Thursday, June 11, 2009

To all of my long-lost readers...

I'm fully aware of how long it has been since I last updated this, and for that I apologize to anyone who may have been waiting with breath held for my next post. I don't have a lot of time to go over everything that has happened since my last post, so I'll give a quick overview of my life since March. Following the completion of FEX-3 was our very short Convoy FEX, which involved us running mock convoys using real Humvee gun trucks and 7-Tons (made in Wisconsin!) and being hit by simulated IED's and ambushes. The highlight of this FEX was my Humvee being stuck in a mud-filled field for a couple hours due to the frantic gesturing of a certain roommate of mine's gunner... After Convoy came the culmination and my favorite part of TBS: MOUT.

MOUT stands for Military Operations in Urban Terrain, basically everything we're currently doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. We spent 6 days in a mock-town, complete with multiple-story concrete buildings designed to simulate real building layouts such as hotels, banks and more. We traded in the upper receivers from our M16's (this part runs from the rear sight to the barrel and includes the bolt and chamber) for shortened ones that were chambered for 9mm simulator rounds. Imagine the same results of paintball, with all the pain of a round using an actual charge... Once the adrenalin got going, however, it was easy to ignore the sting of being hit in the hand or leg. We wore high-coverage paintball masks and practiced giving and receiving orders in the MOUT environment, which ended in us fighting each other inside and out of the buildings using the sim rounds. I don't thing I've ever had more fun in my life. The week ended with us at the FBI academy's urban simulator, known as Hogan's Alley. This is a realistic city, complete with actors playing the villagers and fully-stocked shelves in the stores. Here we conducted a full urban patrol, complete with more ambushes, IED's and vehicle and house searches. Awesome.

After MOUT, TBS really began to wind down. The last and easiest FEX was AMFEX, or Amphibious Operations Familiarization Exercise. AMFEX involved us getting on charter buses and riding down to Norfolk Naval Base, the largest Naval Base in the world. We spent two days there touring amphibious ships and watching demonstrations of landing craft and other Navy-related things that I really can't remember right now. The importance behind AMFEX is that the Marines are historically an amphibious force; it's in the National Security Act of 1947 as well as naturally suiting as the sister service to the Navy. Lately we've gotten away from our amphibious training, leaving us extremely weak in that area (thank you, Iraq). The Commandant has since decided that we need to "return to our amphibious roots", starting with new Lt's getting formal instruction that the officer corps has been missing over the last 8 years.

TBS ended with Mess Night, which deserves a post of it's own, followed by a week of out-processing and finally came Warrior Day (Family Day) and then graduation. My brother and parents came out for 5 days, including Warrior Day and were able to see a lot of the weaponry and machines that the Marines use, as well as getting a chance to fire M16's and M203 grenade launchers. Obviously they also got the all-encompassing tour of TBS by myself.

Since graduation I have been living off base in an apartment (heaven) with a friend of mine from 2nd Platoon. I've been waiting around the Quantico area for the last 3 weeks before starting Introductory Flight Screening (IFS) on Monday. IFS is civilian flight school with all of the tests and classes and none of the certifications usually granted to people completing it (we'll be about 10 hours short of our private pilot licenses at the end). I've been in ground school all week and have my first exam tomorrow, which should clear me to start flying with an instructor next week! I'll attempt to get some more updates here now that I've finally sat down and started again. Take care!