It's Joel here and this week I'm back with another blog post!
As a full-time student, ROTC cadet, International Student Services Intern, a National Guardsman and a Computer Science department grader, I have my hands constantly full. I also dedicate about 90 - 120 minutes to working out daily so there's never a dull moment in life. With that said however, this is the kind of life I enjoy!
Another benefit of being so busy is that I get to talk about things I've done over the past couple months, which is a long list. This week, I'm going to highlight the month of October, as it was by far the most hectic month.
A great thing about being in the Army is that I constantly get to do cool stuff. And that's what I did October 13th - 15th. I had my National Guard drill weekend then, and that weekend was individual weapons qualification time, which meant I got to shoot a M4 rifle with over a couple hundred rounds. Best part was it was all paid for by the government, talk about a gun-lovers' paradise!
We also did movement to contact drills as squads, and we have patrol base operations. I did not take pictures then as it isn't very appropriate with military personnel all around, but I can describe what we did. Movement to contact is essentially the methods and procedures a squad will take when enemy contact is imminent. There is a certain way we move and communicate, in order to minimize noise and light, but still effectively communicate before engaging the enemy. Once the firefight begins however, noise and light discipline just goes out the window!
A patrol base looks just like the image below:
It's basically an area that a platoon would occupy, in order to bed down for the night and to conduct weapon maintenance and personal hygiene. It is usually placed in areas that are nasty, just so it would be less likely for the enemy to want to come across that area. We set up patrol bases every night when I was out in the field at Fort Knox, KY over the summer so this was a great refresher!
2 weekends later, I had to go out to the field again, this time however, with PLU ROTC. We had Lute Forge, which is our field training exercise in the Fall. I was a lane walker with a squad, which meant I was the primary advisor attached to a squad and followed them wherever they went.
Here's a picture of me at Forge demonstrating clearing a weapon:
We also spent a night in the field at Lute Forge in a patrol base.
On October 31st, Halloween, PLU ROTC had a battalion fun run and I came in a sumo costume and ran 2 miles with everyone else! It was very challenging but definitely a fun experience.
The next weekend, I had drill weekend again for the month of November. This was a 3 day event, and this time we did medical readiness stuff, more patrol bases and more movement to contact. We also had our M320 qualification range, which is essentially a grenade launcher that looks just like this:
As you can see, most of my weekends are occupied with the Army, and it is sometimes a struggle to find time in order to complete huge assignments and to study for exams. However, I'm doing well this semester and am enjoying myself.
Take care for now!
Joel Goh
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