PT I of VIII... It's just the beginning
I like telling stories about things I’ve done in the Army. I think that I’m a decent storyteller. A friend once said that you could fill up a year with listening to the stories I tell, but then you started to hear some of them again. Well, this is probably the one I’ve told more often than any other - I’ve told this story more times than I can remember. I enjoy telling it. Most people that know me know this story. If you’ve heard it before, feel free to skip it this time. If you haven’t, it’s probably not going to be as good as if you were hearing it in person. I’m a very physically-active talker and I think this will lose a little in writing.
My first trip to the Joint Readiness Training Center Link (JRTC) was in early 96. JRTC is a place the Army sends units to play war, often in preparation for deployments. I went on this rotation as a member of a low-level voice intercept (LLVI) team. An LLVI team usually consists of four (some units make it three) soldiers that usually carry all of their equipment in their rucksacks. They usually pack three days of food, water, clothes (I always packed lots of socks), personal (snivel) gear, and team equipment. This could make a ruck weigh over 100 pounds very quickly.
On this exercise, I was on a team with three other soldiers. In order to protect the guilty (mostly me), I’ll make up names that are based on their real names.
Our team leader was SGT P-Ro. He was a nice guy, really, but he had it in his head that LLVI team members were more like Rangers on a Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol, when in fact, our unit’s criteria for being a member of an LLVI team was that you were a male without a physical profile (temporary or permanent doctors note that restricts you from some kind of physical activity). We had quite a few ‘discussions?about how Hooah! Link LLVI was. Don’t get me wrong ?I believe that in order to do the job right, you must be tactically proficient. But not everyone is cut out to be a Ranger Link and comparing our platoon to Rangers was a great disservice to the Rangers.
The assistant team leader was SGT Frydaddy. Frydaddy is one of my favorite people in the Army. He is a great guy and a great NCO. When everything went sideways on this exercise, Frydaddy kept us together.
The third guy on the team was SGT Church. I got along ok with Church, but I’m glad I wasn’t on the same work shift as him.
OK, enough for intros and background. Now the meat of the story.
It was still fairly early in the exercise and we had to move a significant distance forward. We received orders to move with one of the infantry battalions. While not as fun as a helicopter ride, riding in someone else’s truck is still better than walking. When we got to the new forward position, the battalion’s intelligence and security officer (S2) told us that we wouldn’t be allowed to move out to the site we’d selected on our map until the next day. There was worry that with all of their troops moving into positions, they might mistake our small team for an enemy recon team and shoot us. We didn’t like the idea but we didn’t have a whole lot of choice in the matter. Usually in situations like this, battalion headquarters are big targets for the enemy and we liked to stay as far away from places like that as possible.
After some talking with the S2, we were allowed to try and find a site to set up outside the battalion’s tactical operations center (TOC) perimeter. Another reason we don’t like to set up near a TOC is that they usually have many radios working at once and that can interfere with our equipment. We used this as an argument and we were allowed to move a few hundred meters but we had to promise we’d show the S2 where it was before we settled down.
After coordinating with the security perimeter (we wanted to make sure they didn’t shoot us), we left the TOC’s perimeter and after a little bit of walking around in the dark, we found a site that was near the TOC but on the other side of a small rise. This area would hopefully shade us from radio interference and keep us from being hurt if the TOC was attacked. P-Ro went back to the TOC and brought the S2 out to see where we were. He OK’d the location and went back to the TOC.
We immediately set up our equipment. We had trained for a long time and could get our antenna up in the dark in just a few minutes. Once we were up and running, Frydaddy and I went to sleep. It was extremely cold, so I was wrapped up in my poncho liner and put my feet in a wet weather bag.
This is getting really long, so I’m going to leave off here. (Plus my wife is home and I have to get off the computer) It’s a good stopping point, as the s#!t hit the fan when I woke up. Or you could say I woke up when the s#!t hit the fan.