Fort Stewart Training

In the beginning of April, I headed to Fort Stewart, GA for my first stint of training in preparation for my deployment to Iraq. This is the time when we refresh ourselves on what we call Army 101 which are all of the basic soldiering tasks. We spent a week in the classroom getting all of the mandatory briefings that you have to have before you deploy. Then we moved out into the field where we started the basic soldier skills. One of these was something called HEAT training which stands for HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer. This system is an up-armored HMMWV body mounted on a rotisserie so that they can flip you in any direction and then you have to get out of the vehicle. The soldiers had fun with this training but got good experience that I hope they never need. We also did mounted land navigation which is pretty much just land navigation in a vehicle. We went out on the muddy back roads of Fort Stewart in a brand new up-armored HMMWV with one of the trainers driving. I have never seen a HMMWV get stuck but I have the pictures to prove that it happened. We had to sit on the side of the road for a couple of hours while they got something big enough to pull it out of the ditch. As you can see from the pictures, it was buried up to the frame. We also spent time on the shooting range where I qualified with the M16 and the M9 pistol and familiarized myself on the M249 SAW and the M240B machine guns. I am proud to say I was the top qualifier for the company on the M16 rifle. This is a good thing because none of the soldiers like me being on top, so they will be motivated to surpass my standard when we do it again in a month. I am not going to let them have it though; I want the bragging rights.

Out of the Woodwork

Since I was notified of my second deployment I have been astonished by the amount of support coming from people in my life. It makes me feel so good to know that Lindsey is surrounded by people that will keep her going through this. I have said from the beginning that I am more worried about how my deployment will affect everyone around me than I am about doing my job over there. Our family and friends that made it through the last deployment have been through this before and are ready to help in any way. We also have gained the support of so many new people. New friends that we have made through work and through our new neighborhood have stepped up to help Lindsey through this time. I feel so blessed to have so many people in my life.