It's really a "Tactical Rifle" match because Randy S., the guy who has accepted responsibility for keeping the program going, works hard to make the stages as realistic as possible. There are frequent short-range and long-range change-ups in some stages, and most involve shooting from uncomfortable positions. Because this is a year-around competition, the participants often find themselves trying to assume a comfortable shooting position while bellied up to a rocky, muddy bern with rain coming down the back of their necks.
Randy recommends tactical vests, which seems like a good idea considering some of the stages require reloads when it's just not 'practical' to dig around for a reload magazine which you can only get to by rolling over onto your back -- or which might be in the mud puddle you are curled up in because that's the only place where you can see all of your targets.
It's not a game for people who object to getting mud on their shirts, or who think it's unreasonable to shoot from behind a berm and then getting up and running 30 yards to the next shooting position.
You might say it's as realistic as Basic Training. Perhaps more-so.
A couple of months ago, Randy forwarded an email he had received from a young man, Loren, who had been a member of this muddy group. Loren enlisted in the Army last year, and this year he's serving his country in Iraq. Taking advantage of the mil-net email capabilities, Loren sent a letter home to the people who would appreciate hearing about his recent experiences; the guys who had given him his first taste of Practical Rifle.I wrote Loren to thank him for his service, and he gave me permission to quote the letter. I've edited it only to suit this format. All of the words are Loren's.
Hello fellow warriors,
I hope you are doing well these days and the Practical Rifle gang is going strong.
I finally made it to Iraq. I'm in beautiful Kirkuk now and getting ready to go to work. The resort I'm staying at is called forward operating base (FOB) Warrior, just outside of Kirkuk. Kirkuk has a population of about 700,000 people. Kurds make up about 60% of the population, Arabs are about 30% and the rest are Turkmen and Assyrian.
The company I was assigned to is in another part of the country. They split my team off and sent us to Kirkuk. Since we've been here I've been split off from my team to manage an Iraqi non-profit organization. My official title here is Kirkuk Business Center Advisor.
The Kirkuk Business Center (KBC) is focused on facilitating economic growth in Kirkuk province. There are 8 employees and 3 State Department advisors that I manage. Even though my title is Advisor, I have compete authority over all the operations here. These guys have been told what to do and how to do it for so long, they can't run the business on their own. I could do like my predecessors and direct the entire operation for them. My plan is to coach them to run the business for themselves. One of these days the coalition forces will leave and they'll be on their own. The people at the KBC are good people and the service they provide will be essential to local businesses over the coming years.
When I leave I want to make sure they can run things independently, without our guidance and money. I'll probably replace the manager shortly because he isn't effectively managing the operation. I need someone who is energetic and can interface well with the local business and political leaders.
If you want to know more about the KBC, go to www.kbciraq.org.
It's still a dangerous place here and I'm keeping my head down, so to speak.
We sent a young kid home a few nights ago and the ceremony was very honoring. This was my first experience. Even though we were still running missions, about 800 people from the 101st, my unit, some Air Force and private security stood in formation on the flight line just before midnight. A C-130 landed, positioned itself and lowered its rear ramp. It shut off its engines and everything else that makes noise. In the silent darkness we saluted as a US flag was presented, placed over the casket by the honor guard and the casket was slowly loaded onto the aircraft. Once the casket was secured we walked away in silence as the soldier's unit huddled around the soldier to say good bye one last time. I hope his family was told about how much respect he was shown as he left here. I hope we don't have to meet like that on the flight line again.
Each Practical Rifle match is really another day of training. I'm thankful for all the training I've had with you guys because I'm now doing something with it. Even though I'm working as an advisor here, there are still days when we run other types of missions or go out in support of something the 101st is doing. I carry and M-4 rifle and a Beretta M-9 pistol and I don't have to concentrate on what I'm doing with my weapons and my mind can focus on the situation I'm in. All the time we've trained together has made weapons handling and employment 2nd nature.
I'd say the most difficult part of working over here is having to wear so much crap everywhere. I wear the regular ACU uniform, an ACH (advanced combat helmet), ballistic eyewear, combat earplugs, the IBA (interceptor body armor) vest with SAPI (I don't know what that stands for) plates (heavy plates in the front and back of the IBA that will stop a 7.62 round), my Blackhawk tactical vest, a backpack and a Camelback with 1.5 liters of water. I carry my rifle and pistol, 270 rounds of 5.56, 45 rounds of 9mm, a thermite grenade, a smoke grenade, various knives, a Leatherman and about 30 pounds of gear in my backpack including a computer. I don't need to, but I carry 6-8 cans of Diet Coke in my bag too. With all that stuff hanging off your body, it makes moving around kind of difficult and it gets really hot. Then when you get into the humvee, the space is so tight you can't hardly move with all that stuff on and a rifle next to your leg. That's where I really prefer a cross-draw holster over a thigh holster.
I love my M-4. I have my flashlight and green laser permanently mounted on the handguard rails. I put on an ACOG or my dot sight, depending on the mission. I tuned the trigger so it's lighter and smoother and I put on a First Samco pistol grip that fits my hand better. I'd rather have my Glock than the M-9, but it's a backup anyway. I really like the M-240B 7.62 machinegun. It's really smooth and accurate for me. The M-249 5.56 version is a little too light and jumpy. The good old M2 .50 cal is still as good as it always was. It feels really good to rip stuff up with that one.
We start a lot of fires with the M2 because we mostly use the incendiary rounds. As with everything, regular maintenance is the key to their performance.
Keep up the good training, you never know when you'll need to put it into action. I'll catch up with you soon.
Loren
When Loren replied with permission to print his letter, he also had some other things to say. I'll keep this short by posting that in a separate article, but I do want to tell Loren:
Thank you for your service to your country, and for giving us all some perspective on the war in Iraq. It's only a coincidence that I received your email on Memorial Day, but I'm grateful to you for providing such a timely reminder of what they did, all of those fine young men who made such a terrible sacrifice for their country. We visited their graves and honored them today, as we do every year. THIS is to honor those who accept the risk for us this year. We want you all to come home. We know some of you will not; you have accepted an arduous and dangerous task. Our thoughts and our prayers are with you every day.If you would like to write to Loren, please email me (see the bottom of the page) and I'll forward it to him.
No comments:
Post a Comment