31 Jan 2007

I've been at Fort Jackson for Navy IA Combat Training for 3 days now. By far my biggest accomplishment is figuring out how to hook up my computer to the Army's internet. These Army guys are a riot and do not mix well with the Navy. Our training is mandated by the Navy (they choose the topics) and administered by the Army (they do the training). Caught in between this clash of bureaucracies are two groups: the IA's and the poor drill sergeants (DI's) who have to heard a bunch of cats and train people who alternate between ticked off that they are going to Iraq, scared that they will be put in a situation they are not trained for, and too old for this junk. There is a reason that 18 year olds go to boot camp. They are not set in their ways as much as the oldsters, and they are in better shape. I am 29, and one of the 5 or six youngest here. There are commanders and senior chiefs in their mid 40's, LCDR's and petty officers on the verge of retirement, JO's unlucky on shore duty, and 3 SWO JG's who obviously angered someone on their ship. Whoever came up with this idea should be separated for cause.
Today we formed-up at 0730 so that we could start a half-mile "forced march" to the M-16 trainer. We stepped off at 0815, and by 0835 the DI's (most of whom are reserve drill sergeants) had figured out how to steer their platoons onto the road leading to the EST and FCA. These are two trainers that are no more than overpriced video games with modified M-16's attached which are supposed to teach shooting. I spent the 25 minutes I was playing trying to keep my helmet from pushing my glasses off my face. After my 25 minutes, the next 7 got to go. There were 80+ people who needed to go, so to rotate everyone through took about 6 hours. For the other 5 hours 35 minutes, the Navy had mandated that I get a 15 minute class on how to strip down a M9.

I was rescued by some DI calling out my name in the list of people who had to go to medical. I was rushed over to get my bagged lunch and told I had five minutes to eat. Once again, we formed up to wait for a bus. The 46 seat bus came for the 90 of us who had to go to medical. I was not on the first bus. We stood at attention for 10 minutes until mutiny was threatened and the DI's let us go. 10 min later the next bus came, and 3o min later my bus came. At each stage we formed up. From 1300 to 1600, I got one shot (smallpox vaccine).

So far, 25 minutes of video game and one shot. This could only be topped by PT, Army style. After a 15 minute pre-PT session which involved forming up, we did 50 pushups, 50 situps, and an Army exercise that involved clapping your hands above your head 50 times. Each of these exercises is carefully choreographed with the DI saying the name of the exercise, the IA's repeating, the DI saying "In Cadence", the IA's repeating, the DI saying starting position, the IA's moving to that position, and then the exercise done to a 4 count cadence. They are very upset that we do not know all the starting positions or exercises, but these DI's are very precise, and the exercises are not at all intuitive or physically useful. This level of organization for no benefit in a physical environment is very un-Navy. And we look like monkeys playing football.

Then I went to dinner (fried chicken steaks, green beans, collard greens, and salad), and that was that. It may sound like I didn't accomplish much today, and that is right. I was formed up about 8 times, and then stood in lines. Today was light on the forms: I only had to fill out last name first, first name last, middle initial and SSN 3 times, down from a high of about 600 Monday. And that was 31 Jan 2007