Days 54-57 (Fri-Mon May 22-25, 2009)

Memorial Weekend in Nebraska...

Friday, May 22...Excited to start the weekend with my wife and go see some of my greatest friends, I discovered an alarming absence of water flowing from the faucets in our room at the Navy Lodge. Crap! A shower is one of the few luxuries I enjoy to get my day started...and they robbed me of it...whoa is me. As it turns out, the Fire Department was working on one of the fire hydrants this morning and they underestimated the duration of the draught. Fortunately, within an hour and a half, we were blessed water once again and I could resume my day.

Before heading out of Manhattan, Isabella and I decided to head back to The Chef restaurant for breakfast. We had visited this place once before on Isabella's previous visit and enjoyed it thoroughly. This time was no exception.

By 1100, we hit the road and over the course of 2 hours, found our way to the Payne's house in Lincoln, NE. After settling in and introducing Isabella to Dylan and Drew (Brian's boys), who affectionately called her "Abella", we all piled into the Payne minivan and headed to the Embassy Suites Hotel to link up with John and Hilary Hutt, their kids, Ryan and Lindsey and John's parents. We sat in the lobby, ate Italian food and soaked up the moment...what a good night.

(Me with Drew, Dylan and Ryan)

(Me, John and Brian...been a long time since we were all together.)

Saturday May 23...This morning, the Payne's invited all of us to the YMCA for their weekly getaway, where the kids played in the pool and Isabella and I worked out. Afterwards, we returned to the Payne's house for a Memorial Weekend BBQ. This was fantastic! Melissa, Brian's wife, had her family over and in addition to the Hutt's, John's parents came as well. Great food and wonderful friends...tough to ask for more than that. The night ended with Brian and I meeting up with John at his hotel and an opportunity for the guys to grab a beer and reminisce. Having known Brian and John for the better half of my life and growing up with them in Billings, it has been remarkable how close we have remained despite our geographical distances. I couldn't ask for better friends.

(John with Ryan and Lindsey at the YMCA pool.)

("Abella" with Dylan and Drew...pay attention Drew.)

(Drew and I...that is one crazy smile)

(Brian and John watching over the kids.)

(Awww, my sweetheart.)

Sunday May 24...The Payne's were kind enough to let Isabella and I accompany them to church this morning. Following the service, Isabella and I ventured off on our own. We headed into downtown Lincoln and made our way to Haymarket Farmers' Market; a very cool area of downtown with some trendy spots to eat. We enjoyed a great afternoon together and after picking up some souvenir Nebraska Cornhusker gear, we headed back to the Payne's. Come evening, we met up with the Hutt's and we all went to Chucky Cheese for pizza and "good times". The kids had a blast. As an added bonus, Brian's sponsor family from his days at the Air Force Academy were driving through Lincoln and were able to join us for pizza. They were incredibly friendly people and fun to visit with.

("I feel uncomfortable...")

(The Paynes and Brian's sponsor family.)

Monday May 25...Last day in Lincoln before heading back to Fort Riley. With the Hutt's and us leaving today, we all decided to head to the park for a picnic...and to let the kids play. The park was set near a lake and quite beautiful.

Isabella and I had a wonderful time and are so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend the weekend with two of my closest friends and their families.

Days 50-53 (Mon-Thurs May 18-21, 2009)

(Unemphatically) Yay, lectures...again

Once more I find myself uninspired to expound on the details of these days. In a lecture series entitled "ECADC"...I have no idea what that stands for...as is the case for many of the acronyms in the military...we learned about insurgency, counter-insurgency and strategic level processes. Honestly, while I believe I could recall and demonstrate the proper action illustrated in these classes should the need arise, for the life of me, I cannot describe their content. So, let's leave it at that and chalk it up to a week indoors.

However, given the gloomy, "sour-puss" nature of the first paragraph, the end of the week brought anticipation and elation. As you may have noticed, our week ended on Thursday. The Army, in all their splendor, granted us a 4 day weekend beginning on Thursday at noon...very cool. Isabella flew in that evening and after her drive from Kansas City International Airport, she picked me up and we had some BBQ at the Whiskey Creek Steakhouse. I have been incredibly lucky to have Isabella come out to visit. She's awesome! After dinner, we returned to the Navy Lodging to relax before leaving for Lincoln, NE in the morning to see the Payne and Hutt families.

Day 48-49 (Sat & Sun May 16-17, 2009)

Aaahhh, the Weekend...

Boredom had set in...no commitments or requirements for us. I believe we passed the time on Sunday by going to the new Star Trek movie.

(Mike is trying to look smart by reading a book...clever.)

(Yup, these are me feet. Oh, I can't remember if I mentioned this, but half way through our training, Mike and I had an agreement that we would switch beds (top to bottom). So, my little Hooch was lost. However, in the spirit of the Hooch, I strung up these sheets to provide a bit of privacy and shelter from the glaring florescent bulbs above. Ingenuity at it's worst.)

Day 47 (Friday May 15, 2009)

I Got Frisked...and then Drank Beer

Today was all about tactical questioning and detaining. We began with a few classes on how to detain suspicious individuals (for example) in a village and refer back to previous training on search and seizure of worrisome items and people. At some auspicious point in the lecture, I was volun-told to be the “bad guy”, introduced to the front of the room and in an awkward haze of giggles and snickering, I got frisked.

Now I know how my dog felt after a good petting…but not in a good way. They also discussed what laws govern us during these operations. Finally, we were given a lecture on “tactical” questioning. This is not interrogation, merely information gathering of a specific nature. They stressed this point.

In usual fashion, following the lectures, we were taken out for a practical exercise to demonstrate our understanding. In one of the mock villages on base, there were paid actors who come from a nearby town (Junction City) to play the part of Afghans. Our task was to secure the village, detain the individuals suspicious of terrorist activities, gather information from them and search the premises for contraband. My job was “Tactical Questioner…Extraordinaire”. After posting security at the exits to the village, we moved into the small compound (walls surrounding a two-story building) and lined up the “Usual Suspects” about 5-10 feet apart, on the wall. I think there were eight of them. Four members of our team maintained security in the compound, keeping the suspects under control. One suspect was particularly unruly, yelling and trying to walk away at every chance. Another 3-4 team members went into the building and began the contraband search while I remained outside with HMI Gann as my recorder. We proceeded to question the most dubious individuals first. However, that little idea of mine turned out to be unsuccessful, as we didn’t even get to the informative individuals until the end. By the way, it’s much more difficult to come up with productive questions when the suspects are good at deception. I could never be an interrogator.

(This is team 2...not mine...they were next to our compound.)

(Here, HM1 Weber is securing the suspect...nice job HM1.)

In the end, we detained the correct individuals and released the rest to the Afghan National Police…I guess that’s how it normally happens. End of the workday.

Having "kicked" down doors and berated the "village people"...not the ultra-sensitive, costume-wielding, all male musical group...we prepared for Friday night. One of our Chief Petty Officers, Chief Carter, arranged for as many of our team members as were willing to attend the Tall Grass Brewery Tour. This was fantastic! Not only did we get some great beer, but they had a local establishment, Pat's Blue Ribbon BBQ, cater the soiree.

Good times...good times.

Following the "tour", the brewery arranged for an Aggieville Pub Crawl to follow. Aggieville is Manhattan's version of a college tourist attraction...or multiple bars easily accessible and arranged in close proximity to one another. Having previously and successfully tested my ability to handle small but effective doses of alcohol (on a few notable occasions in the past), I refrained from over consumption and "enjoyed" my night. One of our compadres, who will remain "nameless", did not fare so well; or maybe very well, depending on one's point of view. I think we meandered through 5-6 bars over 3 hours and for a few of us, the night ended with a ride back to Camp Funstun via a shuttle bus. Everyone made it home safe after a good night.

Of note, to facilitate my own memory many years down the road as I look back on this, one of my "nameless" team members lost something on the bus, but with the astute attention to detail of another team member, he found the lost item. The name of the individual and his item have been left out to protect the innocent...

Days 45-46 (Wed & Thurs May 13-14, 2009)

"Come in Radio...don't call me Radio, Unit 91...then don't call me Unit 91, Radio"

-Supertroopers

May 13...BASIC FIRE SUPPORT

Already trained in the art of "deadly combat" (yeh, that's right), our sights shifted to learning the art of "calling for help" (not as "sexy" as the former, but just as necessary). In this class, we were given the basics of how to call in fire support, due to being in a compromised position (enemy attacking) or in the orchestration of a strike from a distance. Using a wall of one room as a projection screen, a large but real picture of a territory with buildings, roads and vehicles was displayed; much like a view of the countryside from a hilltop. In front of us, on the table, was a topographical map of the same territory with coordinated grids. Through our teaching, we were given a target on the wall projection and asked to find the coordinates on the map. Subsequently, we used a special set of binoculars with measurement lines in the optics and our maps to determine the distance and angle of incidence (what direction we are pointed). After determining the distance from us and the coordinates, we called in the air strike to the command center, requesting the attack. Essentially, we sat at our table and pretended to use a radio to call in the attack while two individuals sat at the computer, spoke back to us and entered the command into the computer. Then, an attack plane would sore across the projected wall image and drop bombs on the target. Very much like a video game for training.

May 14…Engaged in Leadership...and Lectures

Another day of lectures. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but here are the class names: ROE (Rules of Engagement), Law of War, Code of Conduct, Graduated Response, and Media Awareness. Enough said. As the last exercise of the day, we had one of our Leadership Engagements. Below, you can see Josh and Travis sit with an interpreter between them discussing made up issues with the village leaders…riveting.

(Check out the fascination of the audience.)

Day 44 (Tuesday May 12, 2009)

Saving lives and blowing things up...No contradiction whatsoever

Today was interesting. Not only did we “learn” about saving lives, military style, we were introduced to the MK 19 (pronounced Mark 19). This is a big gun used to fire grenades…cool.

The morning was fairly relaxed; no 0400 wakeup call, no Hum V preparation. Instead, our team met up at one of the warehouses on Camp Funstun where we were informed of our last “Combat Life Saver” evolution. I realize I haven’t spoken of this in a while, so let me get you up to speed. The Combat Life Saver course is designed for every soldier heading into war. They teach the basics of medical response as it pertains to the military and combat care. A few principles include the “Golden Hour” (a finite period of time in which a critically wounded soldier should be medically evacuated to a medical facility for advanced care to increase the chances of survival), “Care under fire” (just as it sounds; first and foremost, return fire and provide security prior to administering care), and “Tourniquets are invaluable”…OK, you won’t find that last one listed anywhere, but it’s true…so they say.

This evolution was a practical exercise. We were given a scenario in which a large piece of machinery had blown up on our base and the explosion and fire had injured multiple people. Our medical contingency consisted of 14 Navy (all medical) and about 15-20 Army (not medical) personnel to handle the situation. Following a siren to simulate an alarm for the explosion, we all headed outside to assess the situation. As a means of providing the Army team more medical experience (aren't we generous), we let them be the first responders and treat the patients initially. Subsequently, they brought the wounded soldiers to us and we triaged them for further medical need and evacuation. Ultimately, we prioritized each of the eight patients for transport via a Blackhawk helicopter. The exercise only lasted about 30 minutes.

The second scenario (for our two teams) depicted a mortar (bomb) exploding in a cafeteria injuring several people. Again, to offer our Army counterparts more practice, our Navy team acted as “couriers of wounded” and mentors to assist in triage and treatment. To enrich our experience, the instructors set off explosions every 3-5 minutes. No destruction occurred via the explosions, lest a little bit of my hearing. All of the injured soldiers were actors and one gentleman in particular was acting deranged. It was quite humorous for the first few minutes as he yelled expletives; though eventually, he just became annoying. I suppose that was the point; how to deal with the “crazies”.

(Josh and Mike giddy about the range.)

While the Combat Life Saver evolutions took up the morning, we were rife with anticipation for the afternoon. You see, we were headed to the range to fire the MK 19 grenade launcher…and as a bonus, we didn’t have to clean the weapons afterwards. (Air Force got stuck with that duty, since we cleaned all of the CrewServ Weapons the prior week...we still got the short end of that deal.) Essentially, this was a fun day on the range.

(Me just gettin' a feel for the MK 19.)

(Grenades!!!!)

By the time we reached the range, the wind was whistling and cloud cover had drowned out most of the warmth. Bundled in our rain gear (though it never did) we all gathered around the instructor and learned about the “ins and outs” of the weapon, referred to as PCM (Preventive/Prevention Cleaning and Maintenance). Following this, we picked up our ammunition and headed to the Hum-Vs. They mount the MK 19s on the Hum-Vs, just like the .50 Cal and other CrewServs. We were each give 32 rounds to fire. While aiming is possible via “traverse and elevation” dials, this is certainly more of an “area” weapon and shooting for vicinity is common. Basically, when it was my turn, I blasted off my 32 rounds with reckless abandon and burned through my ammo in less than 2 minutes. I liked it...it was fun. If you paid attention, as you stood behind the Hum-V watching others shoot, you could see the rounds as black dots in the air and follow their trajectory.

(Just waiting our turn.)

Again, it was fun, but it was cold out and everyone was a bit tired from the long day at the range yesterday. With that, we called it a day.

Writer's Block

Hi All, 

I apologize for being so "delinquent" on my blog for the past 3 weeks.  I have been remarkably unmotivated to write anything.  However, I have continued to take many pictures and am in the process of writting again.  Geez, I sound like a novelist with writter's block.  

If you get time, check back soon and I will have plenty more to show you.  Take care and I'm thinking of you all as I finish up my last week here in Kansas and prepare for deployment.