Bouhammer's Afghan & Military Blog

The training is done and now we are in a holding pattern. The last bit of training wrapped up last week with a MBITER radio class we had. It was another of those “oh crap” last minute classes we had to have. We went through our final Soldier Readiness Checks on Thursday and then the CDR and I went to a validation meeting on Friday to validate our team. The validation locked in the team ready to go. During that meeting we got a call about our supposed flight that was supposed to happen yesterday. In that meeting we found out that the old AF Murphy Law came into effect. Our C17 that was supposed to pick us up on Monday all the way into A-stan was diverted to Hood to pick up some needed cargo. So now our pallets of tuff-boxes and B-bags are going on it, but we are not leaving country until this weekend. This is the third itinerary since last week, but this one locked in and is a better option than other ones we had. So we had a few days off….Christine flew down here (with no kids) and we are enjoyed a few days together before I leave. Since our flight changed she stayed an extra day and we had a great time. We realized that in 15 years of marriage that these 6 days are the longest we have ever had together with just us. We spent a lot of quality time together … Continue reading →

Well, I am only a few days away from leaving the US. We are finally done with training at Camp Shelby, Thank God. Christine flew in yesterday and is here spending the last days I have with me. Her mom is in NY watching the boys. Tommorow we are heading to Clear Point AL to an awesome 5 star Marriot Resort and Spa right on Mobile Bay. We will be leaving right after my last meeting in the morning. I will be posting a lot more about Shelby on my trip across the pond, so there is more about Shelby later on. If you were planning on mailing me something, please wait. I will not get it before I leave and it may not ever find me. Sorry about being so short on this BLOG entry, but I have a visitor and want to spend some time with her while I can. Troy

The infamous range 49 turned into one of the most sour moments in this training cycle. Range 49 is where we went to qualify on our M4 rifles with our optic sights. We qualified with our standard handle-based iron sights when we first got here. However, we have been pushing to shoot with the M69 Close Combat Optics and ACOG scopes that were issued to us and that request was finally filled. On Good Friday we went to the zero range at first light. The entire team ZEROed their backup iron sights and their optics pretty quickly. Due to the advantages of the optics everyone was knocking the center out of their targets fairly easily, which they should since these things makes a soldier much more accurate. After the zero range, we drove down to range 49 to qualify on Day fire, NBC (with our gas mask on), and night fire. Range 49 appeared as a nicely laid out range when we pulled up and I truly thought that we would have 50% of the team qualify experts and we would be out of there quick. The lanes were all easy to see like a A-1 Brunswick bowling alley. What we could not see what the terrible shape that the targets were in. Before we shot, we heard of guys shooting in the teens or single digits, and I remember thinking “wow these guys are ate up, how can they not qualify”. By the way, it takes a minimum of … Continue reading →

Well, today is Sunday (EASTER) and we are all back in our barracks after enjoying a relaxing two days after a stressful last week. The 6 days before Good Friday was training all day and every night with very little time to recoup. We did CLS training (as mentioned in other entry), and we also did Up-armored HUMVEE drivers training in the evening. On Friday we were at the M4 range all day, but I will talk about that in another BLOG entry. Anyway, it was a tough week and it was nice getting away. About 8 guys took off late Friday night and went to the Isle of Capri Casino in Gulfport. One guy went to Orlando to meet up with his family, and I went to Helena AR to see my parents and other family that live near there. 5 guys stayed at Shelby and just relaxed here all weekend. I picked up my rental car at 9AM on Saturday and headed north. I had about a 4 ½ drive from Hattiesburg, MS to Helena AR. I enjoyed the drive to unwind and to catch up on some calls with buddies I have talked to in a while. I also spent quite a bit of time talking to Christine on Saturday. I pulled into Mom and Dad’s driveway right about 2:30PM, and everyone was across the street and Aunt A’s house waiting one me so they could eat. They had food everywhere and I swear they tried to … Continue reading →

We have spent the last three nights attending Combat Lifesaver Class, also known as CLS. A CLS person is the Army’s way to supplement units with above average medical training since medics cannot always be everywhere and at every location. Typically in a regular unit, there are 1-2 CLS trained soldiers per squad. Due to the unique nature of our team and our mission, everyone has to be qualified as CLS. This is because that one many missions there will only be two members of the team there as the only americans. The rest will be Aghans. So if one gets injured, the other guy has to know how to patch him up or get him out of there on a medevac if needed. I have sent many a soldier to CLS over my years in the Army, but have never had the chance to go myself. I have learned some of the tasks in the past. One of these tasks is the administering of an IV. The IV part of the class, is the pinnacle and what the class is known for. Everybody sticks, and everyone gets stuck. If you mess your buddy up, he may mess you up when it is your turn to get stuck. When I was in the 1/501st, we routinely practiced giving IVs, even though not everyone has went to the school. This training back then, along with a lot of other medical training I received in the Army made CLS pretty easy. This … Continue reading →

Since we are now going earlier than planned and are no longer in the 41st BCT, we have a new address. The old would should work too, but this is the new one and really should be used. USPS to RANK NAME USA ETT-NY BLDG 2490, 25th St. Camp Shelby, MS 39407-1000 If sending fedex or ups, send to RANK NAME USA ETT-NY BLDG 3106, 31st St. Camp Shelby, MS 39407-1000

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 … Continue reading →

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 http://www.beloblog.com/KGW_Blogs/afghanistan/

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →