Michael Dunn's Blog

Where do I even start.  It’s Thursday morning and I am unpacking all my gear from being in the field the last few days.  We marched off early Monday morning.  After almost 4 hours we arrived at our Bivouac site where we would conduct our phase 3 FTX (field training exercise).  Our FTX site was way out in the middle of nowhere down a long dirt road.  It was set up like a FOB (forward operating base), would be set up in Iraq or something.  Gates, guard towers around the whole perimeter, c-wire surrounding the entire complex, about 15 small buildings, and flood lights.  It had the feel of a real operation.  When we arrived we unloaded all our gear, set up the TOC (tactical operation command), and set up radio communications.  After we set up everything we started our chemical biological attack training.  We had to put on all our MOP gear including the gas masks, gloves, boots, pants, and jacket.  The suit is incredibly clausterphobic and hot.  Breating in a gas mask is hard enough but when they make you run around in it you feel like you are suffocating.  A lot of people panic and rip their mask off.  I stayed calm and controlled my breathing and made it out alright.  The training ended with all of us getting a lecture from the commander and then getting a surprise attack with CS gas.  Picture this, over 200 of us are sitting in the field, the commander is talking to us about the Fort Hood shootings.  We have a moment of silence and all have our heads bowed and eyes closed.  Out of nowhere I here this pssshhhhhhh sound coming from all around me.  I open myeyes to see clouds of white smoke billowing up from CS grenades that the drill sgts. threw in the middle of us.  We were surrounded by it.  People got up and scattered everywhere.  A huge bang went off, like a bomb, and everyone hit the ground (well most of us did, others were too confused in the chaos to comprehend everything that was going on). It was a simulated chemical/artillery attack.  I was able to grab my mask, put it on, and hit the ground before I felt the affects of the CS gas.  Something I never want to do again after that experience in the gas chamber.  It was a pretty cool experience after it was all done.  The adrenaline you felt in the midst of the chaos is hard to explain.  One of the highlights of my time here so far.  That was pretty much it for day one. 

Day 2 started early in the morning with breakfast, then our mission brief.  We were going to leave the FOB and be out performing missions all day long.  I was a team leader and the compass man.  It felt good to have some responsibilities.  I had to lead the whole squad through the woods using a compass and a map.  Our first mission was to meet up with a convoy that had been ambushed.  We were to treat the wounded, provide support, and clear the nearby village.  We traveled in a squad made up of 5 teams.  When we arrived at the convoy they were under fire.  One thing I didn’t explain is that we faced real enemies.  Other soldiers dressed up in Iraqi clothing with weapons and everything.  We were wearing MILES gear on ourselves and our weapons.  It’s kind of like laser tag, except we shot blanks and used our own M16’s.  It is made to be as realistic as possible.  We arrived and the medical team started treating casualties while everyone else set up a perimeter.  My team(Delta Team), moved into the village and started clearing buildings.  We took heavy fire moving in and I lost one guy.  My drill sgt. complimented how my team moved into the village though.  We tactically cleared each building one by one.  I was team leader so I was first in each time.  The highlight was when I busted in one door, two guys were in there and I shot both before they got me.  I felt on top of the world at that moment.  I think I will do good at this tactical stuff when I have to do it for real down range.  I can move effectively, and keep my wits about me when stuff gets chaotic.  After we cleared the village we moved to the extraction point and had our AAR (after action report).  We immediately moved onto our next mission.   This time the mission was supposed to be a little more simple but of course they had a surprise for us.  Our mission was to locate a weapons cache.  We plotted the coordinates on the map and I lead the way with the compass.  Along the way we were supposed to be ambushed but we spotted it ahead of time, flanked them, and took out all 20 or so of the enemy.  They had rigged some booby traps and the guy in front of me ran into a trip wire and set one off.  It was ridiculosly loud and sent a plume of smoke and debris straight up in the air.  It must of scared the crap our of him.  Haha.  Our last mission was to investigate a hummer that had crashed on a supply route.  That mission didn’t go so well.  We made a few mistakes and the enemy capitalized.  I died on that one.  It was alright though.  We had a good plan, theirs was just better. 

Day 3 of FTX was a lot of fun too.  I got to be the enemy.  That means I got to wear an Iraqi outfit, man dress and all.  I made a pretty good insurgent.  Lol.  It was all my same team from the day before, we just all played Op 4 instead of the American forces.  We gave everyone that came through our scenario some serious headaches, killing off most of them everytime.  I was set up in a building one of the times that was rigged up with 6 trip wires.  It was cool because the drill sgt. taught me how to set them up and stuff and I got to do a couple of them.  When the American team came running into that building and set off all the trip mines, it was deafening.  My ears were ringing for a while.  It was fun though.  We did that all day and since we got done with all the training ahead of schedule, we got to leave that night.  Packed up all our gear and rucked out in the pitch black on the 4 hour trip home.  It was fun at night though.  No lights so you could see all the stars.  We got back pretty late so we got to sleep in this morning and now we are just cleaning our gear, doing laundry, etc.  It was a fun few days.  I will write more later tonight or tomorrow.  For now I’ve got some work to do.