Tuesday morning began with Combatives. So much fun!!! While the Army typically does not engage in hand-to-hand combat, it is the "Warrior Ethos" that they are trying to install into us. It is not so much of an actual fighting but more of an attempt to gain a dominant position. Today we learned the 4 basic dominant positions.
Following breakfast we broke down into three groups. One group went to the M-9 range to qualify, the second group loaded up into the trucks to complete the Mounted Land Nav, while the third went to the M-9 range to load magazines for the group that was firing.
Just before lunch, we went to the gas chamber. Yup, we went into a cinder block building with our gas masks on to learn how to trust them. Just before leaving the building we had to take them off and breathe in the gas. The gas causes your mucus membranes to freak out and as the gas touches your skin it burns. Needless to say, this was not a pleasant experience. Thankfully, it was not as bad as I had anticipated. Those who had been in before during previous training exercises had told us how bad it can be so I was expecting much worse than it was. The picture is of the actual taking off of the mask. The cloudiness of the image is due to the thickness of the gas in the room. It was nuts! But I survived.
Following the chamber and lunch it was my platoons turn to fire the M-9 at the range. I had never fired this weapon before and was a little nervous. My instructor was really nice and walked me through the safety procedures one more time. I did great! We had 30 targets and I shot 28 of them. I only received f=credit for 27 of them, but it was still good enough to qualify as expert.
That night following dinner we once again went out to the Land Nav course to complete the Night Land Nav exercise. We only had to find 2 of our points this time so I was done quickly. I was in bed at 2130. Again, early nights rock!
Following breakfast we broke down into three groups. One group went to the M-9 range to qualify, the second group loaded up into the trucks to complete the Mounted Land Nav, while the third went to the M-9 range to load magazines for the group that was firing.
Just before lunch, we went to the gas chamber. Yup, we went into a cinder block building with our gas masks on to learn how to trust them. Just before leaving the building we had to take them off and breathe in the gas. The gas causes your mucus membranes to freak out and as the gas touches your skin it burns. Needless to say, this was not a pleasant experience. Thankfully, it was not as bad as I had anticipated. Those who had been in before during previous training exercises had told us how bad it can be so I was expecting much worse than it was. The picture is of the actual taking off of the mask. The cloudiness of the image is due to the thickness of the gas in the room. It was nuts! But I survived.
Following the chamber and lunch it was my platoons turn to fire the M-9 at the range. I had never fired this weapon before and was a little nervous. My instructor was really nice and walked me through the safety procedures one more time. I did great! We had 30 targets and I shot 28 of them. I only received f=credit for 27 of them, but it was still good enough to qualify as expert.
That night following dinner we once again went out to the Land Nav course to complete the Night Land Nav exercise. We only had to find 2 of our points this time so I was done quickly. I was in bed at 2130. Again, early nights rock!
2 comments:
Holy cow, woman! Have I told you lately that you are AMAZING! First, just this whole experience. Second, not one fireant hill, but TWO! And lastly, you took a picture of yourself in the gas chamber! You're crazy! :)
Anyways, I love you bunches and am so proud of you! You amaze me each day. I'm praying for you each day.
Keep up the awesome work! But definitely, DEFINITELY, watch out for those anthills. :)
Great picture! You're amazing! I'm impressed you didn't have any major reactions in there or just post. You must be wired for this type of work. Way to go you!
Anita
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