FTX 3-Day 1

15 August 2011
Day 58

Duty Squad (yes, i'm back on it) woke up today at 03:30 to begin the departure process of our company to FTX 3. Final duties until 0730 then chow at 0800. A lot of "set-up" was completed yesterday, so we basically completed some last minute chores before the company arrived in the field.

The rest of the company arrived in the field around 0930 and the majority of the day was spent setting up patrol bases and the Tactical Operation Center (TOC). Each platoon set up their patrol bases while duty squad was responsible for the TOC. The TOC is made up of two tents (large ones) and holds radio, radio batteries, supplies, ammunition, MREs, and anything else needed by the platoons. It literally took until 1730 to finish the TOC. Dinner chow at 1800 for the whole company.

The evening cap was NIC (Night Infiltration Course). This course was really neat, yet one of the most dangerous courses thus far. Picture a regular soccer field (100 yards long by 75-100 yards wide, I think). Anyway, those dimensions are close. Next, picture barbed wire and concertina wire running the width of the field every 10-15 yards. Also, picture 3' x 3' areas contained by a 2' chain length fence. These areas held several explosives.

The objective was to crawl (either the high crawl or low crawl) around 110 meters, while four 240 Bravo machine guns are firing 5' over your head (live rounds), explosives are going off right next to you, and flares are lighting up the sky. The intent was to simulate battle conditions at night and they did a good job of it! Think about it, if one of us stoop up we could have potential been hit by a 240 round (7.62mm round). The crawl took approximately 20 minutes and we had to crawl with our weapons in hand. I will be honest, it was sort of nerve racking!

The whole company finished the course around 23:00 and duty squad was back at the TOC at 00:00. Duty squad (12 of us) slept at the TOC on top of the ground! Tonight was a cool evening, very low humidity and very clear!

Matthew