward deployed units. This pic of me is as a casualty at Level 2 with two nurses attending to my "shrapnel to the abdomen" wounds as I awaited a simulated helicopter medivac (Medical Evacuation).

At first I was pretty disappointed when 5 minutes into the start of the "war" one of the cadre handed me a small card that contained a description of my injury and told me to lay down on the ground. I soon recognized what a great learning experience this was for someone who's normal working environment has not been clinical care based. The blur of Powerpoint slides from the first 3 weeks of this course started to make sense as I was loaded onto a litter and taken through the various steps of care. I'm a hands-on learner, so the whole week proved to be highly beneficial in my learning process.

Well, that was it for our field training, next week we'll be back in the classroom. I hope that my attempts to decipher all the Army acronyms and describe the training I'm receiving help you to visualize what this experience is like. I'm still giddy about being back in the military and am enjoying the learning process. I'm hopeful that my new found ability to exercise patience beyond any level I've been able to achieve in the past will stick with me as I move on in my Army career!

OBLC- Week 5

Our second week in the field was much less physical than the first. Instead of navigating around the field and negotiating the confidence course, we spent more time in the FOB and preparing for practical tests. Counting the reservist augmentation, our company is about 280 strong. Although there are personalities representing the whole spectrum living in close proximity, there hasn't been a whole lot of drama. There's been more down-time compared to last week, so folks are really getting the chance to get to know each other and learn from each others' backgrounds and experiences.

Two of the tasks to be tested out on at the end of the week included disassembly, reassembly & functional check of the M16 rifle in 4 minutes and of the M9 9mm handgun in 3 minutes. Most of us were able to do it with time to spare and those who weren't able to were given extra instruction until they could. As you can see in this pic of study time in our tent, everyone was determined to meet the final requirements.

The day to day operation of the FOB is maintained by various work details which rotate through the six platoons that make up the company (I'm in 2nd platoon). It's a little amusing that the only 2 RDs (Registered Dietitians) in the whole company are both in 2nd platoon. The person with me on KP duty (Kitchen Patrol) in this pic is the other RD, CPT Dunn. KP duty is actually pretty easy since we don't actually cook the food, we just serve it (it's brought in pre-made from DFAC [post Dining Facility]). The food doesn't exactly follow the performance-based menu we serve at the USOC, but is really good hot chow for the field!

Included in the weeks' training schedule was CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, Explosive Incidents). Back during my military days the first time around, it was just known as NBC (Nuclear, Biological & Chemical), but the prevalent use of improvised explosive devices has obviously changed all that. One thing that hasn't changed, however is the donning of the various levels of MOPP (Mission-Oriented Protective Posture). You see me here in the highest posture level holding my weapon. It includes a very thick protective hooded coat, pants, overboots, gloves & gas mask all worn over the ACU uniform and boots. The last time I had worn this gear was on a flight line in August in Gulfport, MS during a two-week annual drill for the Louisiana Air National Guard. The few minutes we spent in this suit here in cool temperatures was actually quite pleasant compared to performing aircraft maintenance while wearing it for a couple of hours in the extreme heat & humidity of the Gulf Coast in summertime.

For the third time in my life I went through the "gas chamber." I sympathized with the new Soldiers who had never gone through it before and were getting all worked up over the unknown. Of course, some of the cadre and other students seem to revel in telling stories that raised the anxiety level of these first-timers! My memory proved accurate as the experience turned out to be unpleasant but tolerable. The whole point to being exposed to chemical agents with the protective mask both on, then off is for the Soldiers to gain confidence that the mask will protect them during an attack.

There's a lot of tears and snot flowing as you exit the building with arms out to the side to allow the wind to clear the gas from your face and clothing. It burns the eyes and throat quite a bit, but a few minutes of walking around brings it down to a tolerable level pretty quickly. As I was exiting the building unable to see my surroundings through the tears and snot, I heard one of my battle buddies yell "Daigle, this is the first time during this whole course I've seen you without a smile on your face!" This comment of course immediately put a smile back on my face!!

One of the other cool things we got to learn was clearing houses. The feces would really have to be hitting the fan if me as an RD were clearing houses, but I was grateful for the experience for 2 reasons. First of all, you just never know. Second, it gives us medical providers a small glimpse as to what the infantry soldiers are going through. As we stumbled over each other through the exercise, I gained a whole new appreciation for the Soldiers who train these moves on a regular basis and are able to move fluidly as a team with little to no verbal communication. My awkward attempts with my team resulted in shooting 2 bad guys and a hostage. Hmm, need to work on my target identification I guess! Playing one of the bad guys afterwards was a lot of fun though!

That pretty much sums up FTX-2. Next week will be our last week in the field and we'll have to put everything we learned into action during the week long training operation. I'm looking forward to the challenge of our final week in the field.

OBLC- Week 4

What a great week!!! Monday morning bright and early we started FTX-1 (first week of Field Training Exercise). We drew M16 rifles from the armory during the early morning hours, then loaded buses and headed towards our home for the week- Fort Bullis. The FOB (Field Operating Base) at Fort Bullis is a training replica of a typical FOB (Forward Operating Base) found in the Army. In the FOB, we lived in 30 man/woman tents and learned basic Army skills. No showers, but we had porta-pots and a small personal hygiene area where the guys could shave and everyone could brush their teeth.

The weather was amazing for the first day and a half- low to mid-70s and clear skies. With such a strong aversion to cold weather, I was thankful for the happy weather! My luck ran out in the middle of day 2 however as a cold front rolled in and the sky started spitting icy raindrops on us as we stood around outside and learned how to assemble & disassemble M16 rifles and 9mm handguns. With a windchill in the 20s, I was amazed at my ability to remain positive and focused on the tasks at hand. Could it be a sign of maturity?! Nah, I think it's just that I like guns!

The sky finally cleared and we were left with cold, but dry days for the remainder of our time in the field. The first pic is of me at the top of a ridge after successfully finding my third point with only a compass, map & protractor during the land nav (navigation) test. As most of you know, I usually am unable to find my way out of even a parking lot, so I was a little concerned about my ability to pass land navigation. After a couple of hours of quality instruction though, I felt like I finally understood land nav and was absolutely giddy at my ability to "find myself" three times in the allotted time! I was starting to feel less apprehensive about the night land navigation test coming up at the end of the week.

Although I haven't been able to do it much since high school, I love to shoot and was excited about getting to fire the M16 and 9mm handgun during the week. Since I shot small bore .22 rifles on a team in high school, I always considered myself more of a rifle than handgun girl. My qualification time at both ranges proved me wrong however as I managed to qualify with the 9mm and not the M16. With so little hands on time before actually shooting though, I feel like a quality day at the range practicing would boost my rifle score significantly. No worries, it was fun to get to shoot and the experience served its purpose as weapon familiarization. I was disappointed that we couldn't spend more time shooting though.

It's no secret that I'm a chow hound! I love to eat! Hell, food is my chosen profession!!! While out in the field, we were served hot breakfast and dinner and only had to eat MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) once a day for lunch. If this is the Army's idea of roughing it, I'm in the right place!!! And man, have MREs come a long way since my time in the desert in the early 90s! They now have dozens of options and actually have heating packs in them so you can have a hot meal. These meals-in-a-bag are actually pretty tasty!

We learned lots of stuff during the week that I won't go into here. No need to tell the world what we're learning here other than the basics! Thursday night culminated into the night land navigation test. This group pic is of our platoon getting fired up before the night nav brief- you can see all the dust in the air from so many boots on the ground in the FOB! We were paired up and sent out into the dark, cold night to find 3 out of 4 points in the allotted time. I was nervous, but feeling pretty confident after my success during the day portion of land nav. After plotting our points and coming up with a game plan, my assigned partner and I headed into the dark, moonless night. An hour later, we found ourselves circling what we were confident were the coordinates we were supposed to be at looking for the marker. Another 20 Soldiers converged on our spot looking for the same marker to no avail. I was confident that we were within 10 meters of the location but was frustratingly unable to prove our location. With time clicking away, we replotted a course to our next location (the course is self-correcting so we were able to verify our current location) and moved on to our next destination. As I was on the ground working my map and protractor, I heard a familiar Cajun accent from over my shoulder. One of the other teams looking for the same point as us just happened to be from Louisiana! It's amazing how the only 3 Cajuns in the whole Company ended up stumbling upon each other in the middle of Texas woodlands! We joined forces and moved out towards our next common point.

As the night progressed, we ran into other teams who confirmed our suspicions- there was a disconnect between our score cards and the destination markers. I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to verify my navigation skills, but the clear night and camaraderie seemed to dampen my frustration and made me appreciate the moment. Although I was freezing, it was a clear, beautiful night out in mother nature with a bunch of like-minded folks. The sky was chock full of stars and the certainty that all of humanity was under the same sky this night. For some reason, I was on point and shooting our azimuths to the next destinations for the rest of the night. At one point during the night, one of my fellow Cajuns shouted out to his partner in the dark "Can you believe we're being led through the woods by a Dietitian from Houma?!" Our evening wasn't a success on paper, but I was immensely satisfied with the knowledge that I always knew where we were. Even though the markers weren't where they were supposed to be, I was able to verify that we were always withing 10-20 meters of our destination. At no time did I not know where we were on the map or in which direction to head to get us back to the the FOB- it was a great, new feeling for me! Unfortunately, the evening didn't turn out so well for everyone. One Soldier had to be medevaced off the course with a broken leg and there were several twisted ankles during the night.

Overall, life in the FOB was pretty cushy. My battle-buddy, Goguen is in the picture with me. She too is former enlisted (Army though) and shares my upbeat attitude about the whole experience. Although we went without showers for 4 days, baby wipes are pretty efficient at keeping a 25-30 woman tent from reeking! I was grateful for my short hair as I watched other women struggling to manage their longer tresses. Between rolling around on the ground during combatives (hand to hand combat) and tromping through the woods, it was hard to keep dirt and critters from making a home on our scalps! Although a good taste of field life, 4 days in the field was in no way a hardship!

Our last day in the field ended with a fun day! We went out to the obstacle course and learned how to low & high crawl and did some 3-4 second rushes. Although we only did a short round of rushes, it was good for us to get a small taste of what the infantry guys are subjected to. This drill starts off in a prone shooting position wearing an LBE (Load Bearing Equipment). The LBE is basically a web belt with suspenders upon which you can attach a couple of canteens of water, a couple of pouches for ammo, a first aid kit and miscellaneous other equipment. Between the LBE, Kevlar helmet and our weapon, we weighed an extra 20 pounds or so. Upon a whistle blow by one of the instructors, you jump up from the prone firing position and run to gain as much ground as you can ("I'm up!") until the next whistle blow ("He sees me, I'm down") at which time you throw yourself onto the ground back into a prone firing position. I say "throw", but obviously you don't want to trash your knees, so you break the fall with the butt of your weapon. It looks so easy, but it gets harder and harder to pop up with any quickness after only a few down-and-ups!

Although pretty bruised up from our day of drills and obstacle course (AKA in the PC world as a Confidence Course), I had a BLAST!!!! I struggled with the obstacles that involved rope climbs (I haven't figured out the technique of using my feet for leverage with the rope yet), I was able to successfully navigate the other obstacles. This obstacle in the picture is a "reverse ladder." You climb up the back side of it, flip yourself over the top rung, then go down face first using your arm & shoulder muscles to work your way down the rungs. As you can see from the smile on my face, this was great fun!

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and this course was a great way to expose ourselves to both. If you click on the picture of the obstacle course to see it up close, you can see that some of the obstacles are quite high. We had a few folks who weren't so comfortable with heights. Also, many of them required a fair amount of upper body strength which obviously, not everyone had. The whole experience was a great team-builder as we all pulled together to help each Soldier face his/her weaknesses, including our own.

With a great week behind us, we have the weekend off (I'm embarrassed to say that actually) before going back out to the field on Monday. After hot showers and meals, everyone is plowing through mounds of dirty laundry and required reading in this down-time. I hope that this post helps everyone to envision what the training is like. Although a challenge for the folks who have never been exposed to camping or the great outdoors, to say that this is arduous would be a stretch! More than once during the week, one of the instructors would catch me grinning from ear to ear and want to know what my problem was. Unable to conceal my happiness over this career choice I would simply respond with one of my favorite Navy sayings. . . "I'm just full of joy, Sir, full of joy!"

If you're interested in seeing more pictures of FTX-1, go to these links:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013407&l=07b76&id=1454935642

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013408&l=b01ac&id=1454935642