The Field Is Fun, Hard, and Hot!

Dear Friends,

I just got back from the field Thursday night at 10:30 here for IOBC. I'm not gonna lie...it was really hot outside. I guess you get used to it after awhile, but the heat makes everything twice as hard. Anyway, we shot our M-4 rifles every single day. We shot at pop-up targets, moving targets, and targets at night. We shot while lying down, walking, and running next to our buddies. I feel much more confident with the rifle now. However, I am going through some withdrawal right now. It was hard to not shoot today after 4 days straight. I think my air-conditioned room and comfortable bed will make up for it though.

So yeah, this next week we will get some classroom instruction on machine guns and then we will go out on the ranges Wednesday and Thursday and get to shoot them. It's pretty sweet. We're even letting the wives and families of the soldiers in our company come out and shoot the machine guns on Thursday. The field time will be much shorter and less intense, but it will still be hot. Continue to pray for our safety and attitudes as the training can sometimes seem to get the better of us. Bye!

p.s. The shooting at night with infra-red lasers and night vision goggles was awesome. I would look down the firing line and see something that looked like it was straight out of a scene in Star Wars...aiming light lasers shining and muzzle flashes as the firers let loose a few rounds. It was sweet!

How'd That Happen?

Dear Friends,

This week was a rather interesting one. Most of it was fairly dry sitting in classrooms getting instructions on equipment maintenance procedures, radios, etc. The highlights, however, included a platoon obstacle course competition in which my platoon ran 3 miles stopping and doing random tasks along the way like climbing a rope wall or pushing a truck across a parking lot. Tuesday was also a highlight with LandNavigation. It was interesting because I have never failed a LandNav course in my life, yet 2 hours into this test I hadn't found any points. The total test was 5 hours long with a requirement of 7 out of 9 points. Needless to say I was a little doubtful at the 2 hour mark of my chance at success. Somehow in the end, though, I came in with 15 minutes to spare and all 9 of my points. The only reason I mention it in detail is to give you all one more example of how God is blessing me down here in GA. Even when I mess up He reaches out and picks me up to help me succeed. I appreciate your prayers and support (especially if you happened to be praying between the hours of 5 and 10 am on Tuesday morning).

This next week we are going out to the firing ranges and sleeping out in the field. We'll be doing qualification ranges, night fire ranges, and a live-fire-maneuver range at the end where we get to move and shoot at the same time with our buddies next to us. It's supposed to be pretty sweet. Please pray for my platoon so that we can push through the heat down here. It's pretty hot during the day. Bye!

Week of Classroom...Running In The Woods Soon

Dear Friends,

This last week I spent the entire time looking at PowerPoint slides. It was long & tedious yet needed. We were learning the details of Operation Orders (the way we present all the information for a mission). The classes were very in depth, and I still have a lot to learn about it. Anyway, this week we'll be having some more classes, we'll be doing Land Navigation, and we'll also get to go to the Infantry Museum on Friday. Yup, I get paid to go to a museum...one more reason I love the Army. It's supposed to be pretty sweet.

My time as Squad Leader is over too, but I am expecting another leadership position in the next month or so when we start to run missions in the field. Until then I get to be just a regular guy. Also, I'm gonna list the people in my squad so you can be praying for them. I still don't know them very well, but I do know that Hill, Fox, and Hamilton are Christians. It should be nice to have them around when things get a little more stressful. I'll write again soon!

My Squad: Edward Fox, Shaun Futch, David Hamilton, Stephen Hill, Matt Iglesias, Afif Karout, Dennis Kester, Curtis Knie, Michael Kolton, & Pavlos Tzouganatos.

IOBC Has Begun...But Rather Slowly

Dear Friends,

IOBC has indeed begun putting me on the next step to being a qualified infantry officer. It has started off slowly, though, only doing in-processing stuff and now sitting in classes all day. We should only have 2 weeks of the classroom stuff, and then we get to go and shoot again. In reality, it is kinda nice to have these classes because it allows me to get a good routine going. Everyone is trying to get into good shape for the next school (Ranger School for most of us). My roommates and I are having a great time entertaining each other, but we're trying to avoid some of the topics of conversation which are overused. For instance, we're not allowed to say Ranger School. We can only say Follow-on training. People think we're weird...but maybe that's because we are.

I guess I can start to tell you about my squad. We haven't really gotten a chance to mesh together yet, but they all seem like pretty capable guys. There are a few Christians in my squad too whom I was able to pick out rather quickly. Christians in the military just seem to stick out to me. In my squad we also got a couple international students including one from Greece and another from Lebanon. It seems we want to train the Lebanon officers now rather than letting Iran do it. I'll get you their names next week so that you can start praying for them. As of right now just know that I am in good spirits and enjoying the easy pace of training.