FTX Day 3

Maybe we were due for a "break."

Day 3's main objective was to get the senior staff, commander and support staff through the firing ranges. In today's Army that means you first have a safety briefing (ie "Don't be stupid") followed by an environmental briefing (ie "Don't shoot at the deer" and "Watch out for butterflies" (no, I'm not kidding)).

The next baby step towards the main objective meant getting "beach guards" in place. See, the ranges are positioned so that firing is in the direction of the beach. I guess that's better than in the direction of the rest of the camp and the town of Warrenton. The guards' job consists of a) installing the radios in the HUMMVs (1 hour ... check), b) receive training on radio protocols that you will forget about within the hour (check), c) escort by Range Control to position one team at the north end and another at the south end of the range limits (seemed like HOURS ... check), d) try to convince folks on the public beach that there is a danger they might get shot if they walk through (should have told them the BAND was trying to train ... might have scared more people away), e) call CEASE FIRE! if someone blows through your position, and e) perform a "radio check" every 30 minutes (to make sure you're not just out swimming or sleeping).

Everyone else got to the zero range and waited. Then we waited some more. The sun came out and it got warm (not warm enough for SFC to remove her Goretex), and some of us took a quick snooze. The Commander worked hard on his sunburn (with great success, I might add). We waited so long that we actually ate LUNCH before we finally got the go-ahead.

Actually zero firing was fine. The painful part that came next was switching beach guard teams so they could come up and zero their weapons. If you're still following along, you can pretty much re-read two paragraphs ago. One of our beach guards actually did get to call a CEASE FIRE when a county sherrif had to drive through that section of the beach, searching for an armed suspect in a blue camper. (SSG Cruz mentioned that every-other car that drove by that after could have fit that description ...) By the time everyone was zeroed and the Commander had qualified on his pistol, it was nearly time for dinner.

We raced over to the MARF (can't remember what that stands for, but I'll probably never forget the acronymn!) to attempt qualification on the pop-up target range. Out of 10 people who tried the first qualification round, we got four people finished. (I'm actually writing this a few days late, so I know the reason WHY so few qualified ... but you'll have to check back for the Day 5 musings to get the answer.) By then we swept everything back up and raced over to the chow hall, since the food was catered and we were already an hour late. Plus, we'd been fed by that caterer several times already during the week and knew we did NOT want to miss one of their meals! Maybe the day's main objective was not firing, but instead getting ourselves to dinner ...

Senior staff took a few practice shots at the XBOX on steroids facility, then rushed back to the barracks to await the arrival of the rest of the band. Too bad they left Portland an hour later than planned. The senior staff did get a chance to modify some of the schedule for the upcoming day, based on what our experience had been (that was the point after all of going through this training before everyone else showed up). After they arrived we met for just a few minutes and then sent everyone to bed. Sort of. My platoon all ended up either out scavenging for food or just being outside chatting, so I turned off the light and went to sleep with nobody else inside, but what sounded like about a dozen talking and laughing right outside my window. Good thing I was tired enough to block out the noise.