We were all very, very tired. We returned from the second week in the field late Friday night, and only had about 40 hours off. It did not feel like enough time. Squad lanes were long, stressful, and physically exhausting. Unfortunately, when we boarded the buses that Sunday, we had no idea how hard the following week would be.I've always liked going to the field. But like running, I have this attitude toward the field in which I dread actually going to the field. Once I get there, I tend to have a good time and the time passes quickly. This week we were so busy that time just flew by. Now, as I sit chilling out during a two and a half day weekend I reflect on the last three weeks. The field was supposed to be dreadful. It wasn't. In fact, I think the last three weeks may have salvaged the course for me. I learned a lot in the field and am very glad that they organized it the way they did.
Anyway, enough rambling.
Sunday night 158 candidates arrived at the McBride's Bridge training site at Ft. Benning, Georgia to spend a glorious week in the field engaging in simulated anti terrorist operations. Just like last week, this one began with an Operations Order. The terrorists we fought last week as squad sized elements were driven from our immediate area of operation. Now, they have regrouped in a neighboring region and have consolidated their resources to attack in larger elements. Now we must go out in platoon sized elements to fight them. Instead of the squad leader planner and executor that got evaluated during squad lanes, the following positions were evaluated during platoon lanes: platoon leader planner, platoon leader executor, platoon sergeant, three squad leaders, and a weapons squad leader. During the week, I got a third look as weapons squad leader. It required me to figure out how to place heavy machine guns when attacking an objective. Given my limited experience actually doing this, it was rough. Or at least, I thought it was. The company commander was my actual evaluator and he gave me a great evaluation. Guess I didn't do as bad as I thought.
There were a number of people in the company who are on the fence, generally because of planning. As I stated earlier, the platoon leader planner receives an operations order from the evaluating cadre and must take that information about the enemy and create his own operation order for the mission. It must fit into the specific operation order format. I feared this particular evaluation, mainly because in my experience the amount of information intel can give you about an objective would mean that it would take you hours to create a viable operations plan. At OCS, you have 40 minutes to plan, create a sand table, brief, and then move out. In Platoon lanes, you have an hour to do all that. However, the OPORD the cadre give us are short and the information is not quite as detailed. When I did planning, it was not a huge problem. However, there were many people who could not quite get it. They deviated from the OPORD format, which is basically an immediate NO GO. Although this might sound like a minor detail, it really isn't. The job of the officer is to plan missions. It's central and it's important. OCS recognizes this all to well in that failing the lanes means that you are a day one recycle into OCS. But two things disturbed me about those who failed the lanes: 1) to pass, all they had to do was not deviate from the very simple, structured format and 2) most of the failures were prior service with years of experience. Prior service candidates really, in my mind, have few excuses for screwing this up. Even in my strategic little MI world I have heard dozens of OPORDs briefed. I guess this is an indication of how very little soldiers truly listen to their officers brief the mission.
On Wednesday, we had our OPFOR time again where we went out and attacked other platoons trying to do their lanes. It was a good time except for the fact that Wednesday was the only day of the week it rained. We had fantastic weather during our three weeks. Other than the cold, there wasn't any problems. Wednesday was our only rainy day. It also kind of spoiled things because Sunday through Wednesday was very warm. The rain brought the cold back to Columbus. I prefer cold over rain though.
The long, long week in the field ended with the 10 mile ruck march. This was the last such march in the course and it was a little difficult after a week of running through the long platoon lanes. Some of the lanes required us to move, sprint, and crawl through kilometers of terrain. The 10 mile ruck march kind of made my already aching feet protest. However, I somehow made it out of the march without blisters or serious foot pain. After this, the only three graded events are the History 2 test, the commander's graduation run (which is very slow), and the PT test. By the middle of week eleven, everything should be done. Before that though, we must delve into week 10. After going to the field, there is a long period of recovery. We came back from the field at 1 PM on Friday and spent the next 6 hours cleaning the equipment. The student leadership was smart in deviding the labor efficiently among the platoons. They did it so well in fact, that the only stuff we have left to clean are the weapons and our personal gear. The cadre first sergeant was so impressed, that he released us for the weekend on Friday night. This was a surprise, considering none of us expected to be released at all. This weekend was supposed to be two days of cleaning the gear. That's ok, I won't complain.
Next up? Week 10. Recovery, History after 1865, and the Commander's graduation run on Friday. I cannot believe I am so close to the end. Until next week then....
SOC Sharp
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