Closing of a Chapter

Well, it's graduation day here at Fort Riley. The last couple of weeks were actually pretty fun; we trained in Urban Operations and Close Quarters Combat. This training showed us how to clear rooms and houses and how to use our firearms under pressure and at distances of 25 yards and closer. The Close Quarters Combat ended with a "stress fire" lane where we had to run to cover (with all of our gear on) inside a shack and shoot right handed out of one window then left handed out of another window. Then we ran to another cover area and shot left and right handed again, then to a vehicle to fire from behind it. All this time there are grenade simulators going off (think fireworks on the ground, all the boom but none of the pretty lights) as well as smoke grenades. The object was to effectively engage the targets while your heart rate is up. The Urban Ops ended with us clearing a house using plastic/paint rounds fired from our M4s, and yes they did hurt.

I am going to have to keep this one short because its time to go. I will write more next time about my Memorial Day weekend with Melissa and the boys. I will be heading up to Wisconsin tonight, so I will see some of you then!