Back In Garrison

It's another Saturday here in Lawton, after a long week in the field. By field, I mean out on a training exercise, which was intended to simulate a combat environment. We set up a forwards operations base, or FOB, communications, cook's tent (your best friends while you're in the field), the whole nine yards. Working for a forward support company, this meant we did pretty much what we do back on base- make sure trucks and transportation is up and running, get supplies where they need to go, and generally keep busy. The company I'm assigned to is a support company for the 214th Fires Brigade, meaning field artillery- the gun bunnies, as we like to call them. Most days I enjoy it, although being technically not field artillery you kind of get looked down on for not running the "big guns", although many FA personnel realize that without us, they have to go get their own food, water, ammo and supplies. I'm proud to be in a unique position as both an ammunition handler and a driver. The Army tends to micromanage a bit, so you would need one person certified to handle ammo and yet another to drive the ammo out there to the artillery area. So it looks like both of those people are me, which is good, as I like to run a metaphorical tight ship. Or is that the Navy? Well, at any rate, it saves a little bit of time out in the field.

But back to the field. First off, we hauled out communications equipment, and as a fun little aside, learned to set up a communications tent. Basically it involves setting up a large antenna and hooking wires up to it, and not having said big antenna fall on you- it's basically a large sectioned metal pole, and I've heard of one soldier who managed to take one across the shoulders and broke his collarbone. Ouch! And so it went- most of our missions were at night, with training classes during the day. We also spent a little time playing infantry, clearing out simulated rooms with simulated enemy combatants. Often truck drivers are pulled out of their trucks and used as backup infantry troops. This is one of the tougher jobs in the Army, and requires a little bit of know-how and a bit more luck. But the training comes easy after a while, and it never hurts to be prepared. Then the sun went down, and the fun really began. One night found us running infantry squads in a dark field, while we were equipped with NODs- night optic devices. They use any and all light, such as starlight or moonlight, and make everything appear in shades of green- this is what you sometimes see in the movies, although my experience has been it's a little grainier. These come in single and double-eye versions, the single-eye being the most common. They attach to a regular helmet, although this is sometimes a challenge, as there are one of two types of mounts, one of which involves a strap system across the top of the helmet, the other a mount screwed into the actual helmet. On occasion, neither of these will work, due to the fact that there are two types of mounts and two types of helmets- the odds of you having a non-compatible mount and helmet are directly proportional to how important the mission is. However, a pair of pliers can usually be used to good effect to jury-rig the optics onto your head. The single-eye mount takes a little getting used to- although it's not a good idea to walk around with one eye closed, and while using both eyes, the single-eye optics tend to mess with your depth perception. There are double-eye optics, although since these are a little more expensive, you don't see them as much in the field. On foot, this change in perception is easily compensated for, although driving a vehicle like this is a little more difficult. Automatically, the eye you have optics on becomes your dominant eye, and you tend to center everything you see in that eye. This means you can tend to drift to one side of the road or the other, as you try to position yourself on the road. This means you need to compensate by steering towards the opposite side of the road, so it seems like you're way too far to the opposite side of the road. Another thing is tight turns. I was driving a big four-axled monster known as a a PLS- a palletized loading system, which normally I look at as one of the most brilliant wheeled vehicles ever to see combat. However, being about 20+ feet in length, even with three steering axles, the PLS does not turn on a dime, nor does it back up very easily. Throw into this the perception problems created by night optics, and it can prove a problem if you're unfamiliar with it. I was unfamiliar with driving under night conditions, and miscalculated a tight turn, winding up in the ditch. Luckily, it's hard to get these trucks stuck, and a simple straight back put us right. By that point I had figured out how to handle the turns under these new and weird visual conditions, and managed to get us home in one piece. All in all, very useful training.

Apart from training, I picked up a skill every soldier should have- how to play Spades. Spades strikes me as a cross between poker and Uno, and is somewhat like chess- simple rules, but complex strategies come into play. The game is played by two sets of partners, and you will need to think ahead as to what your partner as well as your opponents have in their hand. So we kept a game going pretty much all week, with scores in the thousands by the time we rolled out for home. (Spades involves a points system- I think there's a traditional maximum points you play to, although there's no real reason a game could not go on indefinitely). The deck is curiously modified, too- the 2 of hearts and diamonds are removed, and the two Jokers used in their place. This is because the deuces are played as a high card in the Spades suit, which is a trump suit- that is, a spade will beat any other card except a spade of a higher number- a three of spades will beat a king of diamonds, but not a four of spades. In addition, there are almost always unique additional rules each player has heard about from a previous game or experience. As you can probably guess, Spades is a great way to pass the time by keeping your mind occupied, and in the military, especially in a combat situation, there are long periods of down time followed by short periods of rushing around like madmen.

All in all, I think this exercise really helped the unit, although I do often feel like I'm serving two masters- the Army and the family. To be a soldier is to make sacrifices- most of these we don't even notice, although I don't think there's a man or woman among us who would give anything to be back with their families and loved ones. This is the toughest thing we have to do, although in the long run it's a job that needs to be done. As the Rangers say, if not me, then who?