Wax bullets hurt, just ask Jerry...
Today we participated in Glasshouse instruction, Battle Drill 6, and Force on Force.
Glasshouse instruction was essentially teaching us how to enter a room or building safely. I think it's called "Glasshouse" because they use movie theater line barriers as the walls so the audience can see what is going on. We were taught to enter a room 4 at a time. The first person determined the state of the door (open, closed, locked or unlocked), the second person, standing immediately behind the first, had their weapon pointed over the shoulder of the first to engage the enemy from that direction. The third person pointed their weapon upwards to guard for enemy attackers from second story buildings. The fourth had their back against the third person and faced towards the back with their weapon also pointed in that direction. By design, provided 180 degree security while against a wall.
(Left to Right: Chief Erhard, LCDR Riggs, CDR Myers, and LT McClure)
Hand signals were passed down the line to signify the state of the door and when the team was ready to enter the room/building. Upon entering, the first person usually took the right side, the second took the left, the third stepped inside the doorway and to the right and the fourth stepped inside the doorway and to the left. Each individual had a sector of the room and called out their security in the order they entered.
(Here is the same group above demonstrating positions inside a room.)
(CDR Myers (top) and Chief Erhard (bottom) moving around a corner.)
(Mike and Andrew storming the castle.)
Further teaching demonstrated movement down hallways and up stairs as well, but I'll spare the details for now.
Battledrill 6 and Force and Force was a live combat situation in which our 25 team members were divided into 2 teams (each team took a turn). We engaged a building where there were know enemy...with wax bullets themselves. They also had protective gear on but instead of Army attire, they wore dark blue robes to simulate the enemy. After putting on our protective head and face gear, we loaded our M4s with wax bullets. (Every time I say wax now I can't help but think of "40 Year Old Virgin" where Steve Carell's character gets a wax job..."we gonna need mo waaax".)
Our team moved down a dirt road to a building sitting by itself. Upon an explosion, we tactically moved to the building for entry. I was part of the initial 4 troops to enter the building. Once inside, we moved through the first and second rooms, shooting some cardboard cutout enemy. The second team moved in behind us, however in the process of moving past the underside of a stairwell, a couple of team members were shot and had to sit out. There was an insurgent lying down in the dark stairwell plucking off anyone who came around the corner. This individual was difficult to see and shoot but eventually, we got him. Unfortunately, one of my teammates was the victim of fratricide (friendly fire). "Jerry, tough luck...how's your butt?" Because 6 of our 12 team members had been wounded, and I was the medic for the team, I had to disengage the fight and tend to the wounded. I pretended to treat their wounds and everyone survived...hooray for me. The exercise continued for another 10 minutes in the upstairs of the building and in the end, we won...at least, that's the way I'm going to remember it.
(This is the protective gear for our heads. I'm in the middle and I think Jerry and Travis are my sides.)
Immediately after the exercise, we were taken to another building to have a "hot wash". This is a post-exercise evaluation and critique. We didn't do so well in the grand scheme of things, but being our first time, and being a bunch of medical personnel to boot, we received some praise.
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