Don't worry, it was a rental

I’ve just returned from a live fire exercise. We spent the last few days sleeping in a large storage building up in the woods preparing for a mission to destroy a nearby explosives factory. The first day was spent rehearsing the plan. We drove nine vehicles up into the hills to a large open field surrounded by dense woods. Scattered throughout the countryside were rusted-out tanks and bullet-ridden jeeps. As we pulled up to our training area a herd of about a dozen wild horses (seriously, wild freakin’ horses), most of them black or dark brown, galloped past. It was surreal to see such large beautiful animals running amongst the jagged metal refuse of war. Our instructors explained that the horses have lived in the area for years, and don’t seem to mind all the noise and disruption that our training causes. I could tell by the way the instructor talked of the animals that he was fond of them and a little protective.

That afternoon we ran through our positions and practiced each phase of the upcoming mission. Our plan called for one platoon (mine) to drive our Humvees onto a nearby hillside and fire down onto the enemy buildings below. While we suppressed the bad guys, the other platoon went in on foot to clear the individual buildings and take possession of any explosives or weapons. The first run-through went well. During the rehearsal, in order to show that they were in position, the other platoon leader fired a flare into the air. When the flare landed it started a portion of the field on fire. Luckily the wind was blowing away from everyone, and the fire continued over the hill and beyond. I guess the policy of the range is to let fires burn themselves out unless they get to out of control or threaten nearby structures.

The second run-through was a little more interesting. I was driving the second Humvee in line as my platoon set out to our position on the hilltop. On my way I drove up a step slope of loose dirt and got the vehicle stuck. Dave, Pablo and I jumped out of the truck and tried frantically to dig out the tires so we could join the other vehicles up on the hill where they had already begun to fire. As I dug, I distinctly heard a voice over the radio say to someone “don’t worry about the fire, continue mission.” It was at this time that I looked up to see another field fire had started, only this one was on the hill 100 meters directly above us. I pointed this out calmly to the other guys and we decided we better get this vehicle unstuck in a hurry or else try and salvage equipment and flee. While we debated the merits of each course of action, I looked up to find that the blaze was now only half the distance away that it had been and that the flames were now several feet high. Immediately we began pulling the seventy pound machine gun off of the roof of the truck. As Pablo and an instructor carried that off into the woods to safety Dave and I quickly grabbed arm loads of gear. Before I knew it the fire had already reached the front of our rig. The wind had picked up and the fire was now moving fast. With our arms full, and with smoke all around us, Dave and I ran up into the woods as the flames passed through our vehicle. It was unreal. I just happened to get my Humvee stuck in front of, what would become a sizable forest fire. Luckily, the wind was blowing so hard that the fire moved quickly over of truck and there was only slight damage to the underside. A mechanic later told us that the gas tank was charred and that it might have gone up if the fire had been moving any slower. That would have been interesting, night vision goggles and machine gun rounds exploding into the air.

So I guess there were a few lessons to learn here. The first is probably that soldiers should probably stop using pyrotechnics during training after they cause the FIRST forest fire. The second is that, with a little help from a healthy breeze, fire can really move, and it isn’t wise to park your car in its path. Lastly, and as my girlfriend eloquently stated, “Your stupid army gear isn’t worth your life you #@$%# idiot!” Reflecting on her words I see how it might have been a bad idea to wait so long to abandon ship. Note to self: Though night vision goggles are pretty cool, they are not so cool as to be worth catching myself on fire to save. Lesson learned.

The following day’s mission went very well. We accomplished what we had to and only a few soldiers were injured (not really injured, just for pretend). Though we fired live ammunition, I felt safe and confident that everyone was doing their job properly. I was even able to fire a live rocket launcher at a car. Not something I do everyday, but a good time nonetheless.
For the next four days or so we’ll be finishing up our war game. After that it’s time to begin packing for our trip to Kuwait. I think most of us are looking forward to Kuwait, though I’m not exactly sure why. I think we are just eager end another phase of training and be that much closer to heading home.