Field Training Exercise This is a temporary rendition of my FTX experience from Basic. This was one I already had written up. I'll write another one up sometime soon and post it here when I get the chance. Ok, to protect the names of the innocent, I'll call my drill sergeants DS S, DS L, and, hmm, that won't work, I had two drill sergeants with L names. Ok, DS A, B, and C. And then I'll go into telling you all about FTX (field training Excercise) You see, FTX is where we put all of what we learned into place, and we treated it just like a war time situation. Everyone wore Camoflage, and it was scary seeing the Drill Sergeants running around in Soft Caps (as apposed to their regular Smokey Bears). I wouldn't have been able to tell the drill sergeants from the Privates except that we were all in Kevlars. I hate Kevlars. Anyway, we had a stand to for an hour right before we went to bed, where we lay in our Hasties in the prone, unsupported position protecting the perimeter with our weapons and our round of blanks. I fell asleep a couple of times, because where i was posted, there wasn't much action. During the day, the Drill sergeants were there to help us out. But i got a faint impression the Drill Sergeants lived for FTX. At night, they became the Enemy. We had a M-60 machine gun guarding the entrance to the perimeter. DS A, our platoon drill sergeant, had pretty straightforward rules. When he said you were dead, you were dead. And you couldn't kill him. What did he do? He ambushed the M-60, stole it, and then came charging toward the lookout (where i was positioned.) He stated pretty plainly, "you're dead," and shot at my battle buddies about twenty feet away from me. He used the rest of the rounds from the M-60 and then took pvt A's M-16 and charged back to the perimeter. I sat up in my Hasty and tried to shoot at my Drill sergeant, but my magazine got stuck. So did Drill sergeant's. What did he do? he went back to Pvt A's and Pvt L's Hasty, gave the M-16 back to Pvt A telling her "your weapon sucks" and picking up the M-60 and coming back my way. I meekly handed him my weapon (which he was coming for) and he gave me orders to return the Machine gun when stand to was over. "Am i dead, drill sergeant?" I asked. "Yep" he replied. And then he took my beloved weapon up the mountainside, leaving me with an M-60 Machine Gun with *sigh* no rounds left. That was the only excitement i got from my lookout point. The next day we had DS B, who took us on the sticks course, which i'll have to tell you all about later. It involved DS B and his very bizarre, sick sense of humor. Funny, i miss DS B most of all. And, it involves the Port-a-potties. DS 'B' and the Sticks Course At FTX, all the drill sergeants stayed for at least one night. DS B and C weren't there the first day. Only DS A. Anyway, he left early the next morning, which left us in the capable hands of DS B and C to lead us through the sticks course. I'm not sure if that's how you spell the Sticks course (it was probably an acronym that meant something, the army does everything by Acronyms. I know far to many Acronyms) Well, anyway, the sticks course was a course where the drill sergeants led us through the woodlands as if we were on a real mission within a Squad. They had a artillary simulation, a near ambush simulation, and a bunker simulation, as well as a recon mission and an NBC situation (nuclear, Biological and chemical, where we whipped out our ill-fated Protective masks and put them on in under 9 seconds). Then DS B (who the entire time, just observes us to make sure we are going in the right direction) brings us back to the perimeter where we are challanged "halt, who goes there?" and he tells them to shut up as we march through the peremeter in our protective gear. I did this twice, because i had a blast the first time (although i totally botched up the Recon mission part, Drill Sergeant asked me if i wanted to go shake hands with the enemy or something, long story). The second time was a little more interesting. DS B told us he was out of CS gas, and if you have ever been in a gas chamber with CS gas (and if you have ever been in the military, you have), you know that it is painful stuff, but it can't kill you. We who had been through before kind of said "darn, (most people only went through once) but oh well, we were going to have fun anyway". I shouldn't have believed him. i had been around that man everyday for 8 weeks, and i should have known he was up to something. Anyway, the artillary part went by smoothly, and this time, we didn't try to kill the first sergeant standing out in the middle of the woods and this time, aimed for the ambushers. And then we came to the bunker, with the M-60 starting to rattle off it's rounds in the distance. We did our bound and cover and everything, and since i was point man, i was out front. DS B had some yellow smoke to signify that we had attacked the bunker with the AT 4 and we could clear it out, and so i charged the bunker. And breathed a big old breathful of CS gas into my lungs. I started giving the warning to all my comrades that there was gas and immediately i tried to put on my protective mask, which is a pretty technical process of holding your breath and closing your eyes as you put your weapon between your legs and the Kevlar ontop of your weapon, and therefore proceed with placing the mask on your face, pulling the harness over your head and sealing the mask. This is all supposed to be done in nine seconds. I had just breathed in a mouthful of CS Gas and i was dying for air. Was i going to actually follow the sequance for putting on a mask? Hell no! i left my M-16 and Kevlar on the ground and high tailed it for clear air. I got a glimpse at DS B, and he had this wicked grin on his face. He found it funny as hell, which is so him. Anyway, I put my mask on my face in clean air, and then went back to retrieve my weapon and Kevlar (we learned that you never leave your weapon, or else DS A, or worse, First Sergeant will get their hands on it and then your toast) Once the bunker had been cleared out, DS gave us the all clear command and we wearily took off our protective masks. We were safe, the air was clear, and we continued on the course. The Recon mission went much smoother this time, and i was involved, again. DS didn't make any comments this time, but he rubbed it in my face last time. Anyway, to the NBC situation, we went deep into the revine and waited for the CS gas to come out of nowhere LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO! Drill Sergeant had his fun earlier, so it turned out, and he just yelled gas at us while we put on our masks. Nothing exciting happened for the rest of NBC, except for it was unbaribly hot and stuffy within the confines of that mask. And it didn't give you much breath. Marching up the hill and hitting the road, Drill Sergeant gave us the command "double time" to the perimeter, which was a good 100 meters away. So we ran, in our protective masks, up hill, in 70 degree weather (hot, considering we had been aclimized to thirty). So we are within the perimeters, dying for breath, waiting for Drill sergeant to give us the command "all clear" when he gives us that demonic smile and says "push". Push-ups in protective masks is not an easy task, let me assure you. When we finally pulled off that wretched contraption, sweat was pouring off my face. And we began planning another sticks course, which i didn't feel like being a part of. At first. I was light headed going into that one and i wasn't entirely up for another mission. But for some reason, i ended up going. This mission turned out to be much different then the last. And much funner :) Drill Sergeant B decided to go on a little hike, and anyone in our platoon was welcome to attend. It ended up 5 males and 2 females (i ended up going because the other female lacked a battle buddy, we couldnt have just one female and a bunch of males going, could we?) We hiked down to the river and sat down and ate our MRE's on a deck looking out on all the bugs skitting across the water. What was really nice about this little 'mission' was that we all discarded our Kevlars for soft caps, and yet we still retained our weapons. Drill Sergeant was pretty quiet while we all just talked, a first seemingly at a meal. Drill Sergeants aren't all the friendly with privates talking during meals. But this was different. Besides, we were eating MRE's. I got a nasty one, i ended up eating only a portion of it. And i was a little sick as well. But anyway, we sat by that river and just talked amongst ourselves for a good half hour, relaxing, something we didn't do much in basic. The sun was starting to set and so we decided to head back. Tonight, we were going to test the company perimeters. Marching up the mountain to the company, we just kind of joked and walked up that old road toward our campsite. about three hundred meters, Drill Sergeant B silenced us and slid silently off the road. That is when Drill Sergeant entered his element. He was a Combat Engineer, this is the kind of stuff he lived for. I could tell, this is why he became a drill sergeant. Nothing compared to anything at basic then that little Assault mission our band of 8 did that night. We snuck through the woods (camoflaged) until we saw the Mad Dawgs (third Platoon) up ahead, talking and walking around. Stand to wasn't for another 30 minutes, they hadn't been expecting anyone yet. We crept closer and closer, and then we got on our hands and knees and began to crawl forward. As we got closer, we began to low crawl, weapons locked and loaded with our dummy rounds (we managed to salvage a few) as we got closer and closer to the perimeter. We finally halted a good fifty feet and sat behind a rock, waiting for the sun to go down a little further before we attacked. The excitement we were experiencing made the wait nothing. we talked quietly amidst ourselves, while the mad dawgs talked, ignorant of our presence. Finally, Drill Sergeant gave us the command that we were ready, and we snuck up the embankment of the hill, toward the prey. No more then twenty feet from their perimeter, we hunched behind the rocks and waited until they would note our presense. Finally, Drill Sergeant began throwing rocks at them, and we began to fire a round or two. Mad Dawgs were not all that well guarded. But we got them to their positions a good 15 minutes before stand to. I don't think they were all that happy. And we skulked back down the hill and headed for Recon territory. Recon was fourth platoon. And our bitter rivals. we didn't sneak up on them nearly as easily as we had Mad Dawgs, but they were closer to stand to. But they had no idea who we were. All we could hear them say was "Baez, we see you out there!" Nobody in our little group was named Baez. They tried to count us, they couldn't. But we didn't waste our time with them. We found their perimeter secure, so we continued on along a draw and stepped around Recon altogether. the night was flying, we had two more perimeters to test. Walking toward Light fighter territory, drill sergeant ran into a Booby trap. It scared the living crap out of us, it was unexpected. A loud popping sound. We held our ground for a few moments, expecting Recon to come charging out to attack us. They didn't. And we continued close to the road when Drill Sergeant came across something that appealed to him to stake out. The Port-a-potties People were waiting patiently for their battle buddies to get out of the latrines so they could continue back to their platoon. You see, you go everywhere with your battle buddy. You don't leave your battle buddy's side. If you go somewhere with out your battle buddy, the drill sergeants will do horrendous things to you. Like imprison you until your battle buddy comes to rescue you. Of course, to rescue you, they have to have a battle buddy. We learned this at the bayonet course. Anyway, the latrine is the exception. You take your weapon everywhere except for the latrine, where you give it to your battle buddy. And so, we low crawled toward the Latrine and sat there, in the prone position, hiding in the shadows of the trees, eavesdropping. I went to Basic with some pretty strange cookies, that's for sure. Drill Sergeant was one of them. Eavesdropping on their discussion about UFO's (which was very bizarre in itself) Drill Sergeant was struck with a brilliant idea. Taking off his LBE and pulling his cap backward on his head, bending the bill upward, he smiled to us and whispered "watch this". And watch we did. Like I said before, the drill sergeants had a very bizarre sense of humor. Sick and twisted sometimes, but always bizarre. He ran on all fours, snorting like a pig, and chased the girls standing outside the latrine. We all couldn't help our laughter as we heard them scream. When he retreated back into the confines of the forest, we continued to hear the girls laugh from the aftermath. "What was that!" "Drill Sergeants!" They started giggling and continued to talk, and i thought, "how odd?" I myself would have investigated, being the sort of person i am. Drill sergeant repeated this strange behavior two more times, always asking "have more victims arrived?" It was hilarious, and our drill sergeants had the strangest sense of humor. After attacking Light fighter perimeter, where the idiots continued to keep asking "halt, who goes there!" fear deeply resignating from their voice when it was obvious we were the enemy, we arrived on our own and sneaked up on it. What did Drill Sergeant do? Finding two privates wandering around the hills ahead of us, he went back into his pig routine and chased after them! What did they do? They followed him like a couple of little kids following a puppy. Finally one of them decided to shoot him, and he played dead. We sat back watching and trying to stifle our laughter as they approached Drill sergeant, talking amidst themselves. "what is that?" "Is it dead?" (or something rediculous to that affect, considering we were using blanks) They crept closer and closer, only to have Drill Sergeant go right back into his routine and run away from them, which they followed. And we charged, firing our blanks. We came out of that episode laughing our heads off! many of my fellow battle buddies were deeply jelous of our little adventure. But from what i heard, the first Leutenant took a group from our platoon as well, where he got pissed when he was challanged and ended up taking the magazine from the M-60 and tossing it across the forest. Ahh, I decided that the assault mission was the best thing about FTX, which should have been a good three days longer, although we would have probably ran out of clean uniforms by that time, and everyone would have been smelling foul. Not that we didn't anyway. but really, the drill sergeants were actually really cool. And though i didn't think so at first (in fact, i thought they hated my guts at first) i found out that the drill sergeants had a lot of respect for me. I thought it was really cool, and i was proud of what i had done in the end. No really, basic isn't all that bad! -Risawn: # 4:43 PM 4:43 PM