CST (Combat Skills Training)

So since I talked about CBRNE I thought I'd explain what my Combat Skills Training was like also. It was about a week before I took the CBRNE training and lasted for three days and happened at a little make-shift base-inside-a-base we have here.

A lot of other people I have talked to end up going to other bases around the country for 3 - 4 weeks for their combat training, which makes me a little nervous that I am only getting three days. This three day training is normally supposed to just be a prep to go to the 3 - 4 week training, but apparently that is all I'm getting for some reason. I guess since I'm doing relatively simple escort duty and not going to be out on patrols or breaking down doors in Baghdad they don't think I need as much training. So yeah, my preparation for going to a hostile country during war time is three days of training.

It had just snowed the night before we had our first day of training so we got to stay inside and just do the lecture portion of the class on the first day. We basically covered things like LOAC (Law of Armed Conflict) and things like that, which we had already been required to learn about through computer-based training online, so it was pretty redundant.

The next day we went to the little base and sat in an unheated building for more lectures when it was about 4º outside. We had to fully gear up for the whole time which meant BDUs (my normal uniform) with long johns underneath for the cold, a field jacket, a flak jacket, web belt, canteen, ammo pouch, helmet, gloves, elbow/knee pads and M16. If you've never worn a kevlar helmet or kevlar vest, they are a lot heavier than you'd think. The vest is over 10 pounds, the helmet is over 4 pounds, M16 is 9 pounds unloaded, etc. Four pounds is a lot to carry around on your head for hours at a time. It gives you a good respect for seeing people on the news or in movies breaking down doors and running with all of that gear on. It's very difficult to move and shoot your rifle because of the vest and helmet and everything throwing off your aim. One nice thing about the vest though is that the collar of the vest is made of the same material and is stiff, so it's easy to lean your head against it if you want to take a nap on the bus. I wouldn't mind wearing one the next time I'm on a plane so I could more easily go to sleep.

So our first task was to practice moving between fighting positions, meaning we'd run from the corner of a building, dive behind another building and lay down to go prone, get up, run to some sand bags, dive behind those, etc. Next we practiced high crawl and low crawl. High crawl is laying down and crawling along the ground on your elbows, low crawl is laying as flat as possible with your head in the dirt dragging yourself along. After just 20 feet or so it is exhausting with all that gear on. Then we went on a two-mile or so hike with all of that gear on practicing movements in different formations and things. On the way back into the base from our patrol a couple of instructors came out of hiding and started throwing snowball "grenades" at us. We responded like we were supposed to, getting on the ground, spreading out, etc. Two of the guys I was with challenged one of the hostile guys (made him lay on the ground, spread his feet) and as they were approaching to search him they weren't paying attention to their surroundings and another instructor popped up from a hiding place and "killed" both of them. I was covering them from out in the field and yelled to them to watch out but it was too late. Good lesson to not get tunnel vision and only be focusing on the guy you already saw, ignoring everything around you where there could be more enemies hiding.

The final day was a war games type scenario where we got blank bullets for our M16s and defended our base from the instructors who were trying to assault it. They would approach and we'd yell out telling them to halt then practice challenging them, searching them, or shooting them if necessary. But for the most part I just stood in a DFP (Defensive Fighting Position - basically a watch tower with sandbags) for a couple hours dancing around trying to return the feeling to my fingers and toes from the cold.

And that's it! I'm ready for war! I hope that at least the Army infantry get more training than that in preparation for going over there, because I do not in any way feel prepared for combat. Of course the chances of me seeing combat are very slim from what I understand, as my job is to guard third-country nationals (contractors that work on the base doing manual labor) so hopefully I won't need to use the little bit of training that I received.