Is it possible to run with a 80 lbs pack? Yes. Does it suck? Oh Ya. :)
Hey everybody!
Good Fast week, this week. Not a lot of time to write so it'll a fast one this time! :)
Sunday 10/28 - Liberty Secured at 2000, went to bed at 2030.
Monday 10/29 - Lights at 0430. Class on Patrolling. Actually patrolled (walked around, sooooooo much fun. ;) ) PT. Rack at 2030.
Tuesday 10/30 - Lights at 0430. Patrol XP. Got main pack and hiked up
the Alpha shelf and set up a Patrol base. On security most of night.
Around 9 went to COC, radio.
Wed 10/31 - Moved from radio to an LP/OP Listening and Observation
Post for all morning. Then moved the PB. Found a guy in the platoon that
knew the song, Hey Baby, freaking awesome. :D Held security again.
Finally got on QRF, Quick Reaction Force, which means you get to sleep
if there's nothing to do. And guess what ... yep there was something to
do. Lol. The LP/OP needed a resupply of water. So we did that and had an
hour and half left of QRF. So I pulled out my Scriptures and read a
little bit. Best feeling ever! Reading my Scriptures while in flax and
Kevlar with my rifle in the hills of camp pendlton, amazing! Got some
sleep, while that happened we got "attacked"by our instructors. Then we
were put back on COC.
Thurs 11/1 - moved to another hill. Briefed on tomorrow's mission. Weapons maintenance. Rack 1830
Fri 11/1 - lights 0500. patrol mission with live rounds. Went back to the barracks. Weapons maintenance. Liberty.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Oct 27,2012 Part 2
:)
pain. pain is good, i guess. It lets you know your alive, so it's good. But it doesn't always feel so good. haha :)
Sunday 10/21 - secured at 1600. All we did was pack for the week and hit the rack at 1940.
Monday 10/22 - Lights at 0330. Got bussed out to a range. Set up our packs and did an unknown distance shoot. Then we practiced fire and movement. :) this is what you do. You're lying down on the ground. You have to get up sprint for about 10 meters and dive into the ground and start firing so your buddy can do the same thing. You do this until you reach your objective which is normally 200 to 800 meters away. Oh and the ground is extremely hard and if it's not gravel it's covered with rocks. We then went and practiced with radio's. Then we had a PT session using... Sandbags! Oh ya, that was fun... good work out though. :) Then did the same shoot at night. After we were finished our platoon commander talked to us and got mad at us for something one or two people had done in the platoon. We then proceeded to do the hardest PT session of my life. We would sprint 200 or 300 meters then come back do push ups or jumping jacks or air squats or leg lifts or scissor kicks or all the above. It lasted about 2 hours. Lights at 2300.
Tuesday 10/23 - Lights at 0500. After we do our normal getting up in the field routine we PT'd for another 2 hours plus it was raining. We did 500 air squats straight. Then we proceeded to do a stress shoot which was supposed to show us the difference in shooting in a combat situation. What happened is we shot a single target ten times in the prone and got a number on our hand of how many time we hit it, i hit all ten times, then they PT'd us hard for about 40 minutes and made us shoot immediately after. Again i hit all ten, but then they explained that the shoot wasn't very realistic which i believe. But I had another blessing during the second part of the shoot. So when you do any shooting you wear ear pro (protection). Well during the pt session everyone took out their ear pro, and when i went back up to shoot i didn't have enough time to put in my ear pro. So i took my first shot and my ears started ringing, bad. I took my second shot and the ringing in my left ear dropped about and a fifth and doubled in pain. So I took my non shooting hand plugged my left ear, said a quick prayer and continued with the other eight rounds. After I had finished shooting i pulled my hand out of my ear and the ringing and pain and completely ceased. My right ear was still ringing a little so I plugged that ear for a few seconds and when i pulled my finger out the pain and ringing was completely gone. Also, other guys in the platoon who didn't have ear pro in still had their ears ringing on friday. I feel so blessed. After the stress shoot we didn't have anything to do so we talked with our instructor for a little while and then hit the rack at 1945 which is completely unheard of in the field.
Wednesday 10/24 - Lights at 0500. We did buddy rushes with live rounds. We then practiced buddy rushes for a few hours and did the same thing at night with NVG's on. It's a weird feeling running down range with rounds from your buddy flying past you. We are about 5 to 10 meters from each other but it's still an interesting picture. And the night shoot, the NVG's weigh down the front of your kevlar (helmet) so your doing whatever you can to see through them so you can shoot accurately. Rack at 2345.
Thursday 10/25 - Lights at 0430. Got up and it was FREEZING!! When i got out of my sleeping system it was like jumping into a really cold lake. That's the best way i can describe it. We then got bussed to another range and guess what we did... yep, more buddy rushes. haha :) We did a day and night shoot. Although buddy rushes can be a little painful when i took a step back and saw that i was really living my dream. That in it of itself is amazing, to realize that you are actually getting to live your dream and you still have a long life to live to be able to live more dreams. Absolutely an amazing feeling. So after our day shoot they told us the plan for the day and the next day. We were not planning on getting any sleep that night so they let us take a nap between shoots. AWESOME!!!!! Even if it was only an hour and a half it was nice. After the night shoot we police called (picked up all the brass on the range) and got bussed home and actually got to hit the racks at 0100. I hadn't had dinner yet so i ate and went to sleep at 0130.
Friday 10/26 - Lights at 0400. We then grabbed our packs and did the 15 K hike. It took about 3 and a half hours. It was a slower pace than i would've liked but it was alright. After the hike we cleaned weapons and got released on liberty.
So that was my week. Only 3 full weeks left! If you want to hang out with me once i get home please write me an email (lifeisatrumpet@gmail.com) and we can plan something out. I would love to hang out with anyone and everyone. Just let me know.
Thanks for the Letters and prayers! Until next week!
PFC Chipman
pain. pain is good, i guess. It lets you know your alive, so it's good. But it doesn't always feel so good. haha :)
Sunday 10/21 - secured at 1600. All we did was pack for the week and hit the rack at 1940.
Monday 10/22 - Lights at 0330. Got bussed out to a range. Set up our packs and did an unknown distance shoot. Then we practiced fire and movement. :) this is what you do. You're lying down on the ground. You have to get up sprint for about 10 meters and dive into the ground and start firing so your buddy can do the same thing. You do this until you reach your objective which is normally 200 to 800 meters away. Oh and the ground is extremely hard and if it's not gravel it's covered with rocks. We then went and practiced with radio's. Then we had a PT session using... Sandbags! Oh ya, that was fun... good work out though. :) Then did the same shoot at night. After we were finished our platoon commander talked to us and got mad at us for something one or two people had done in the platoon. We then proceeded to do the hardest PT session of my life. We would sprint 200 or 300 meters then come back do push ups or jumping jacks or air squats or leg lifts or scissor kicks or all the above. It lasted about 2 hours. Lights at 2300.
Tuesday 10/23 - Lights at 0500. After we do our normal getting up in the field routine we PT'd for another 2 hours plus it was raining. We did 500 air squats straight. Then we proceeded to do a stress shoot which was supposed to show us the difference in shooting in a combat situation. What happened is we shot a single target ten times in the prone and got a number on our hand of how many time we hit it, i hit all ten times, then they PT'd us hard for about 40 minutes and made us shoot immediately after. Again i hit all ten, but then they explained that the shoot wasn't very realistic which i believe. But I had another blessing during the second part of the shoot. So when you do any shooting you wear ear pro (protection). Well during the pt session everyone took out their ear pro, and when i went back up to shoot i didn't have enough time to put in my ear pro. So i took my first shot and my ears started ringing, bad. I took my second shot and the ringing in my left ear dropped about and a fifth and doubled in pain. So I took my non shooting hand plugged my left ear, said a quick prayer and continued with the other eight rounds. After I had finished shooting i pulled my hand out of my ear and the ringing and pain and completely ceased. My right ear was still ringing a little so I plugged that ear for a few seconds and when i pulled my finger out the pain and ringing was completely gone. Also, other guys in the platoon who didn't have ear pro in still had their ears ringing on friday. I feel so blessed. After the stress shoot we didn't have anything to do so we talked with our instructor for a little while and then hit the rack at 1945 which is completely unheard of in the field.
Wednesday 10/24 - Lights at 0500. We did buddy rushes with live rounds. We then practiced buddy rushes for a few hours and did the same thing at night with NVG's on. It's a weird feeling running down range with rounds from your buddy flying past you. We are about 5 to 10 meters from each other but it's still an interesting picture. And the night shoot, the NVG's weigh down the front of your kevlar (helmet) so your doing whatever you can to see through them so you can shoot accurately. Rack at 2345.
Thursday 10/25 - Lights at 0430. Got up and it was FREEZING!! When i got out of my sleeping system it was like jumping into a really cold lake. That's the best way i can describe it. We then got bussed to another range and guess what we did... yep, more buddy rushes. haha :) We did a day and night shoot. Although buddy rushes can be a little painful when i took a step back and saw that i was really living my dream. That in it of itself is amazing, to realize that you are actually getting to live your dream and you still have a long life to live to be able to live more dreams. Absolutely an amazing feeling. So after our day shoot they told us the plan for the day and the next day. We were not planning on getting any sleep that night so they let us take a nap between shoots. AWESOME!!!!! Even if it was only an hour and a half it was nice. After the night shoot we police called (picked up all the brass on the range) and got bussed home and actually got to hit the racks at 0100. I hadn't had dinner yet so i ate and went to sleep at 0130.
Friday 10/26 - Lights at 0400. We then grabbed our packs and did the 15 K hike. It took about 3 and a half hours. It was a slower pace than i would've liked but it was alright. After the hike we cleaned weapons and got released on liberty.
So that was my week. Only 3 full weeks left! If you want to hang out with me once i get home please write me an email (lifeisatrumpet@gmail.com) and we can plan something out. I would love to hang out with anyone and everyone. Just let me know.
Thanks for the Letters and prayers! Until next week!
PFC Chipman
Oct 27,2012 Part 1
What's up everybody?!
I'm really starting to enjoy my training, fun stuff happened this week with some significant stuff as well. :)
Sunday 10/14 - Liberty secured at 1000. We had to go to a Corps Values brief by a retired First Sergeant then he also gave a religion brief. I didn't really agree with everything he said but it was and eye opener on how others think. We then got released for an hour for dinner. After that we did nothing for the rest of the day. I'm talking like just stood on line and looked at each other and studied our knowledge. We hit the racks at 1930 but we had 20 man fire watch, again. And again i was lucky and only had it once.
Monday 10/15 - Lights at 0400. Ate at the chow hall all day. After breakfast again just sat on line and "studied" for 3 and 1/2 hours. We then went and took the Phase 2 test. I passed, but 1/3 of the company failed. We then had classes on the IAR, M27. (HK 416) It's supposed to be taking over for the M249 SAW and eventually the M16, I think. We also had Gunner Bolten, the person our classrooms are named after, come and talk to us about his story in the Marine Corps and what he did to earn his Silver Star. After classes were over we offically had the Split, where all the 0311 rifleman go into 1st and 2nd platoon and all the weapons, 0331 machine gunners 0341 morterman (Barrus) and 0351 Assultmen, go into 3rd platoon. After we got our gear into our squadbay we hit the racks at 2100. I had fire watch and then organized my locker so i didn't get to sleep till 2330.
Tuesday 10/16 - Lights at 0515. Did the CSRE (Common Skills Retension Exam) Basically you run in full gear from point to point doing different stuff you've learned while being at SOI. lights was at 2115.
Wednesday 10/17 - Lights at 0330. We got bussed out to a range and worked with the IAR all day and assigned team assignments. I got assigned to be the IAR gunner. Freaking awesome!! lights at 2140.
Thursday 10/18 - Lights at 0500. All the IAR gunners got to shoot 425 rounds. Again, FREAKING AWESOME!!!! We then picked up the range and hiked home. About 5 clicks with hills, not the funnest thing in the world. lights at 2200.
Friday 10/19 - Lights at 0330. We did a range movement back to where we were the day before except we had day packs. Then our platoon commander make us run hills for a while. After that we did known distance day and night shooting. After the range was done we got bussed home, :) picture this, there is 98 US Marines with Flax jackets (adding 2 or 3 inches to our body size), rifles (adding 2 or 3 inches to our body size) , and day packs (doubling our body size) all fitting on 1 44 passanger bus. Worst bus ride ever. Funny looking back on it but it wasn't fun. :D haha.
Sorry this week wasn't descriptive like the others the internet crashed when i was writing so i had to wait a week to finish it.
I'm really starting to enjoy my training, fun stuff happened this week with some significant stuff as well. :)
Sunday 10/14 - Liberty secured at 1000. We had to go to a Corps Values brief by a retired First Sergeant then he also gave a religion brief. I didn't really agree with everything he said but it was and eye opener on how others think. We then got released for an hour for dinner. After that we did nothing for the rest of the day. I'm talking like just stood on line and looked at each other and studied our knowledge. We hit the racks at 1930 but we had 20 man fire watch, again. And again i was lucky and only had it once.
Monday 10/15 - Lights at 0400. Ate at the chow hall all day. After breakfast again just sat on line and "studied" for 3 and 1/2 hours. We then went and took the Phase 2 test. I passed, but 1/3 of the company failed. We then had classes on the IAR, M27. (HK 416) It's supposed to be taking over for the M249 SAW and eventually the M16, I think. We also had Gunner Bolten, the person our classrooms are named after, come and talk to us about his story in the Marine Corps and what he did to earn his Silver Star. After classes were over we offically had the Split, where all the 0311 rifleman go into 1st and 2nd platoon and all the weapons, 0331 machine gunners 0341 morterman (Barrus) and 0351 Assultmen, go into 3rd platoon. After we got our gear into our squadbay we hit the racks at 2100. I had fire watch and then organized my locker so i didn't get to sleep till 2330.
Tuesday 10/16 - Lights at 0515. Did the CSRE (Common Skills Retension Exam) Basically you run in full gear from point to point doing different stuff you've learned while being at SOI. lights was at 2115.
Wednesday 10/17 - Lights at 0330. We got bussed out to a range and worked with the IAR all day and assigned team assignments. I got assigned to be the IAR gunner. Freaking awesome!! lights at 2140.
Thursday 10/18 - Lights at 0500. All the IAR gunners got to shoot 425 rounds. Again, FREAKING AWESOME!!!! We then picked up the range and hiked home. About 5 clicks with hills, not the funnest thing in the world. lights at 2200.
Friday 10/19 - Lights at 0330. We did a range movement back to where we were the day before except we had day packs. Then our platoon commander make us run hills for a while. After that we did known distance day and night shooting. After the range was done we got bussed home, :) picture this, there is 98 US Marines with Flax jackets (adding 2 or 3 inches to our body size), rifles (adding 2 or 3 inches to our body size) , and day packs (doubling our body size) all fitting on 1 44 passanger bus. Worst bus ride ever. Funny looking back on it but it wasn't fun. :D haha.
Sorry this week wasn't descriptive like the others the internet crashed when i was writing so i had to wait a week to finish it.
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