Four days. Four days soaking in blowing sand, frigid nights, the body odor of soldiers packed into a tent like sardines, sleeping on hard floors, MRE's, and relentless UV bombardment from the sun (two days into it we were finally issued sunscreen! Good thing, too, because it apparently wasn't available at the local PX). We returned back to Camp Buehring this afternoon beat down, but in wide agreement that what we had experienced was a rare encounter with good training. It was all about the basics: shooting, moving, and communicating. It was the first time most of us had ever experienced trying to clear a building using live ammunition. A little scary, but far less scary than what we're likely to deal with up North in a couple of days.
One "highlight" was a small contingent of staffers from (I believe) the Senate Armed Services Committee. The officers in charge of these folks wanted to put on a show. I volunteered our little team much to the chagrin of our fearless leader and fellow contributor to this blog. I consider myself lucky that he didn't make me do push-ups until the sand beneath my palms turned to concrete for this little stunt, but ... I had my reasons for piping up. Anyway, the big-wigs from Washington climbed up on the walls of the "shoot house" with cameras in hand, and we went to work. My marksmanship was exceptional for this little demonstration, as I'm sure I scared the paper targets to death. I certainly didn't hit them... Wow... Afterwards, the staffers held a little Q&A with our team. They asked all manner of questions regarding our equipment, training, etc. Our intrepid lead "Sin-taur" was in rare form, using colorfully laced honesty to describe our ... situation. The Lt. Colonel in charge of the chaperoning party must have been impressed, as he suddenly seemed quite anxious to move the staffers back to the bus and get them on their way.
Ah, yes... there were camels. Gobs of camels. We had to wait half an hour one morning for range control to relocate a Bedouin and his herd from downrange of our muzzles. Another Bedouin got almost as irritated as his camels when soldiers with cameras ventured too close for comfort to his animals.We love hearing from everybody back in the world. Keep in touch.
Lee
On the latrine wall: "When you find yourself going through hell, keep walking."
On the latrine wall: "When you find yourself going through hell, keep walking."
5 comments:
GO Centaur!
The letters from Lee have been wonderful for the rest of us to read. It's a lot more information than the rest of us have gotten and it gives you a sense of what the soldiers are going through. Lee is a wonderful writer. His words really paint pictures in your mind. Please pass along our thanks to him. Many of the families have sent thanks for the information. I'll pass his blog address along also if that's okay with him. -Arlene
LMAO! GREAT TEACHING JOB THERE UNCLE SKI! MISS YA AND LOVE YA LOTS.
Lee,
You need to publish your memoirs when you come home...I look forward to reading your blog and like the comment from Arlene , I agree it makes it so much more real than the media and bits and pieces we get that are filtered. We are all thinking of you guys and wish you safety and blessings every minute of every day. We are going to work at the preschool to get some supplies out to you guys and the children. Take care
Karen Buegel (Andrew's mum....Eric's pre-school classmate) :-)
Hello from Aunt Georgia in South Carolina. How I enjoy reading the BLOG to know what you wonderful guys are doing for us here in OUR WONDERFUL USA. Keep watching over each other and sending us the news from way over there.
We LOVE you BOB CAMPBELL.
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