Field of Dreams

We just got back from three days in the field. This wasn't all bad, except for the fact that we practically are already living in the field, and this was more of an inconvenience than anything else. Plus, all that they're training us to do is herd these guys:

Here we are in action:

Just kidding! We left midday Saturday, went to a classroom about 16km away from camp and had convoy operations classes until about 6:00pm. We had risen early that morning to go to a briefing on how not to shoot your friends, which was given by a very thickly accented Briton. Did you know that the Mongolian Army has a presence in Iraq? I think that it's somewhere in the teens. From what I've gathered, all that they do is sleep and eat, and then sleep some more. Every once in a while, they try to storm a camp or two, but I think the Great Wall truly broke their collective spirit many, many years ago.
Anyway, back to our field expedition. We got out there at about four in the afternoon, and had some convoy classes. After that, we didn't get any decent food, because we were down to only MRE's, which are a bad last resort. I, needless to say, skipped dinner.
After removing all the chairs from the classroom, we laid out our sleeping bags and were made to sleep on the floor. Keep in mind that this is a very small classroom, measuring only about thirty feet by fifteen, and we slept forty-six people on the floor. Not cool.

can't move... must turn over!

Upon waking the next morning at 4:45, we went to the close quarters marksmanship range, which is just a series of targets placed 25m away. This is the kind of stuff we do to help prepare us to kick down some doors if needed. We practiced turning and firing, walking and shooting, and several other movements. I shot pretty well, as you can see here:

dude talked some smack to me

Here's a far away shot of the range itself:





After firing, which is cool and fun, they remind us that we are still in the Army, and still have to do menial tasks by making us pick up all the expended brass on the range. That's alot of little shells to pick up.

can you see them?

close up on the brass

Did I mention that they forgot to go and pick up our hot breakfast? They did, in fact, leave to get our breakfast around ten or so, by which point we were off of the range, and primed for a good brunch. Dinner was also a fiasco, but more on that later.
After lunch, we returned to our classroom/sleeping quarters for another class on convoy ops. We did that, and then pciked up our trucks and went out to practice the route for the next day's training lane. Upon returning, we had learned that our food had once again been forgotten about, and when we tried to eat some MRE's, we were chided and told that hot food was on its way. We ate at ten o'clock that night, and it was dissappointing to say the least.
Angry and tired, I once again made my home on the floor, and bedded down for the second worse night's sleep I have ever had. The single worse was the preceeding night.
Anyway, the next day we awoke and rolled out on our convoy. It went well, and the sunrise was neat. There's absolutely nothing out here, it kind of makes me wonder why anyone would want to live here, much less try and survive on a nomadic lifestyle, like the bedouins.

if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from

After the convoy was done, we returned our trucks and boarded the buses to come back to Buehring, but again we were fooled. We waited on a cramped, hot bus that smelled of Juarez for over two hours. Not cool. But once we did get home, we had a nice lukewarm shower and decent hot food. I felt as though I hadn't eaten in days, which I guess I hadn't really eaten in days, to be honest. I also uttered one of the most vile and heinous sentences of my life:

"man, it's good to be back at the DFAC, where we can at least get good food..."

noooooooooo!

I was nearly hanged for that one, and I would have tied the noose.
I think I'll be off now, but check back soon, ok?