Well we have had the chance to get to a few ranges since being at Shelbyistan (Camp Shelby). Within two weeks of getting there, everyone went out to qualify on their M4 rifles and their M9 pistols. The M9 is the standard issue, Beretta-made pistol for the Army. Everyone on our team carries one of these in addition to their Colt-made M4 Carbine rifle. The M4 looks like the M16, except it has a shorter barrel and a collapsible butt-stock. The M4 comes with a variety of attachments like IR lights, hi-power beam flashlights and optics. So everyone had to prove that they could at least qualify on these weapons initially. For many on this mission, it is the first time they carried an M4 instead of an M16. There will be many more chances while at Shelbyistan to live fire on the M4 and M9. There will be live-fire exercises in room clearing, reacting to ambushes, and reflex fire ranges and just more qualification ranges.

In addition to those ranges we also spent two 2 days on foreign weapons. We spent one day assembling, disassembling, and performing function checks on the AK-47, SVD Sniper rifle, and PKM Machine gun. All of which originated in the Soviet Union, and all of which are standard issue weapons in the Afghan National Army. We have to know these weapons better than they do so we can teach them how to take them apart, maintain them, zero them and qualify on them. The next day we went out and setup a range in a field and then walked through Zeroing and qualifying on the AK-47. After we were done with the AK, we shot the PKM and SVD weapon systems for familiarity.

Last week we went to the crew-serve weapons ranges and shot the M240B Machine Gun, the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, M2 .50 caliber Machine Gun, and the MK-19 Automatic Grenade Launcher. The 3 machine guns were all at one range and the MK-19 was at another range a few miles away. We all shot the Machine Guns, but by the time we got to the MK-19 range they were out of ammo. I guess that will have to wait until another day to shoot that one. It sounds like once we get in country that we will be able to setup ranges and shoot once a week, which will be nice. The more time you spend putting bullets downrange, the more comfortable and better you get.

Troy

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Just in case you were wondering. Here is our address down in MS. **THIS MAY CHANGE ONCE WE GET BACK FROM LEAVE, HOWEVER ANY MAIL SENT TO THIS ADDRESS WILL STILL FIND US**

USPS to
RANK NAME
1/209th ETT-NY, 41st BCT (NY)
BLDG 2490, 25th St.
Camp Shelby, MS 39407-1000

If sending fedex or ups, send to
RANK NAME
1/209th ETT-NY, 41st BCT (NY)
BLDG 3106, 31st St.
Camp Shelby, MS 39407-1000

Several have mentioned about wanting to send stuff, so I wanted to get addresses out. Some may want to send something, and please don’t feel like any of you have to. But if you are looking for ideas, here are some;
1. old dental tools (like the ones that are about to be thrown away). We use these for cleaning weapons
2. 1″ or 1/2″ stiff bristle paint brushes. We use this for cleaning weapons too.
3. Mil-tech weapons lubricant.
4. Compressed Air cans (used for weapons and computers)
5. Qtips
6. Rifle Bore Cleaner
7. Home Cooked goodies
8. AA Batteries
9. AAA Batteries
10. Power Strips or Surgee Protectors

Again, no need to send anything, but if you feel compelled to, these were some ideas.

Also, we have an embedded reporter with our Brigade on our entire 16 month tour. He keeps a daily blog going plus pics ( he has one of me on there). You can find his blog site at www.beloblog.com/KGW_Blogs/afghanistan/

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Well we finally got issued our new ACUs (Army Combat Uniform). This is the new uniform in design and functionality that the Army is converting to. I actually had purchased one set to just try them out, but last Thursday we got our issue of 4 sets. We got these along with new patrol caps, boonie hats, T-shirts, knee pads and elbow pads. We got all of this, but not the new desert boots that go with the uniform. So the only guys that can wear them are the guys that have desert boots. For some reason, soldiers can wear desert boots with the old BDU uniform but cannot wear the black boot with the new ACU.

They are very comfortable, almost feeling like pajamas. There is lots of Velcro everywhere, and pockets in all the right places. The velcro is for soldiers to save on the cost of sewing, which I think is funny since US Army and last name (almost) never changes. I have never figured out why those things cannot be sewn on. Also, for a uniform that is supposed to save a soldier money, I am not sure why it costs almost $100 for one entire new set, and the lifespan of the uniform in a combat environment is only 6 months (nine months in peace-time conditions). The uniform also has to be washed in only one of a few selected detergents that do not have optical brighteners. So a soldier cannot just use the cheapest generic brand.

Of course the biggest complaint about the uniform is the requirement to only use pin-on skill badges, and not sew-on or velcro ones. For anyone in the military that has any of these badges, they can relate as to why this is a problem. I guess there is no way to get everything right. Overall I really like the uniform as it is comfortable and practical.

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Well here I am finally being able to type some blog entries, but only because I am at home. I will try to shrink this story down to the most relevant detail. For reasons that do not need mentioned here, my team along with one other team have been selected to deploy early to Afghanistan by about 5 weeks or so. This change threw a big wrench into our training schedule and it has to be re-worked. Since we are having 90 days of training compressed to about 45 days the plan is going through several changes. Our Commanding General was able to get us our leave to come home and see our families before we ship out. Last Thursday we found out officially directly from the General that we were deploying early. On Friday at 4 PM we found out that we could go home and see our families on leave. The bad part was that our leave started the next day (Sat.) and runs for one week. We were able to get everyone’s tickets changed from the original dates at the of May to March 25th. Within 12 hours of finding out we were getting leave and time off, we were all at the Gulfport/Biloxi airport to catch flights out of MS. We are now all at our homes, including me, and enjoying some time with family and love ones. I am sitting here in my living room enjoying a quiet night typing out this blog while I relax.

I am hoping to be better at keeping up the blog, but knowing that we are about to return to 30 days of some hardcore training and a lot to do during that time, I am not sure how much time I will have. I will be posting more while I am at home in order to catch up on some events that have happened over the last few weeks which I have not been able to do lately.

Troy

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On the ground in Miss. Well we have been here for almost 2 weeks and we finally have internet access. This morning our team had a Direct-way Satellite dish installed for internet access while we are here. We are all splitting the cost, so it is not that bad. We may also sell off some bandwidth to other people here in order to lower the cost even more. Now that I don’t have to connect over my call anymore I will be posting entries to my blog a lot more. There is also a embedded reporter on the ground with us here that is keeping a daily blog with pictures. His site is at www.beloblog.com/KGW_Blogs/afghanistan/

There is a picture of myself on his blog page, and one of my NCO SSG G. I have talked to the reporter on several occasions and it sounds like he is going to rotate from team to team during this tour and do personal stories on each team. I will post when it looks like he will be with us.

I have many things to chat about on here, and will try to put up more postings over the next several days. The purpose of this post was to let you know I am here safe, we now have internet access (Thank GOD), and what the website is to the reporter’s site.

Take care, and I will be posting more soon.

Troy

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I first heard about this mission back in November 2005. There was an email that came out looking for volunteers to man this mission. I did not hear anymore about it, until my SDRN CDR sent an email in mid-January that there were not enough volunteers and that the BDE CDR had set a date of Jan 27 to pick soldiers. I was selected as an alternate initially, but as the date for the SRC in Latham got closer I moved up the possibility list. On Sunday of February’s drill, I went to Latham for Soldier Readiness Checks. That day is was confirmed I would be going. That is when the clock started and how this all came about.

For the last 3 days we have been mobilized and training in Syracuse. Tommorow morning I fly to MISS. to start our mobilization training, getting new gear, and working with the new Brgiade we are going over with. I will do my best to keep the daily dispatches up to date, but no promises.

Troy

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