Day 6 Week 2

My breakfast MRE of chicken fajitas.

Me in all my field gear.

Me in my field gear at the end of the day.

Well today we started our 2nd week of our BOLC training with a trip out to Camp Bullis. We loaded onto the bus at 0530 and got to our FOB (Forward Operating Base) at Camp Bullis right after 0615. When we got off the bus we got into a tent and they brought around MRE's (Meal Ready to Eat) and we each had to take 2 so we could have one for lunch and one for breakfast. After breakfast we went just out side the FOB to the 100 meter range and walked it at our normal pace a few times to find our pace at 100 meters. After we got that we went to an uneven 100 meter range and walked that to get our pace over 100 meters of uneven terrain. Finally, we averaged our even and uneven terrain pace counts to get our 100 meter pace count so that we would be able to count our steps and to know our distance traveled during our land navigation practice. After we got our pace count we headed over to a covered area which had a lot of posts with azimuths written on them and we checked to make sure our compass was accurate. After got our pace count we went back into the tent and were given 8 points that we had to plot on the grid/map and then get magnetic azimuths and distances between points and we were then ready to go out to the land navigation course! We were split up into 3 groups/squads and introduced to our cadre who we orient us to the map and are starting point. All of our points were fairly close together, they ranged from 150 meters to 600 meters. We started at our first point and shot a magnetic azimuth, lined it up with an object in the distance and then started off counting our paces as we moved toward the point we had marked. Once we got there we would shoot another magnetic azimuth, pick another point and count our paces. This was repeated until we made it to our point. At the point we would check our 8 digit grid point, the marker had a unique punch that we marked on our card and then we would right down alphanumeric code on the marker and we would be ready to head off to the next point once the rest of our squad got there. This continued as we crossed and climbed one of the hills in the area. The fourth point, which was a turn around point was up at the top of the hill. At that point we refilled our canteens our cadre pointed out some distinguishing points on the map that we could now see with our height advantage and then we started to head back to the last 4 points. One thing that was interesting was while we were out doing all this the class that is ahead of us was out in the feeling doing all of there live exercises. It was cool because we could hear gunfire in the distance as they came under enemy contact and we could see the Blackhawk medevac helicopter make continual rounds bringing people back and forth. When we were near the FOB the helicopter would land right outside the base and it was close enough that we would need to hold onto our caps and we would get covered in dust. I kept thinking that my boys would love to be that close to a helicopter and see it coming and going. Once we made it back to the FOB we ate our second MRE and then headed out to practice some dress and ceremony until our bus arrived to take us back to Fort Sam Houston. Overall it was a fun day and it was good to get out of the classroom and into the field to learn some new skills and put them to use. Tomorrow we get to do M16 training all day so that should be fun and then I think we will be back out at Camp Bullis.
 

This is the tent were we ate and met up.



Week 1 Recap

Well I had not planned on posting any over the weekend but I was going through some of my pictures from my first week at BOLC (Basic Officer Leadership Course) so I thought I would put them up so everyone could see them. The first picture to the left her is the Army AMEDD (Army Medical Department) badge that we will wear on our uniform while we are here in training. The next picture on the right is my platoon in formation during our first week waiting for our morning pt session to begin. Right below is

 our platoon out in the field about to have our MOLLE vest and helmet/uniform inspection.












This one is my squad, Squad 1, front and center waiting for our inspection.












This next one is LTC (Lieutenant Commander) Innanen giving our platoon a speech and introducing us to BOLC. He talked to us about our career's, the Army and how the Army medical profession was improving. LTC Innanen was very nice and fairly informal with us. He gave us very good advice about career management.

 This picture is another class room shot. This is LTC Smith the Commander of our 137th Medical Battalion welcoming us to BOLC. She was very nice (though much more formal then LTC Innanen) she talked about our BOLC training and how AMEDD has been changing since she has been there. She also talked about her vision for AMEDD and then Army medical field as a whole.





These last 3 pictures are from this weekend when we went out as a platoon for our first weekend here in San Antonio. This first one is of the San Antonio river walk. They decorated under one of the overpasses by hanging these fish up. The fish supposedly glowed and changed colors once the sun went day. There was also a large crowd on some grass banks around this area. Apparently they have a lot of bats that live underneath the overpass that come out in the evening. This reminded me of Gainesville as they had 2 bat houses there which housed over 300,000 bats and we would go frequently to watch them leave their home.

 This next picture is down by the river walk as well. They had built walks on either side of the river (it was more like a canal) and on the opposite side you can see they had build a little feature which had a water fall and a walkway up under it.








This last picture is one of a bus stop right up off the river walk from the last two pictures. I thought it was pretty cool how they made it look like a tree and they had plenty of seating underneath it to keep people out of the rain. All these designs were pretty cool and reminded me of sculptures done at theme parks (especially Animal Kingdom.)






Anyway, these are some pictures from my first week here at BOLC and I hope everyone enjoys them.

 

Day 5 Week One

Well I made it through the first week! Today was another good day. We got up early for pt and our drill instructor did not show up so we were instructed to do some pushups, sit-ups and run. After pt we had our inspections of our helmets and MOLLE vest. (With all my equipment passing well.) Next we did some more D & C, which is Drill and Ceremony (read more marching.) Then we headed to class for more lecture, except today was land navigation! We learned about the three North's: true, magnetic and grid, along with the angle of inclination and looking at 4-6-8-10 grid coordinates and home to find and understand 4-6-8 digit coordinates with 8 digits getting you down to within 10 meters of the position you are finding. We also learned how to convert between magnetic and grid north and finding and reading an azimuth, reverse azimuth and triangulating a position. Along with how to actually hold and read the compass to get an accurate position of travel. We were then given homework for the weekend with questions which basically makes us put everything we have learned to use. That about finished up our day, at the very end we had the AMEDD Commander who is a LTC come in and talk to us about her mission and vision for the AMEDD department while she is here. Overall, it was a pretty good week, very busy but I definitely learned a lot and feel a lot more comfortable in the Army uniform. (Though I still have a long way to go.) I am looking forward to this upcoming week when we will get to go out to Camp Bullis and do land navigation and our weapons training. It is suppose to be 105 degrees + every day so and we will be in our ACU's and combat gear so I have started working on hydrating myself so I won't have any issues on that front. Well I hope everyone has a good weekend, I am going to enjoy my first weekend off and I look forward to starting my second week and getting another day closer to the end!

Day 4

Well today went pretty much the same as our last few days, early mornings followed by long days in the classroom. Our pt session this morning was pretty easy our instructor just took us through the Army's new warm up program explained how our up coming pt sessions would be and then split us up into running groups depending on our times from the run. (I am in the Alpha group! Which might now be a good thing.) After pt we went and got dressed in our ACU's and then went to the parade field for inspection. Thankfully I passed inspection without having any issues with me or my uniform. (I had spent time the evening before going over my uniform with scissors and a lighter making sure all the loose strings were off of my uniform.) After inspection we spent some time out in the sun on the parade ground practicing formation marching and turning back and forth till our instructors felt like we had improved enough for the day. Next we just went to the classroom and had lectures on the Army military weapons, military organization and leadership and career management. All of the lectures were interesting but they started getting long towards the end. After all of our classes we had to get together in our squads and put our helmets and MOLLE vests together and make sure to tape and tighten up all the loose lines so there would be nothing to snag.  Tomorrow should be a good day we have pt in the morning but then most of the day is land navigation. (I know it was suppose to be earlier in the weak but they moved the schedule around and put it into Friday's schedule.) The nice thing is we will learn it and they are going to give us homework on it to practice over the weekend and then we get to go out to the field on Monday and practice what we learned! I also believe we will get to start weapons training some next week which should be fun. Well that is about it for today. Hope everyone enjoys and gets something from it.

Day 3 Shaving

Well today was another long day it started at 0400 out at the track for the diagnostic physical fitness test. I was a little nervous just because I had never taken an even un official PT test with official counters, however, everything went well and I scored really well and would have easily passed a regular APFT. After that we had to move quickly to eat and shower before we had to meet to pick up all of our field gear. We spent a few hours outside in the sun in our ACU's (which we wore for the first time today) going through and checking all of our field gear and packing it away in our duffel bag. Once we had everything packed away we went back to the classroom and learned about wearing our formal heading gear the beret. I will have to say I never thought there would be so required to shape and fit the beret. The most interesting part of prepping the beret for wear is shaving it over and over till it is completely smooth. After we were taught the technique for shaving we spend the rest of the day including some evening time shaving and shaving the inside and especially the outside of the beret. Our day finally ended (after going about a hour overtime again) going over stationary marching techniques and getting better with our right and left turns. Tomorrow should be another fun day we have to be up bright and early for our first day of pt. Most of our classmates seem nervous about it but I am personally looking forward to it because I think it should be a good, fun challenge. (Hopefully)

Day 2

Well today is going to be a short post because I need to be in bed for an early rise tomorrow. Today was just a lot of sitting in classroom and learning more of the Army's values, customs and traditions. Along with leadership training and meeting more of our class leadership (which I feel like I need to see in an organizational tree to understand where they all fit in!) Our class run 1.5 hrs. over the scheduled end time and we still didn't make it through our entire schedule! Thankfully they let us go so we were able to make it to the military clothing store here on post and get fitted for our ASU's. (Dress Blues) Unfortunately by the time we got fitted and paid for everything the food hall was closed so dinner was on our own tonight. Anyway hopefully tomorrow will be a good time, we are picking up all of our field gear and we will start learning land navigation. (That is if we stay on schedule!)

Day 1 Train to Save

Well we started out the day meeting our commanding officer and hearing his personal rules for our class and his policies. Following that we took the Oath of Office (I have included a picture of my fellow Active Duty Officers who took the Oath with me.) Following that we basically filled out paper work for the rest of the morning, followed by a quick lesson on how to march information before we marched down for lunch. In the afternoon we met the chaplain and learned more about Army traditions and customs. This included morning reveille (0530) and evening retreat (1730), how to salute, including the phrase of the day or the post phrase which for us is "Train to Save" because they train all the Army medics here as well. We also learned who to salute along with handling situations in which people don't salute when they are suppose to. That was pretty much our first day, not to exciting but it should continue to get better. On a side note I did a return a Go Gators to an enlisted soldier when I went to dinner in my civilian clothes with a Gator shirt on.