Weeks 5 & 6 - Equipment and Weapons Training

The training fire hose continues. We moved past the cultural and team indoctrination phase and transitioned into the field phase. The training consisting of communications, combat lifesaver, driver's training, and weapons. Communications entailed the latest on all the possible systems that will be available to the teams in theater. New to me was the capability of the handheld Harris and EMBITTER radios. My only previous experience with handhelds had been unsecured ICON and Motorolas. These represent an impressive jump in capability and will serve the team well.

Combat lifesaver has been upgraded since my last time through. Along with the new first aid kits came extensive tourniquet and tension pneumothorax training. Of course, the rite of passage in all CLS training events is sticking your buddy with an IV, and him sticking you. My partner and I did quite well, both hitting gold on the first stick. Others did not go so well. A few missed sticks is funny. Watching a poor soul get multiple perforations in both arms becomes quite sad.

Last week was a condensed version of range week. In order to get the team ready for NTC, we pushed through M9, M4, M203, M240B, and M2 and all the associated Pre Marksmanship Instruction (PMI) in a week. Most teams spread the training over a couple of weeks, but since we needed to get the training done, we compressed it and got it done in time to line haul our vehicles and equipment for a 10 day trip out to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.

You heard that right. We are deviating from the normal training plan in order to participate in an NTC rotation with a Brigade Combat Team from the 25th Infantry Division. The purpose is twofold. First, expose the BCT to a Military Transition Team and the security and support requirements associated with them. Second, and most important, this give our team the opportunity to roll in the desert under more realistic conditions than Fort Riley and work on out teams Battle Drills and Tactical Standard Operating Procedures. I anticipate the rotation will benefit everyone. I almost feel like I'm going home as I spent 5 rotations at the NTC in the first half of my career.

Weeks 3 & 4 - Language, Cultural Awareness and Counterinsurgency

For the last couple of weeks, we've been knee deep in classroom instruction. The curriculum here for deploying MiTT members starts with a solid foundation of FM 3-24's take on counterinsurgency. Instructors handed out homework in the form of Galula, Kilcullen, and Petraeus. The important thing to note here is that they're not just teaching this to the senior Non-Commissioned Officers and Field Grades, they're are teaching this to everybody. This includes to all enlisted and company grade officers that come through the training.

The goal is to provide every armed forces member deploying as a Training Team (TT) member a rudimentary knowledge of wide variety of considerations in play in their respective Area of Operations (AO), be it Afghanistan or Iraq. I have seen members here from the Army, Air Force, and Navy. While I get a minor chuckle at the cultural differences between services, the bottom line is that they are departing their traditional roles in order to assist the overall mission. Although, it's still funny watching them work their weapon through a clearing barrel.

Probably the most entertaining classes up to now are the Defense Language Institute (DLI) contracted courses in Iraqi-Arabic. They have done an outstanding job in putting together a talented group of individuals that perform the daunting task of teaching an alien language in what seems like an impossibly short time. They also provide invaluable insight in cultural awareness.

As we finish up this phase of our training we looking forward to the tactical phase. Vehicle, weapons, tactics, movement, and other traditional Soldier training awaits. We get in quality physical training in the morning and the food is nothing to complain about. All in all it's been a good couple of weeks as our team appears to have the right combination of leadership, common sense, talent, and experience.

I look forward to getting this mission underway.

MiTT Week 1 - Lots of New Gear

I'm always nervous anytime I sign in to a new unit.  My degree of apprehension is largely related to my knowledge of the unit and the job.  My confidence is high if I am familiar with the installation and the unit mission.  To say I was a bit apprehensive about reporting to a new job of which I know very little is an understatement.  Like any good Soldier, I began preparing for my Military Transition Team assignment months in advance.

I studied a wide variety of books, both military and civilians.  My reading consisted of Field Manuals, Economics, Anthropology, Culture, Leadership, Interpersonal dynamics, etc.  I tried not to limit the scope of my research to any one topic, choosing rather a wide variety of materials.  I figured the success of my team was dependent on: interpersonal relationships, cultural awareness/anthropology, talent.  It could not hurt to expand my education on all three.

Anyway, back to Fort Riley.  We received our gear, lots and lots of gear.  This is my first time receiving a Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI).  All the coolest and latest stuff from body armor to backpacks.  Four duffel bags full to be exact.  I spent two days in the barracks piecing everything together and I am still not finished.  Some stuff I like such as the ACH helmet and the assault pack.  Other stuff I'm not a huge fan such as the MOLLE rifleman kit.

Still, it represents the massive investment they've made in equipping Soldiers with better equipment.  There is better out there, but it is not like the gear I deployed with back in 2003.  When compared to other combat arms units, we deployed with poorly designed gear.  Of course, we accepted the fact that the 82nd's and 101st's would always get the latest and greatest.  Back then there were haves and have-nots and we accepted that we would be poorly equipped when compared to our divisional counterparts

All Soldiers now deploy with the same RFI.  All Soldiers wear the best the Army has to offer.  It's nice to see that changed for the better.   Of course, the wearing and carrying of all this heavy ass crap will be a different matter.