There was that time, in college, where I went with the Army ROTC. I was a sophomore, and had just come over from Navy ROTC due to poor grades. They assigned the Cadet Commander as my battle buddy, which was still intimidating to me, because I was so n00bish. Besides, the guy had been enlisted during Desert Storm, so that gave him some cred, right? Well, probably not, but I'll never know. I do remember being in the prone with him while this other cadet, another prior enlisted who was playing the part of Platoon Sergeant for the morning, came over and told us we needed more cover and concealment. Once he left, the Cadet CO cracked on him, called him a tool, and suggested we get out our "Ranger Tree Hollower Tool" and hollow out some trees to hide behind... then he showed me to scoot yourself over about 10 feet, still in the prone, if you needed to take a leak. I think we went home on Saturday, because it was kind of cold.
There was that other time, also in college, still with the Army ROTC. I remember that one even less, because I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. My girlfriend was down from New York... but it's not what you might think. The Army ROTC decided to schedule the fall FTX the weekend of "Ring Dance," a University tradition where all Juniors get their class rings. It's an especially big deal for Cadets, and there's a big ceremony for it... seems silly to have the farking thing, now, since I dropped out and all. Of course, when I get back to my room, I find that my "little cadet brothers" (freshmen that juniors adopt; it's a tradition, and it's called something else, but I don't want to get into that etymology right now) have moved my furniture out of my room onto the quad in order to recreate my room outside. Fun. The Cadet BN CO comes up to me and says, "C/SSG soldier, you need to get your belongings inside, NOW." And no, she wasn't kidding. Not a trace of a smile.
Anyway, I don't remember that one too well. I know it was only a one-day event, though.
There was that time in Basic. Shit, did we stay out overnight? Oh, yeah, we did. It's hard to tell when they basically keep you up all night for no good reason. Things I learned on that one... Try not to inhale too much CS? You shouldn't try to dig foxholes by trees, because of the roots? If it's a choice between an overflowing porta-john and a tree (or holding it), don't choose the porta-john? (There was a guy who took a leak in one, and because it shook when he stepped in and out, it spilled some on him. It was that goddamn full.)
There was the LTX at DLI. chip and NBS and I talked about this a little, somewhere in another thread. It's not overnight, either, and it wasn't in the woods (or a field), but instead at a MOUT site. That was probably the most fun one I've done, the one that most prepared me for any sort of potential real life event, and the one least like what the rest of the Army would think of as "the field." I guess it qualifies more as "lane training."
There was the FTX at GAFB. My battle buddy on guard duty killed two stupid Charlies (no, not the Cong, the analysts) who were actually with our unit, as we walked back in from our fighting position, because they didn't know the challenge/password. Classic. I woke up the PSG (the actual, permanent party PSG) to tell him, and he told me to just go to sleep.
Um. That one wasn't all that cool, besides that. (Killer Moroccan!)
And there was the one time that my current unit went to the field. Well, kinda. We went to *A* field, for two weeks. But we came home on the weekend. And then we came home early on the second week, because we didn't want to camp out any more. Man, I did a lot of work for that one... I had to string all the lights inside the tents and run the cables from the generators. Had to make sure my computer was working. That was my "dug-in" position for stand-to... I mean, someone had to be there to play Windows Pinball... I mean, to call in the morning reports. Right?
In some ways, I suppose, this makes me less of a soldier. Now, I can honestly say, I make just as much impact on the battle as any other soldier, just usually in ways that people can't directly attribute to me (or my unit). But I kinda wonder what it would've been like, if I had signed up for the additional two grand I would've gotten for 11B with four years at Drum... And then I stop myself from thinking that kind of crazy shit, and I know that I'm just fine with what I have.
No fieldcraft.