Air Force People Playing the Army Game

Hello fans!

Well, no fireworks for me on the fourth, but we did get the day off, so to say. We had a burger burn at a campground on post. Of course, we still had to wear our PT (physical training) clothes. Slept in until 0730, helped set up the picnic, ate a few burgers, hot dogs and macaroni salad and called it a day. Nothing too exciting, which was good.

Today we were up at 0530 and went until 1700 (5:00 pm). Today's exercise was Base Defense, which included entry control points, vehicle searches, defensive fighting positions, guard towers, etc. Everything the Army does at a forward operating post (FOP), but nothing I will EVER do. Decent training, but somewhat wasted on us. If nothing else, it gave us a look into what the Army goes through.

The first half of the day was a walk through of the basic functions mentioned above. The exercise started after lunch. I was assigned to a guard tower, which turned out to be one of the better places to be. The initial "attack" came right in my sector. A man was firing mortars (simulated, of course) from beside a pick-up truck in a field across from us. They used ground burst simulators, so it got pretty loud. So while I was yelling "incoming", my tower partner - Dan Sund - was taking shots (blanks) at the bad guy. After a few shots, the man fell and played dead. Then we had to up-channel all the information. We picked up the "wounded" and waited for the next attack. There was a "village" (Hollywood prop-like buildings) across the road from the base. Due to its location, my tower was in the best position to see everything; I could see right down the main street. So we stayed pretty engaged throughout the day, passing information up and down the line. It helped the time pass by faster. We had to deal with drive-by shootings, civilians poking at the perimiter fence, roadside bombs, etc. The weather was agreeable, which made it somewhat bearable. (80 degrees, sunny and breezy, which by any other standard would be considered a BEAUTIFUL day. Not at Ft McCoy in your battle rattle.) I never got the chance to shoot my weapon, which suited me fine. I let Dan have all the "fun". Of course, now he has to clean his rifle; I don't. (The Lt Colonel is a little savvy!) I'm not sure if anybody took any pictures, but if I find any, I'll post them soon.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another live fire day, but I'm not sure exactly what is involved yet. But stay tuned and I'll give you all the details in time. Until then, take care and keep in touch!

Later,

-Dave