Adagio for Strings, 9/7/04

[kato13]

Webstral 09-07-2004, 02:36 PM I have to get my laundry in about twenty minutes, so this installment will be short.


The training program so far reflects a system that is maturing but which has significant development remaining, I believe. We've spent almost three weeks doing CTT, or Common Task Training. CTT is a body of skills and procedures that every soldier is supposed to know. CTT is divided into different levels based on pay grade. Everyone is supposed to know Skill Level One tasks like operating an M16, using a radio, and applying first aid. Skill Level Two tasks are for E-5 (sergeants) and above. So really, we've done very little infantry-specific training, although technically mastery of these basic skills enables all soldiers to function as riflemen.


When we arrived, we hit the ground at a full sprint. We were up in the morning at 4:30 and weren't released until 8:00PM or later. This left us with just enough time to shower or get a little laundry done before bed. There was a sense that we didn't really have our act together--that the leadership was playing a lot by ear. That sense has diminished somewhat, though not completely.


Anyway, we'll continue to do CTT for another couple of weeks before moving to another site on Fort Bliss where we'll start to learn our collective tasks. In my mind, all this brings into question the whole idea that we might be sent to war in under ninety days.


We had a physical fitness test two days ago. Astonishingly, I have the high score for the platoon at 284. For those not familiar with the Army PT test, there are three scored events. The first is the push-up event, for which we have two minutes to do as many as possible. The second is the sit-up event, for which we have two minutes to do as many as possible. The final event is the two mile run, which is timed and scored based on run time. Performance is rated on a 1-100 point scale. A score of 60 is required to pass each event. The lowest passing total score is 180, though it's possible to have a higher score and fail the test overall because one (or more) of the events did not yield a score of 60 points or better.


Anyway, somehow I ended up with the top score. Don't ask me how this happened. In the old days, I regularly scored above 300, which is possible if you score 100 points in all three events. Once you've scored 100 in all three events, you can get extra credit for any more push-ups and sit-ups and for progressively lower run times. However, I haven't done any serious training in about a month. I did nothing during the two weeks that included my wedding. We haven't done a lot of PT since we got here, which helps explain why the platoon average is about 220 right now.


Having the high score makes me a little anxious. There's room to move up, but there's lots of room to fall. Expectations are going to be high for me, so I can't afford to have a bad day. Also, graders will be gunning for me to take away push-ups and sit-ups for form. There are graders in every crowd who love to take push-ups away for form. Now I'm really going to have to work, provided I can get any time for that sort of thing.


Last time, I talked a little about the guys on my fire team. I'll talk a little about the other guys in my squad now.


SSG Kurt Fillip is the squad leader. He's an interesting character. He's like me in that he's a Johnny-come-Lately to the infantry. Unlike me, he's been an infantryman in the Guard for a couple of years, so he has a much better idea of how things are supposed to go than I do. Fillip's a good guy. He is a high-tech product designer, and he's quite bright. Like me, Fillip likes procedure. There's a way to get things done, and we learn that way before we start improvising. This puts him at odd with two of the other squad leaders, for whom infantry work is far more intuitive.


Fillip's got a good sense of humor and likes to run things a little more loosely than some of the other squad leaders, the procedure thing aside. He wants to do things right when it's time to do them, but he's not into people in lock step because That's the Way We Do Things Here. Fillip used to be Air Force Intel, so he's got a perspective that a lot of others don't. I like it. We're not as far advanced in terms of infantry skills as some other squads, but Fillip's attitude and experience will pay dividends down the road, methinks.


I'm out of time already. One last quick note. We watched Blackhawk Down as a platoon last night. Given where we're going and what the mission might be, watching this film was a different experience than when I saw it is in theater as a civilian. Quite different. More on that another time.



Webstral

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TiggerCCW UK 09-08-2004, 04:25 AM Glad to hear you're keeping ok Web. Stick with it and come home safe my friend.

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sdswede 09-15-2004, 04:17 PM keep up the updates when you have a chance, but more importantly keep safe over there


ed

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