Well I’ve been home for a few days now and preparing to visit my family home in Pennsylvania. Hard to believe it was almost 26 years since I left home and joined the Air Force. Perhaps the irony is that 26 years ago I left on Mother’s Day and now I should land in Afghanistan [...]
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The following excerpt is from my last night at Fort Riley. Our training is complete and all 4 of my bags and rucksack are firmly packed with clothes and equipment. My bed looks bare without my poncho cover enclosing it. For the past 60 days this enclosure was not only my bed, but also [...]
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Wed 4/22/09 12:32 AM Today was a bitter sweet moment as we turned in our vehicle, equipment and machine guns. These vehicles and equipment became an integral part of our daily training regimen. It was one of our last official acts before graduation tomorrow. Last night I was too exhausted to record my thoughts and [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: 50 cal, Afghanistan, Air Force, ambush, Army, COIN, Deployment, ETT, Fort Riley, IED, M-240, TTP | 1 Comment »
Tue 4/21/09 12:10 AM Today was one of the slowest days since coming to Fort Riley. The day just seemed to drag on forever. This morning I slept in until 0600 hrs and stepped outside to check the weather. I was greeted by a chilly wind. Once again the miserable weather that defines Kansas has [...]
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Sat 4/18/09 11:49 PM We woke up this morning bright and early at 0500 hrs and wiped the sleepers from our eyes in eager anticipation for the events that would unfurl today. Systematically we checked our gear, knee pads…check, eye protection…check…magazines…check….blank rounds…check. Initially it was pouring down rain outside so everyone grabbed their snivel gear [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: AK-47, capstone, CAT tourniquet, chest decompression needle, Deployment, ETT, Fort Riley, IED, M-240, M-4, nasopharyngeal air tube, sniper, sucking chest wound | 1 Comment »
Fri 4/17/09 11:36 PM Tomorrow is capstone! (Crowd cheers in background). Tomorrow all of our skills we learned in the past 50+ days will be put to the ultimate test. The capstone is the grand finale of our training, even though we still have one more live firing exercise to complete. This morning after chow [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Afghanistan, Air Force, bomb making materials, capstone, contraband, Deployment, ETT, Fort Riley, GPS-tracker, military combat patrols, sniper | Leave a Comment »
It was a good day at Fort Riley for me and my teammates. All of our training, planning, and practicing is starting to reap dividends. Even Mother Nature was gracious and blessed us with a warm and sunny day. As usual we woke up early and prepared our vehicles, weapons, equipment, and gear. Then we [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: AAR, Afghanistan, Air Force, Army, Deployment, Fort Riley, military combat patrols, military training, U.S. Air Force | Leave a Comment »
Wed 4/15/09 11:10 PM Kicking down doors and searching houses was on the training agenda for today. Admittedly it looks easy when you watch it on television, but actually doing it is much tougher, especially when bad guys are shooting from behind concealed stair wells, closets, etc. During our first hour of instruction we were [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Afghanistan, Air Force, Army, Deployment, ETT, Fort Riley, military training, MRE, sniper, Sure-fire | 1 Comment »
I was fortunate to arrive early at the Kansas City airport, but several of my teammates were delayed in Atlanta for up to 4 hrs. Needless to say, we returned to Fort Riley at 1100 pm. My alarm clock went off exactly at 0415 hrs. It was like a bad nightmare come true, but we [...]
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