Well, I've been back for about 3 weeks now and I'm almost finished with the third chapter in my MI BOLC experience, Module Charlie (Mod C for short). This one has been a lot of fun; similar to the way in which Mod B was fun. You see, Mod B was fun because I didn't realize until then how intelligent MI personnel really need to be. The S-2 is the battalion intelligence officer and they are the subject matter expert on the enemy, the terrain and weather, and all civil considerations (read: they need to have an answer for whatever strange question the commander asks about these subject areas no matter how obscure or irrelevant). That's a lot to figure out! We're like baseball batters; if we hit the ball 30% of the time then we're doing pretty damn good. And that's a stat that's been given to me by my instructors.
So how do you make all of that more complicated? Make it an unconventional enemy and mash all three categories together in the same operating environment so that everything affects everything else all at the same time. This is what makes Mod C so interesting!
My class has been training in Level 1 Combatives for the last two weeks, which is the Army's hand-to-hand fighting method. It involves a lot of ground wrestling and it's really fun! Since I'm already Level 1 certified, I got to help out as an Assistant Instructor along with the three other guys in my class who are Level 1 certified. But now it looks like the four of us might be able to jump in with the MI Captains to get Level 2 qualified! Which would be really, really exciting. For reference, there are only 4 levels total.
Got to see my girlfriend this weekend, which was a lot of fun. It was really good to see her! We went to Cochise Stronghold on Saturday and climbed for a while on this 140 foot tall rock, then climbed to the top and watched the sun start to set. Sunday we hung out for a while before I had to take her to the airport. Lots of fun.
Ranger School preparations are going strong. I'm working hard to put my body in shape and train up on various tasks that I will be required to perform. Been finding more and more people who have passed Ranger School, too, and I'm hoping that they'll be able to offer me good information about preparation and the school itself.
Hope everyone else is doing well!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Let's try this again, shall we?
Well, I was relatively unsuccessful at posting updates this last month. MI BOLC got the better of me and more often than not I was sleeping instead of writing! But I'll see if I can't try this again and keep things up to date.
So here's the down and dirty on the last few months:
-MI BOLC had been great; I really am living the dream. It's fascinating and difficult work but I love it and I love the idea that every day I have the immense opportunity to hone my craft in the hopes that one day I can make a positive difference in the lives of the servicemen and servicewomen around me.
-As of late November I found out that I will be given the opportunity to attend Ranger School and, should I pass, assume a position as an Assistant S-2 (assistant intellligence officer) for one of the Ranger Battalions in the 75th Ranger Regiment. It's pretty exciting and it caught me completely off guard; I would have bet hard money against them picking me after my performance on the qualification exams. I know I'm going to pass (because I won't let myself quit) but it's still such a weird idea that one day this year I will be a Ranger.
-Christmas and New Years were awesome. I took 12 days of leave and made a nice triangle around the country. First was to California where I was able to see my family and a few friends and then to Baltimore to see my amazing girlfriend. Then back to Arizona!
-Tomorrow our class starts our Combatives training, which is the military form of MMA (mixed-martial arts). Since I'm already Level 1 certified I'll get to help instruct my other classmates for the most part, which should be really fun!
Hope y'all are doing well!
So here's the down and dirty on the last few months:
-MI BOLC had been great; I really am living the dream. It's fascinating and difficult work but I love it and I love the idea that every day I have the immense opportunity to hone my craft in the hopes that one day I can make a positive difference in the lives of the servicemen and servicewomen around me.
-As of late November I found out that I will be given the opportunity to attend Ranger School and, should I pass, assume a position as an Assistant S-2 (assistant intellligence officer) for one of the Ranger Battalions in the 75th Ranger Regiment. It's pretty exciting and it caught me completely off guard; I would have bet hard money against them picking me after my performance on the qualification exams. I know I'm going to pass (because I won't let myself quit) but it's still such a weird idea that one day this year I will be a Ranger.
-Christmas and New Years were awesome. I took 12 days of leave and made a nice triangle around the country. First was to California where I was able to see my family and a few friends and then to Baltimore to see my amazing girlfriend. Then back to Arizona!
-Tomorrow our class starts our Combatives training, which is the military form of MMA (mixed-martial arts). Since I'm already Level 1 certified I'll get to help instruct my other classmates for the most part, which should be really fun!
Hope y'all are doing well!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tests and Late Nights
Oh boy, what a wild few days. It's 1:30 in the morning over here so I'm going to make this quick. They're working me hard here but I'm loving it. Where else do I get to prove on a daily basis that I am every bit the officer these NCOs want me to be and more?
Well, Tuesday rolled around and a lot of neat things happened. That morning, bright and early, or rather dark and cold and early, I took the PT test. I was a little worried about my performance especially since I hadn't done well at PT the morning prior but I was hoping for the best. And wouldn't you know it but I exceeded my expectations! I didn't do stellar, but I did perform better than I thought I would. So I guess I'll chalk that up as a win and put my sights on the next PT test. For my PT test on Tuesday I was able to complete 71 pushups in 2 minutes, 81 situps in 2 minutes, and a 2-mile run in 14:43 which gave me a total score of 275 out of a possible 300.
Then immediately following the PT test we got to take the DLAB: the Defense Language Aptitude Battery, a test that measures how well you can learn and understand languages. It was such a blast! The test was a complete trip and consisted entirely of made-up languages. The questions relied heavily on audio pronunciation and asked students to identify stress patterns in words, translate sentences into a made-up language using contrived rules of grammar, and describe various pictures in a made-up language using only a handful of examples as clues. It was like a giant puzzle, very cool. According to the instructor the maximum score possible on the DLAB is a 145, a passing score is 95, and I scored a 136! Pretty happy about that but we'll see if it means anything for my career. Right now it's just another really cool notch on my belt.
Also, for those who care, I finally found out which days I have off:
-11 to 14 Nov (Veterans Day)
-25 to 28 Nov (Thanksgiving)
-24 to 27 Dec (Christmas)*
-31 Dec to 03 Jan (New Years)*
-14 to 17 Jan (MLK)
-18 to 21 Feb (President's Day)
*Christmas and New Year's are a little odd because the Army's weird. Basically if I don't want to take any time off then I only have the two 4-day weekends listed above. If I'd like to actually take a vacation during Christmas then I either need to take leave (identical to taking vacation days) or agree to work at a recruiting station while I'm home or some combination of the two. So I haven't figured out yet what to do.
And lastly, I finally have an address at which I can receive any sort of mail or package. It is as follows:
51 Arizona St, PMB 208
Ft. Huachuca, AZ 85613
Damn, I can't seem to keep these short. Hope y'all are doing well!
Well, Tuesday rolled around and a lot of neat things happened. That morning, bright and early, or rather dark and cold and early, I took the PT test. I was a little worried about my performance especially since I hadn't done well at PT the morning prior but I was hoping for the best. And wouldn't you know it but I exceeded my expectations! I didn't do stellar, but I did perform better than I thought I would. So I guess I'll chalk that up as a win and put my sights on the next PT test. For my PT test on Tuesday I was able to complete 71 pushups in 2 minutes, 81 situps in 2 minutes, and a 2-mile run in 14:43 which gave me a total score of 275 out of a possible 300.
Then immediately following the PT test we got to take the DLAB: the Defense Language Aptitude Battery, a test that measures how well you can learn and understand languages. It was such a blast! The test was a complete trip and consisted entirely of made-up languages. The questions relied heavily on audio pronunciation and asked students to identify stress patterns in words, translate sentences into a made-up language using contrived rules of grammar, and describe various pictures in a made-up language using only a handful of examples as clues. It was like a giant puzzle, very cool. According to the instructor the maximum score possible on the DLAB is a 145, a passing score is 95, and I scored a 136! Pretty happy about that but we'll see if it means anything for my career. Right now it's just another really cool notch on my belt.
Also, for those who care, I finally found out which days I have off:
-11 to 14 Nov (Veterans Day)
-25 to 28 Nov (Thanksgiving)
-24 to 27 Dec (Christmas)*
-31 Dec to 03 Jan (New Years)*
-14 to 17 Jan (MLK)
-18 to 21 Feb (President's Day)
*Christmas and New Year's are a little odd because the Army's weird. Basically if I don't want to take any time off then I only have the two 4-day weekends listed above. If I'd like to actually take a vacation during Christmas then I either need to take leave (identical to taking vacation days) or agree to work at a recruiting station while I'm home or some combination of the two. So I haven't figured out yet what to do.
And lastly, I finally have an address at which I can receive any sort of mail or package. It is as follows:
51 Arizona St, PMB 208
Ft. Huachuca, AZ 85613
Damn, I can't seem to keep these short. Hope y'all are doing well!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Leaving and Arriving
Okay, firstly about the name of my blog. I am not a secret agent. Most likely my career in Military Intelligence will not get much more exciting than knowing who killed JFK. But it's a fun title which you all should be singing right now.
Secret agent ma-an! Secret agent ma-an! They're giving you a number and they're taking away your name.
Before I get into the details of life at Ft. Huachuca I want to take one last sentimental moment to tell you all how much I love and appreciate you. If you're reading this then that means you care and I can't tell you how much I value the support and friendship you all have given me.
Well, the send-off party was fantastic (pictures here) and my last week and a half at home was a whirlwind of work and packing and seeing more friends. I was up late Tuesday night packing my car and with only 2 hours of sleep I left California at 0510 on Wednesday morning. It was tough to say "See you later" to my mom and brother but I was very excited to get on the road and actually begin my military career. I was no longer a resident of California.
The drive was relatively uneventful. It rained on me off and on for the first few hours but after that the landscape was a gorgeous desert red with the occasional mesa and puffy, white clouds were littered across the sky. Rob made me a few sweet mix cds and I drove my way to Tucson. In Tucson I picked up my first new friend, Lilly Beam, from the airport. She is a fellow classmate and second lieutenant and we drove the last 100 miles or so to Ft. Huachuca.
Thursday, my first day, we had to show up to the MI BOLC building at 0600. Most of the day was spent in briefs and in-processing (which I've been told is how the first week or so will be) but it was fun to finally meet all of my fellow classmates and begin my training. It was the first day that I wore my ACUs as a 2LT and the first time (other than my commissioning) when I was saluted by an enlisted soldier. It was weird. Very cool but very weird. The first time it happened I didn't know what to do with my hands! It's odd. I'm an officer now.
Friday was more in-processing but I'm still excited for it. After class I decide it's finally time to get a workout in so I head to one of the gyms. I try a mock PT test to see how I'll do on Tuesday and the results aren't stellar. My pushups and situps are decent (64 and 75 respectively) but my run is atrocious. 2 miles took me 15:55. Gah. Oh well, at least I'm passing. I'm blaming the rest on the fact that Ft. Huachuca is 5000-5200 ft above sea level. Someone mentions during class that they're going to Applebee's to eat dinner so after I work out I heard over there. It was great! There must have been 20-30 of us 2LTs there; we just descended on the place. A few of us afterwards went to this little dive bar a few blocks away. It was a lot of fun!
Saturday a group of about 12 of us went for a hike into the foothills below Ft. Huachuca. The altitude is still killing me but somehow I'm feeling stronger than last night. Maybe I won't do abysmally on the PT this Tuesday. The hike was a lot of fun and it makes me very excited that so many of my classmates showed up. It gives me hope that this class will be fun and that this group is willing to put in the effort to make this a great experience. Later that night another group of 12-14 of us head over to a friend's room to have a few beers and wound up at that dive bar again.
Well Sunday is here and I'm crossing my fingers that my fantasy football team, despite my terrible management this week, can somehow pull out a win over my opponent. Also hoping the Broncos can pull one over the Oakland Raiders. Going to be a lazy day, I think. Unpacking some more, getting ready for next week, watching more football. Thanks for reading, y'all.
Photos of MI BOLC here.
Secret agent ma-an! Secret agent ma-an! They're giving you a number and they're taking away your name.
Before I get into the details of life at Ft. Huachuca I want to take one last sentimental moment to tell you all how much I love and appreciate you. If you're reading this then that means you care and I can't tell you how much I value the support and friendship you all have given me.
Well, the send-off party was fantastic (pictures here) and my last week and a half at home was a whirlwind of work and packing and seeing more friends. I was up late Tuesday night packing my car and with only 2 hours of sleep I left California at 0510 on Wednesday morning. It was tough to say "See you later" to my mom and brother but I was very excited to get on the road and actually begin my military career. I was no longer a resident of California.
The drive was relatively uneventful. It rained on me off and on for the first few hours but after that the landscape was a gorgeous desert red with the occasional mesa and puffy, white clouds were littered across the sky. Rob made me a few sweet mix cds and I drove my way to Tucson. In Tucson I picked up my first new friend, Lilly Beam, from the airport. She is a fellow classmate and second lieutenant and we drove the last 100 miles or so to Ft. Huachuca.
Thursday, my first day, we had to show up to the MI BOLC building at 0600. Most of the day was spent in briefs and in-processing (which I've been told is how the first week or so will be) but it was fun to finally meet all of my fellow classmates and begin my training. It was the first day that I wore my ACUs as a 2LT and the first time (other than my commissioning) when I was saluted by an enlisted soldier. It was weird. Very cool but very weird. The first time it happened I didn't know what to do with my hands! It's odd. I'm an officer now.
Friday was more in-processing but I'm still excited for it. After class I decide it's finally time to get a workout in so I head to one of the gyms. I try a mock PT test to see how I'll do on Tuesday and the results aren't stellar. My pushups and situps are decent (64 and 75 respectively) but my run is atrocious. 2 miles took me 15:55. Gah. Oh well, at least I'm passing. I'm blaming the rest on the fact that Ft. Huachuca is 5000-5200 ft above sea level. Someone mentions during class that they're going to Applebee's to eat dinner so after I work out I heard over there. It was great! There must have been 20-30 of us 2LTs there; we just descended on the place. A few of us afterwards went to this little dive bar a few blocks away. It was a lot of fun!
Saturday a group of about 12 of us went for a hike into the foothills below Ft. Huachuca. The altitude is still killing me but somehow I'm feeling stronger than last night. Maybe I won't do abysmally on the PT this Tuesday. The hike was a lot of fun and it makes me very excited that so many of my classmates showed up. It gives me hope that this class will be fun and that this group is willing to put in the effort to make this a great experience. Later that night another group of 12-14 of us head over to a friend's room to have a few beers and wound up at that dive bar again.
Well Sunday is here and I'm crossing my fingers that my fantasy football team, despite my terrible management this week, can somehow pull out a win over my opponent. Also hoping the Broncos can pull one over the Oakland Raiders. Going to be a lazy day, I think. Unpacking some more, getting ready for next week, watching more football. Thanks for reading, y'all.
Photos of MI BOLC here.
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