I started this week on my Pre Mobilization Training (PMT). I was selected to attend the 7 day Leaders version of this training so that I can knock it out and be there to assist the main body when they attend the full 21 day version in the horrible heat of July.
The PMT is set up to cover 32 warrior tasks set out by 1st Army. They say what must be performed prior to a soldier entering Iraq or Afghanistan. These tasks are non rank specific so every soldier from colonels to privates must complete them. This policy has made for some interesting training. Watching fullbird colonels roll around in the dirt and run through the woods doing insanely outdated warrior tasks is quite good for the staff sergeant's soul!
The first day started with inprocessing at noon and ended with a long 12 mindnumbing powerpoint classes that lasted until 11pm! We breezed through a lot of the weapons classes because lets face it Majors won't be using a vehicle mounted heavy machine gun.
Day two started with a 0340 wakeup to head to the Warrior Training Tasks (WTT) lanes. These are made up of all of the old school tasks like employ and hand grenade from the standing, kneeling and prone position. Some of these tasks are fun and some are just annoying. Of course you have to have the Individual Movement Techniques (IMT) lane. That is the lane you see in all of the old cheezy war movies......the crawl in the mud, slide under the barbwire on your back jump over wall junk while explosions and smoke grenades go off all around you. It was a whoop for sure. All of this sounds like fun until you strap on the 40 lb Individual Body Armor (IBA), knee pads, elbow pads, kevlar helmet, gloves, eye protection and of course your Army Combat Uniform (ACU). All of this gear combined makes up what soldiers call "Battle Rattle". Are you keeping up with the acronyms? Lets see........So you show up for PMT wearing your ACU but have to put on your IBA so you can move to the WTT and start the IMT. :)
Day three was spent mainly focusing on land navigation. We started the day with a 2 hour block of instruction (that’s what the Army calls a class). This class teaches you everything you should already know about land navigation. For those of us that are Infantry or Scouts we use this skill all the time in both training and real world situations. Most other soldiers do this right before they deploy and then not again until their next deployment. Anyway, after the classroom portion you strap on all of your “battle rattle” and move to the large wooded area where the instructors give you a list of grid numbers. These numbers correspond with actual markers out in the woods. You take these grid numbers using the Military grid reference system (MGRS) and plot them on a horrible Xerox copy of an actual map. Once you know where your points are you can just go find them right? But how will you get there? Ah! This is the exciting part……you take the map and use a protractor to find the distance and direction (azimuth) you have to walk. You take this MGRS azimuth and have to convert it to a magnetic azimuth because the Army laid a square grid over a round planet, silly Army! Once you convert it to magnetic you can use your compass and set off the desired distance and direction. But WAIT! How do you know how far to walk? Well the Army has the scientific answer for that. You walk a known 100 meter distance and count every left foot. This is your pace count. Mine today was 71 left feet in 100 meters. So picture this…..70 office clerks or truck drivers or medical supply soldiers heading out into the woods wearing full battle rattle, carrying a compass, looking at a horrible Xerox copy of a map from 1957 walking and counting every time their left foot hits the ground! Are you picturing it? OMG! It was quite a scene!
No comments:
Post a Comment