And then came my first
morning. For the first time in my life,
I awakened in a barracks.
It wasn’t boot camp. The building had recently been
refurbished. Upstairs in building 828 there
were 12 bunks along one wall and 11 along the opposite wall of a single, large
room. I got the second one on the short
side. They were all independent bunks –
not upper & lower. The showers and toilets
were private.
But mainly it wasn’t the
boot camp experience because of graciousness of my 22 bunkmates. I had the good fortune to find a place
between SGM Robinson and SFC Gaughan who were both helpful. We were awakened by the lights slowly turned
on and off. I noticed that, by that
time, nearly half our number were already dressed.
Days later, MSG Pecoraro
would lament that I missed the banging-garbage-can experience. COL Dolieslager added that I never stood fire
watch all night, either. That’s okay. I have seen Full Metal Jacket so I have been able to enjoy those experiences
vicariously.
There was time to shower,
dress and straighten my bunk before following the crowd outside. Next to the building, we assembled by
detachment. I used Photoshop software to
do to the photo below something similar to what passive night vision goggles do
for soldiers. It was much darker than
the photo suggests.
Then back on the school
bus.
We moved directly to the
Engagement Skills Trainer where we had a breakfast. SFC Freeman was our bus driver, among several
other duties. (Sorry, Sarge, for the
pic. Most of you are better than this
one, but I wanted to show the breakfast.)
This was the day most affected by our scheduling conflict with the 420th. But mobe trumps everything, you know.
The trainer allowed us to
shoot M-16s at targets and get immediate feedback. Instead of ammunition, they use lasers. It gave us a chance to perform the new firing
position. The rifleman puts his right
knee on the ground and rocks back until he sits on his right ankle. He puts his left elbow on his left knee. Later, part of the qualification would be
fired from this position.
We also practiced
“zeroing” our rifle scopes. The target
below was projected on a screen. The
three red dots show where the three laser shots hit. Because the triangle is so small, we know
that both shooter and rifle are reliable.
Adjusting the scope leftward and upward will place those three rounds in
the center of the target.
So earplugs were not
needed. Otherwise, the shooting
experience was very similar to the real thing.
The low light level made
photography difficult. A flash would
have produced better pictures but lower scores.
This caught my eye near
the main entrance to the building.
And then back to SFC
Freeman’s bus.
on to the
next chapter
back to the table of contents