Notes from Jeremy

After a much better return flight we are now home, Hannah is officially "moved in", and we had a lovely Mother's Day Sunday. So, now seems like a great time to give an update on Jeremy.

"Full Battle Rattle, minus weapon, ammo, elbow pads, and knee pads"

E-mail from May 5
"...The gunners don't have anything to do today, so we've been sitting around doing classes all day so far. We were told yesterday that the gunners will be getting alot of training later on this week, including some of us who will be qualifying on shotguns. I really want to be one of those guys!! I don't know how they're picking those people, but I've already started pressing my case. We'll also be doing some M2 training and we may be doing some M240B and MK19 training soon as well. By the time we leave, I should be trained on almost every individual weapon that the army issues, with the exception of maybe the AT-4 (a shoulder fired anti-tank rocket) and the M203 (a single shot 40mm grenade launcher that mounts under the barrel of an M4 or M16). If I was a terrorist, I would be afraid of me.

Everyone that isn't a gunner had to be out at the parking lot at 0530 this morning to do PMCS (Preventitive Maintinence, Checks, and Services), and then they had to roll out for the range by 0630. They needed to zero their aiming lasers (PEQ 15) at a time when it was dark enough to see the laser pointer on the target. I almost felt bad because I didn't have to be at formation until 0730, but I did what any good soldier does in that position - I rolled over and went back to sleep for another hour. When we did have our formation and started our classes, I actually got to teach one that I had made myself. When I got the Power Point program I sat down and made a Close Quarters Combat presentation that I had a chance to present today. Even though there weren't any NCOs there, I got some really good feedback from the guys. It was a really gratifying experience, and I definitly want to Improve that presentation and maybe even make some other ones as I come up with different subject ideas..."

This past week, one of the guys in Jeremy's platoon got pretty banged up in a Humvee accident. For a while now there had been a real lack of organization and over site for many of the little training exercises going on every day. This finally showed when, after one group of guys had a late night training exercise and were back out for an early morning training exercise after only 4.5 hours of sleep, a weary Humvee driver swerved to miss an oncoming car while rounding a corner, and would have rolled the vehicle had they not run into a light post. The gunner was injured badly enough that they thought he had broken his femur and foot, though x-rays later proved it was just some very deep muscle bruising. The private involved was very well liked by everyone, and his injuries may make it difficult to impossible to complete all his training with the unit, which means he may not get to deploy with them. The positive side of this is that those higher up have started being more careful about how they dish out the training schedule.

This past week also saw Jeremy's unit doing some chemical weapons training. He told me all about it on the phone, and it was all really cool, but it's also kinda in a different language that I call "Army Speak." I can usually understand it fairly well, but I have a hard time remembering all that technical stuff necessary retelling purposes. I remember that they did their training using real gas, whatever gas it was, to encourage everyone to really take this seriously and do the training exercise right.

Jeremy & his Lieutenant right after the gas mask training

On Wednesday of this week the unit will move out to "the FOB", ie: Forward Operating Base. Actually, it's a simulated FOB for training purposes, and the training is really going to be intense from all they've heard. They'll get very few hours of sleep every night, be running missions all day long, and will be under constant scrutiny from all their leadership, and the special training unit there to oversee their time at the FOB. As Jeremy described all the things they have to know, all the questions they have to be able to answer at any time about their gear, standard operating procedure, or whatever....not to mention all they have to do, and all of it while carrying pounds and pounds of armor and weapons and miscellaneous other gear...I was starting to feel overwhelmed for him. They'll be out there at least two weeks, possibly as many as four or more. I just never realized before how strong, and how incredibly well trained and on top of things they have to be. They really have to know everything about what's going on around them, be able to pick up for anyone else as needed, regardless of their personal specialty, and so on. It's pretty insane...and though I've always known this, I'm now extremely aware just how amazing my husband really is.