|
So back in November I shipped out to basic combat training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri after joining the US Army in late September. First I just want to say that Missouri is cold as fuck. Anyways, it's been an... interesting experience, to say the least. My job is a 35P, a cryptologic linguist. My training isn't even close to over so I can't really call myself that yet. I am currently at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, preparing to start Mandarin classes.
This has been the longest and most eventful four months of my life, no doubt about it. I had never even fired a gun before I joined the Army. I've now fired an m16, m4 (with nightvision + an IR laser and a red dot scope), m249 SAW, m240b, m203 (grenade launcher mounted under the weapon) and thrown several m67 frag grenades. I've also crawled under live m240b rounds being shot over my head, been subject to cs gas (that's fun, lemme tell you) and been inadvertently hit by a flashbang. We've done many other things, but I'd have to say these are some of the highlights in my mind.
There's way too many stories and experiences, both good and bad, to list here or even to remember at the moment. So I was hoping some of you had some questions about my experience you could ask and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.
|
m240b (the C6 variant of the FN Mag up here)... oh how I have fond memories of lugging that thing around
|
NIce. How did you do on the avsfab to get that position? I took it and they basically said you can do whatever the hell you want. (medical problems keep me from serving, but it was interestinG)
|
what's it like being hit by a flashbang....?
just wondering.
|
Sounds like they're making a wonderful human being out of you.
|
How much are you being paid, and what benefits do you get from being in the Service? (ie school scholarships)
Do you anticipate your participation in the Army as a life long career, or something to get you started? If the latter, what is your plan for after the Army?
|
On March 04 2011 14:26 Entropic wrote:
m240b (the C6 variant of the FN Mag up here)... oh how I have fond memories of lugging that thing around
yup, it's not fun. i carried the saw for a little while on the last ruck march. at first it's not much but it gets heavy after a while haha.
On March 04 2011 14:26 Froadac wrote:
NIce. How did you do on the avsfab to get that position? I took it and they basically said you can do whatever the hell you want. (medical problems keep me from serving, but it was interestinG)
well pretty much if you get over like 60-70 percentile you qualify for every job haha. i got a 97.
On March 04 2011 14:33 m4gdelen4 wrote:
what's it like being hit by a flashbang....?
just wondering.
so on our third (and last) field training exercise we were supposed to go into this little town and try to get information out of the natives. the mission had 2 squads i believe, so about 20 people. we were attacked from a window of a two story building so we sent a squad into the building. i was pulling security outside and i walked by a window of a different building and i pied the corner (a technique for looking around corners when you aren't sure what's there) and ended up seeing a drill sergeant standing in the middle of the room. he looked at me and said "don't look at this, private" then he dropped a flashbang in the middle of the room and ran out. i managed to get down in time so i didnt actually get hit by the flash. but i couldnt hear anything besides ringing for a good 10-15 seconds, it wasn't so cool.
|
On March 04 2011 14:44 Zerokaiser wrote:
Sounds like they're making a wonderful human being out of you.
im already a wonderful human being, obv.
On March 04 2011 14:45 Hikko wrote:
How much are you being paid, and what benefits do you get from being in the Service? (ie school scholarships)
Do you anticipate your participation in the Army as a life long career, or something to get you started? If the latter, what is your plan for after the Army?
i really don't get paid shit since my paygrade is e-2, you can probably look that up but i think it's about $1600 a month. but i get all my healthcare shit taken care of. the only things i spend my money on now is food (outside of the chow hall, where we eat for free) and my cell phone bill.
as for money for school, the army gives you so much. you can also get the montgomery gi bill which will pay for a shitload of school, look it up if you want to know more (i dont know many details even though i have it lol). but right now i have to take like two classes (which i can just test out of) and ill be ready to get an associates degree in mandarin from the department of defense once i graduate.
im not sure if ill stay in. i think i probably will but i'll have to see how the rest of my contract plays out and what type of reenlistment options ill have.
|
On March 04 2011 14:33 m4gdelen4 wrote:
what's it like being hit by a flashbang....?
just wondering.
when i was hit, i managed to close my eyes in time, but its still like, when you look up at the sun with your eyes, so you see this red and it feels kinda funny. then you have this REALLY loud bang with a ringing in your eyes. and in my case, it completely threw off my balance (otoliths gone off balance from sound waves?) and i felt a little queasy. my cousin was laughing the entire time >_>
|
On March 04 2011 15:14 ProjectVirtue wrote:Show nested quote +On March 04 2011 14:33 m4gdelen4 wrote:
what's it like being hit by a flashbang....?
just wondering. when i was hit, i managed to close my eyes in time, but its still like, when you look up at the sun with your eyes, so you see this red and it feels kinda funny. then you have this REALLY loud bang with a ringing in your eyes. and in my case, it completely threw off my balance (otoliths gone off balance from sound waves?) and i felt a little queasy. my cousin was laughing the entire time >_>
haha yeah, it basically just disturbs all the fluid in your ears (so yeah, your otoliths) so everything ear related pretty much stops working.
|
Damn why didn't you want to be an Air Force linguist? I guess you just like the Army?
I'm in the Air Force. I had 2 AF buddies one of them flunked out of Mandarin towards the end of his 2 year schooling and other had discipline problems in Monterray.
Grats though. I bombed the DLAB test with a 64 >.<
All I ever shot was the M-16 in Basic Training.
|
On March 04 2011 15:39 Silentness wrote:
Damn why didn't you want to be an Air Force linguist? I guess you just like the Army?
I'm in the Air Force. I had 2 AF buddies one of them flunked out of Mandarin towards the end of his 2 year schooling and other had discipline problems in Monterray.
Grats though. I bombed the DLAB test with a 64 >.<
All I ever shot was the M-16 in Basic Training.
im jealous of the air force sometimes. they do pt like twice a week and have accountability formation like once a week at 0700. the army has pt every day at 0515 and accountability every day.
however, they have to wear a pt belt with whatever they are wearing (even civilian clothes) and it makes them look retarded, haha.
|
Do you have any background in the Chinese language? Or you were assigned that?
|
On March 04 2011 14:22 Nitrogen wrote:So back in November I shipped out to basic combat training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri after joining the US Army in late September. First I just want to say that Missouri is cold as fuck. Anyways, it's been an... interesting experience, to say the least. My job is a 35P, a cryptologic linguist. My training isn't even close to over so I can't really call myself that yet. I am currently at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, preparing to start Mandarin classes. This has been the longest and most eventful four months of my life, no doubt about it. I had never even fired a gun before I joined the Army. I've now fired an m16, m4 (with nightvision + an IR laser and a red dot scope), m249 SAW, m240b, m203 (grenade launcher mounted under the weapon) and thrown several m67 frag grenades. I've also crawled under live m240b rounds being shot over my head, been subject to cs gas (that's fun, lemme tell you) and been inadvertently hit by a flashbang. We've done many other things, but I'd have to say these are some of the highlights in my mind. There's way too many stories and experiences, both good and bad, to list here or even to remember at the moment. So I was hoping some of you had some questions about my experience you could ask and I'll try to answer them as best as I can. Also, here are a few pictures I managed to snag with my cellphone (in the limited time we had them). + Show Spoiler +My m16a2 ![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/lFLtD.jpg) m240b ![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/YZ12D.jpg) m249 SAW ![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/GssFJ.jpg) My beret flash pin since I've gotten to the DLI ![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/hxsLk.jpg) 229th Military Intelligence Battalion unit patch ![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/Mr44F.jpg)
i have a question
why are there so many wordsssssss
oh my god so many words
i think you are making more money than i was during my short time with the government
god so many words what does it all mean
so what did you do back in 'nam
User was warned for this post
|
On March 04 2011 15:50 Nitrogen wrote:Show nested quote +On March 04 2011 15:39 Silentness wrote:
Damn why didn't you want to be an Air Force linguist? I guess you just like the Army?
I'm in the Air Force. I had 2 AF buddies one of them flunked out of Mandarin towards the end of his 2 year schooling and other had discipline problems in Monterray.
Grats though. I bombed the DLAB test with a 64 >.<
All I ever shot was the M-16 in Basic Training. im jealous of the air force sometimes. they do pt like twice a week and have accountability formation like once a week at 0700. the army has pt every day at 0515 and accountability every day. however, they have to wear a pt belt with whatever they are wearing (even civilian clothes) and it makes them look retarded, haha.
hey when u get good at mandarin lets talk in mandarin to chinese dota pubs
kk miss u so much bby dota soon ya ? ^^
|
In the OP, titled "My Army Experience... So Far," the bulk of the message seems to concern weapons used and subjected to. IT reminds me of all the action movies which glorify fancy technology, weapons, and big explosions, with no thought to what it means to be a soldier, or the consequences that stem from the large scale use of violence. This is a criticism, but not intended to be a mean-spirited one towards the author; perhaps you'd expand (well, even just comment) on the intellectual and spiritual impact your experiences have had on you, and your general outlook, beyond what weapons you've had the pleasure (presumably) of using.
My personal feeling is that the US is the biggest terrorist state in the history of all humanity, and it could not be so without its armed forces. I boycott all of this by purposely living under the taxable income, which is roughly 9500 USD for a single adult.
|
My advice:
Stop playing games (since you're on a Starcraft board, I can only assume you play) and study. Now. DLI is a much different experience from boot camp, from getting your ass kicked physically to getting your ass kicked mentally. It is extremely difficult to keep up with studies going as fast as they do, in addition to juggling your regular military duties like formations and PT.
Not that I have doubts in your ability to study, but with something like an Asian language, it's one of those things that you either get it, or you don't. Studying will obviously supplement that, but having distractions doesn't help the grasping of tones or memorization of stroke orders.
Just a thought from first hand experience.
|
Oooh reading this makes me want to write a blog about being in the Korean army and listening to my CO talk about upgrading zealot speed so we'd move faster.
|
On March 04 2011 15:14 ProjectVirtue wrote:Show nested quote +On March 04 2011 14:33 m4gdelen4 wrote:
what's it like being hit by a flashbang....?
just wondering. when i was hit, i managed to close my eyes in time, but its still like, when you look up at the sun with your eyes, so you see this red and it feels kinda funny. then you have this REALLY loud bang with a ringing in your eyes. and in my case, it completely threw off my balance (otoliths gone off balance from sound waves?) and i felt a little queasy. my cousin was laughing the entire time >_>
I really want to join the Canadian forces, just for training purposes. I want to be disciplined, but I don't want to get stuck in the army lol. My uncle has been with the navy for almost 20 years now. Christ, I really don't want that ha.. But he is so disciplined and well spoken and always on the ball. Even when he is baked and drunk! 
On March 04 2011 17:08 silentreality wrote:
Oooh reading this makes me want to write a blog about being in the Korean army and listening to my CO talk about upgrading zealot speed so we'd move faster.
Maybe this is why... no never mind I will not say it. :p
|
On March 04 2011 17:08 silentreality wrote:
Oooh reading this makes me want to write a blog about being in the Korean army and listening to my CO talk about upgrading zealot speed so we'd move faster.
PLEASE DO IT !!
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
