Weapons, Armor and More

It think its Wednesday evening at 2200 (10pm). I'm certain of the time, but the days are harder to keep up with for they seem to just run into each other.

Today started at 0430 to get ready for a 0515 muster. It takes forty five minutes to get up, make the bed, brush teeth (showered the night before), put on uniform and boots, put on all of the body armor which weighs about 50 lbs, gloves, helmet (4 lbs), knee and elbow pads, then gather the M9 pistol and M-16 rifle, lock up all of you personal belongings and, after making a last check to make sure everything is neat, finally head out the door with 5 minutes to spare.

The days have been long and tiresome, but educational. On Monday, we were issued all of our gear and began getting it organized and ourselves acquainted with the thousands of dollars of equipment that is meant to protect us from the enemy, engage the enemy if necessary, and keep us warm, dry and hydrated. Yesterday, we learned basic battle field first aid, weapons immersion, handling and cleaning, as well as radio communications guidelines. Today, we began handling the weapons, went through a couple of computerized firing simulations for the weapons, drove Humvees, and began siting our rifles.

We finished this evening at about 5:30 pm, but still had things we had to do to get ready for tomorrow, which will have us undergoing a trial qualification on the M9 9mm pistol and siting-in of the M16 rifle.

We still have two weeks left with so much more to do. I just hate it has to start at 0400 tomorrow - 5 1/2 hours from now.