Yeah! I hid my code
tag and went out on patrol
as rear guard. Strained
my healing leg but it was
worth it. Dug defensive
positions around perimeter.
Spread obstacles in front. Too tough for drills to tackle.
They hit 2nd and 3rd at night
but basically left us alone.
Got gassed a lot. Letter from
[Golf]--good to hear from him.
Hope to talk to [fiance]
tomorrow. Morale way up
now. We kicked butt tonight.
I need to brush teeth for an hour.
I'd forgotten that you got a tag to wear indicating what codes you are on so the drill sergeants know what you shouldn't do. But with the muscle relaxants really working and my frustration about not training in an actual interesting environment building, I hid my code tag and went out on a patrol. It was a relief to not be left behind.
We only sort of dug defensive perimeters. We actually weren't allowed to dig new holes. Work-wise, that was great. But it probably would have been good training-wise to see how much work digging a proper defensive position takes. So we scraped away existing terrain features to improve cover.
One thing I did that I was pretty proud of was to organize 1st platoon's defensive efforts. I got our guys to collect large rocks and scatter them in front of our lines--especially behind trees where attackers might try to hide--in order to make running a bit hazardous. In retrospect that might not have been the smartest thing to do since it really did risk some injuries out there. But it was our opportunity to strike back a bit at the drill sergeants.
And it worked. At night, we had to man the perimeter and the drill sergeants basically attempted to count coup against us by attacking us. Without night vision gear, it was just a tense time of hearing movement outside the perimeter and calls from the perimeter as strikes were made. Outside our perimeter, all we heard was the sound of tripping and cursing. Our drill sergeants kept away from our portion of the perimeter. The sweet sound of success.
Serves them right. They never even explained that in a night defense it is best to use grenades rather than rifle fire to go after suspected enemies to avoid giving away your firing position.
Actually, if I'd really been thinking I would have also had us find branches to use as faux barbed wire and gathered balls of dirt to throw at the ghosts darting about out there. Just aim at the cursing ...
Out in the field, as I mentioned, the drill sergeants used tear gas pretty liberally.
And I received a letter from a friend and fraternity brother as well as one from my fiance. Mail really was a life line to the outside world. You can understand why the military once mailed anything with an address from the field and why email and other more immediate links are so important today.
Just being able to train and do stuff was good for morale despite the grunge of the field. Yet another example of why keeping troops busy is important.
