Story Time, The Field, and an Epiphany

This last week the kids had their Halloween party at the Library Story Time. They both dressed up and had a ball! Baleigh went as Princess Bubblegum from Adventure time and Thor was none other than his favorite cartoon character Ben Tennyson (Ben 10). I was bummed to have missed it but the Army said I was going to the field so away I went.

Here's how a field problem in 2nd Chemical Battalion goes.

Monday 6AM: Formation to make sure everyone is accounted for. Once that is done release everyone until weapons draw.

7:30 Go to the Arms room (where they keep the weapons) and draw weapons and NODs (Night Observation Devices)

9:15 Formation in the Motor Pool (Large fenced in parking lot where vehicles are kept). WE are told that we will be moving ot the field by 1100. At 11:15 we are given a FRAGO (change in plan) that we can go get lunch but to be back NLT (No later than) 12:00. That doesn't leave me any time to go home for lunch so I have an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) in the Motor Pool.

12:00 Rolls around and most people are not back. about 12:30 everyone rolls in and we are told to lay out all of our gear in the parking lot for an inspection from the BC (Battalion Commander= big boss). WE got through each piece of equipment one by one to ensure everyone has the same stuff. Thankfully I had packed everything into zip lock bags so unpacking and packing went smoothly for me. We finished the layout around 2PM and were told that we would be moving out NLT 3PM.

Long Story short we finally left the Motor Pool at 6PM. Got dropped off 6 miles from our "camp site" and were told to find it and how to set up our base. 200 meters into the march we had our first "casualty"- he had over hydrated and not eaten all day. He was med-evaced and never made it back out to the exercise. Lucky guy is all I have to say.

WE spent the next 9 hours struggling through the underbrush of Fort Hood. There was a way we could have gone by road but instead our fearless leader wanted to take a shortcut - therefore adding on 3 miles and probably 6 hours of walking with an 80+ lb ruck sack on our backs. The BC finally took over and walked us into our patrol base around 3 AM. We were told that stand to (1/2 hour before sunrise when everyone is expected to be a the ready for an attack) was at 6 am and we had to have 60% security for the remainder of the night.

Day 2 was spent digging Fox Holes (a 6 ft long, 3 ft wide, 2 ft deep hole) for us to pull security from. We also had to go on another long walk ( no idea how long it was) to recon a village we were going to raid on day three. Night 2 we had to pull 50% security. Got about 3 hours of sleep.

Day 3  Got attacked by OPFOR (Opposing Forces) and spent about 45 minutes fighting that battle. Then we had breakfast, filled in our fox holes and were told to be ready to move out in 45 minutes. 4 hours later we left. We got dropped about 1KM from our objective and our Platoon leader did a "short" recon. It only used up the remaining hours of daylight that we had left. We started what we thought would be the final mission of the day right around 9PM. It was a horrible failure and then we had to make our way back to our rally point to pick up rucks and take them back to where we had just come from. When we finally made it back we sat down exhausted. That's when the boss dropped the bomb that we had one last mission - a 12 mile ruck march back to Ft Hood proper. I was put in charge of making sure every sensitive item was accounted for, everyone's feet were checked by the medic and that we move out in 15 minutes! 15 minutes?!. We missed our time hack by 2 minutes and I was severely reprimanded for that in front of 32 of my peers and superiors. I never saw anyone else get that lecture when we missed every other time we had had all week.

about 2 miles into the ruck half of my freaking platoon was about 1/2 mile behind the rest of the group. I attempted to put my slow people up front but then we were moving at a snail's pace. I am by far not the fastest person on this ruck by I was definitely in the top 25%. We had to take 3 stops before we even hit mile 5. I was not pleased with our progress as I just wanted to get home. Mile 5 is where I had a panic attack. I was doing fine physically but all of the sudden I was choking (on nothing) and felt like I couldn't breathe. I was freaking out and the medics had to check me out because I was hyperventilating. This happened twice over the next hour but I trucked on and finished strong. We started with 33 Lieutenants on Monday and by Thursday we had lost 9 to various injuries, over-hydration, De-hydration, heat exhaustion, and sprained ankles.

During this process I realized with complete certainty I am not a Ranger, I don't want to be a Soldier anymore and I am pretty much done with the Army. I am putting in my packet as of December 1st to get out of the Army. We have planned to move back to Illinois, buy a house near my family and settle down before the kids get into school. We will be home by June! Just in time for us to meet all three of my future nieces and nephews!!!! So excited!!!!