In the Army Now...

Almost a week since my last post! My profoundest apologies. One of the many inconveniences of the ‘9 to 5 job’ that turns rapidly into a ‘5:45am to 7pm job’ is a complete lack of will to do anything but collapse into bed at the end of a long day… No excuse though, I know! It’s been a bit of a roller coaster this week. I’ve seen the Army in all of its bureaucratic horror and also in the professionalism and dedication of its NCOs.

So, first a great exchange with our resident member of the Saudi Royal family, Prince 2LT Aziz:

Aziz: “How can you let the Sergeants talk to you like this?”

Us: “Like what? They call us ‘sir’ and are very respectful.”

LT Aziz: “Yes, but they treat you as equals. They should know they are beneath us. They wouldn’t even dare look at me in Saudi Arabia.”

Fantastic stuff, although because this is the month of Ramadan, we don’t see much of our Saudi or Jordanian brethren because without food, training in the heat could very easily be lethal and I feel like starting an international incident at ABOLC is not high on the list of things to do for our cadre.

I suppose the highlights for the week would be a couple humorous if painful little events. First, on Monday we were tested for ‘height and weight’ where every officer is weighed and measured and if you are too heavy for your height you are ‘tape tested,’ literally tape measured at the chest, neck and waist to determine mathematically weather you are overweight or not. Then, on Tuesday, we ran the standard Army physical test, the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) to determine what kind of shape we are in. The test consists of push-ups, sit-ups, and a 2 mile run and is scored out of 300 with 180 or below a failing rate. Most folks did fine, although some of our National Guard brethren showed up rather out of shape, and following that we moved on with our day. At the end of the day, all the tape test failures (overweight) and the APFT failures (out of shape) were called to the rear to be counseled. For the most part, if you failed one, you failed the other or at least barely passed one. Except for LT Gomez. A West Pointer, LT Gomez is a workoutaholic. He’s only 5’-6’’ but he’s about as barrel chested and thick as they come. He scored a fantastic 297 on his APFT, falling only 3 points short of the maximum. But he failed his tape test. So, now he joins the ranks of the failures to join the AWCP (the Army Weight Control Program) and has a black mark against his record. Protest as he might, the fact that he’s in fantastic shape had no bearing on the cold hard facts of the tape test and the Army, in its infinite wisdom has decreed that he must lose 20 lbs. or fail the entire course. Goodness me…

After that, on Wednesday we took a 6 hour course on filling out supply and maintenance paperwork. An unavoidably large part of the PLT Leaders job, the criticalness of the task didn’t make it any less mind numbing. Over 100 power point slides of different forms all with their unintelligible titles, columns, numbers and codes. Despite sitting in an air conditioned class for nearly the entire day, by the time we headed home at 6pm, I was completely exhausted. It makes me thank God for the NCOs, soldiers and officers in the Quartermaster Branch who fill out those forms day in and day out. I don’t think I’d be able to get out of bed in the morning…

Final note for the week: It is incredibly hot here in Georgia. I did notice this, but I didn’t take it very seriously until Friday. We started rifle qualification (on old M-16A2s L) which required us to be in the hot, hot sun from about 11am until 6:30pm. I drank literally 2 gallons of water during this time period, in a valiant bid to stay hydrated. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to grab a bite to eat. This was very nearly my undoing. By staying hydrated, I flushed all of the salts and electrolytes out of my system and I finished the day dizzy, nauseous, and with a blinding headache. I was very nearly a heat casualty (something that could possibly kill an Army career in these times of tight budget constraints) but it was a very clear and good lesson as to why hydration is only part of the way to prevent heat stroke or
heat exhaustion.

Well, qualifying continues this upcoming week followed by the beginning of gunnery! As a Cavalry platoon for the first half of this course, that means I’ll be learning the ins and outs of the M2 .50 caliber machine gun (a weapon that has been in use in the U.S. Army since 1923) and the M19 automatic grenade launcher. Should be fun!