Goodbye to Benning?

Ranger School is (finally) done - I am not, as they say, a smart Ranger.  One last obstacle, barring any additional schooling, remains - out processing.  I'm told by friends that it's a pain in the ass, so I thought I'd make a comeback to give some tips on the whole process.  I'll let you know as things develop.

RANGER SCHOOL BRB LOL

Well, hopefully not back any time soon.  It's been fun, guys!  I might add on to this once I'm done, to give tips for LTs going to Ranger School, but I don't plan on making a journal about it - there are plenty of other ones out there, who have done a much better job than I would have.

Wrapping Things Up - Weeks 15 and 16

Well after Leader Forge, there wasn't much else to do in the course.  The week after the FTX was spent cleaning weapons and equipment, turning in platoon gear, getting counseled by the Cadre, and wrapping up any administrative paperwork.  national Guard guys turned in CIF, and closed out with Fort Benning, so they had quite a few trips to complete.  The last week, we started off with a diagnostic RPFT - it wasn't quite like Ranger School, where you're done after you complete teh required number of repetitions, but no one kept track of your score - if you didn't make the required number, you simply were pulled off to the side for retesting.  Rehearsals for the Blue Cord Ceremony and the Graduation Ceremony ate up most of our time this week.  Go ahead and get your blue cord and have your button sewn on well before this week, so you're not scrambling.  It's also a good time to call your brigade S1 and check in with them.  The Assistant S1 is an LT like you, so there's not pressure.  I didn't get a whole lot of information from them, just my battalion assignment, what the first few days at my post would encompass, and the reminder to complete Ranger School, else they would send me right back to Benning until I did.  It was a very relaxed two weeks for us, but readers beware - our class was unique in that we have more than 3 weeks before we need to report for Ranger School; many classes get far less than that.  The class before us got all of three days, so I am sure their timeline for Ranger School was much more compressed than ours.  Friday of the last week, we reported in to HHC, got a brief on what the next few weeks would be like, and dates for the record RPFT, packing list layout, and practice Land Nav event.

Well folks, that's it.  Done and done (for now).  Since there are no more week-by-week breakdowns to complete anymore, I will be writing on selected subjects regarding IBOLC, to better help incoming guys out.  Thanks for reading, and as always, comment if you have any questions.

Week 14 - Leader Forge, Part 2

The first day consisted of weapons draw, PCC/PCIs, and movement to Galloway Range for the platoon live fire.    For us, they picked on of the LTs who had a good mission last week, and gave him until 0700 to plan and prepare the platoon for the exercise.  It was raining pretty hard during the OPORD, but a well-built sandtable got the point across, and we got six hours of sleep beforehand.  We did a blank-fire iteration in the morning, overseen by the company commander, which went well for us.  In the afternoon, after some tweaking of the plan  and additional rehearsals, we did the live-fire iteration to success.  It was a hard day, but things went well for us, and we got to get about three hours of sleep back at the TTB.  At 0300 the next day we woke up and began prepping for the next mission.  The rest of the day and a good chunk of the night, we spent doing additional missions for the people who still needed leadership positions or who had NO-GOs from last week.  The next day was devoted towards planning and preparation for a company attack.  The PL position was again given to an LT who had a good mission the week prior.  We got two hours of sleep that night back at the TTB, interrupted by a inspection of our IBAs, because an LT decided to remove his kevlar in order to save some weight during their platoon's live fire exercise.  Needless to say, nobody was amused on either side.  We woke up, took buses to the SP, and then began a 16 mile tactical ruckmarch with our gear and weapons to the ORP. The pace was 18-20 minutes a mile, wit hwater breaks at the 4, 8, 13, and 15 mile points.  At mile 15 we donned our helmets and NODs.  The company attack was a seizure of a large MOUT complex, with numerous, multi-story buildings.  A lot of time and planning went into this, and by this time we were feeling the effects of no sleep and bitter cold.  STill, the mission was a success, and by 1200 we were on our way back to Taylor Field for a DOGEX and equipment turn-in.  Spirits were all-around rather high, despite our exhaustion.  From that point onwards, we were done with the field (At least until Ranger School).  All we had to do was clean and turn in our weapons and gear, and knock a few more classes out the way, and we were finally infantry officers.

Friday

Week 13 - Leader Forge, Part 1

The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight, but it is not without its challenges.  Our company lucked out this week, because MLK weekend was in the middle of it.  Normally, Leader Forge is ten days long, but even in the mere 4 days we had this week, limits were pushed.  96 hours, with about 15 hours sleep total, Over 35 kilometers of movement with rucksacks, missions until 0400 in the morning, frozen water, 16 degree weather, freezing rain, long distance litter carries, no time to eat, and cadre breathing down your back as you're trying to lead a tired and miserable platoon.  Just a little taste of Ranger School, as it were.

IF you haven't had a graded leadership position yet, you will have at least one this week.  The course requirements have two positions listed, but there is far too much to do and too little time to get everyone, so chances if you do well the first time, you won't get a second one.  If you didn't do so well on your first one, you have the chance to redeem yourself.  When you're in a leadership position, as I said, the cadre will be jumping all over you in a constant effort to stress you out and question yourself.  The key to all of this is to remember - it's all a game, it's all BS, and you are more likely than not doing much better than you think you are.  Most of the people who went can tell you that they felt like they did a horrendous job, only to be told during their debriefing that they did quite well.  Keep this in mind - you won't be able to completely suppress that stress and doubt, but it will help tremendously.

Your greatest enemy will not be the miserable weather, or lack of sleep and food, or even the stress.  It will be your own peers.  They will be unmotivated, lucid, slow to react, which means that the PL, PSG, and SLs have to be on their game.  If you are stuck with weak or incompetent squad leaders, it will kill you.  Get your big boy pants on and start getting in peoples faces, and get those SLs to do their jobs.  If they won't do their job, FIRE THEM.  Get a guy in there who will support you.  I watched one of my peers, who was not that strong himself, fail miserable because his squad leaders were terrible.  If he had good squad leaders, they would have carried him through.  Remember, though, that you have to communicate with them clearly and constantly, and include them in your planning.

Speaking of planning, it is absolutely key - the meat and potatoes of what you do as a PL.  If you have a simple and clear plan that you brief concisely, you are 70 percent of the way there.  The other 30 percent is getting on your subordinates leaders and ensuring they're doing their job, and being decisive.  I can't stress that enough.  You will have to react to the unexpected, and will be expected to react quickly and sensibly.  A mediocre decision made now is better than a perfect solution made 90 seconds later, while your platoon is in an open field under mortar and direct fire.  Going back to your subordinate leaders and under performing peers - don't get on individuals, get on their leaders.  If a squad is messing up, don't fix it yourself, tell the SL to fix it.  You have bigger thigns to worry about, and you're doing their job instead of letting them do it.  Be an ass if you have to - tempers may flare and egos may be bruised, but they will understand why you're doing it.  Finally, once you're done with leadership - remember how difficult some of your fellow LTs were to deal with?  Do them a favor and don't be difficult to work with yourself.  Yes, it sucks out there, but you have to help your buddies out.  It's a team effort, and if you're always on the ball and helping your guys out, they will remember it.  Screw them over, and they'll return the favor.

Lessons Learned:

• Buy gloves and glove liners, buy good winter boots and socks, and keep them handy - you can be bundled up completely, but if your hands and feet are cold and numb, you will be miserable and focusing on anything will be an effort.
• Do not rely solely on your electronics!  Radios and DAGRs break, batteries wear out, lines of sight are blocked.  Always have a backup commo plan, and always manually keep your pace and azimuth.  Make sure you're strong on terrain association, so you can find yourself on a map.  It is an absolute disaster when your lead element, can't tell you how far you've gone or in which direction because they decided to just use the DAGR instead of doing the right thing and having a paceman and compassman.
• Actually look at your man and the route you're talking, instead of just blindly plotting straight lines or road marches.  If its far easier to use the roads to get to your destination than traipsing through the woods, ask higher about enemy activity and route security.  Make sure you're not about to walk through 600 meters of swamp, or across an open plain.
• Always keep the situation at hand in mind, and react accordingly.  Like with route planning, don't just go through the motions - pay attention to your terrain, what the enemy is doing, the status of your element, how much time you have, etc. - in other words, METT-TC.
• Polypropylene is your friend, except when you're marching 6 klicks.  Consider buying layers that can easily be removed without removing all your other layers or boots, so you and strip down before movements, and bundle up again at long stops.  I know that the military supply stores around the area have rip-off long underwear that suits this purpose quite well.

Week 12 - Coin / Defensive Operations

Getting an early start on this, so I don't put it off like I've been doing.  We started the week on Tuesday, with a battalion run.  Nothing hard.  Had a presentation on the history of counterinsurgency; some examples of insurgencies throughout history, characteristics of insurgencies and counterinsurgencies, literature and important figures, etc.  Post-leave piss test and an early release.

Wednesday was our final PT test - the first one counted for 30 point, the final is for 70 points.  Again, if you can get over 300, they'll usually float a positive spot report your way.  If you score a 290 or better, you'll get the maximum amount of points towards your OML score.  More classes about COIN operations; an overview of counterinsurgency, characteristics of insurgencies, do's and don't of counterinsurgency, the purpose of counterinsurgency operations, tactics.  Defensive operations was brief, but everything you need to know is in FM  3-21.8, Chapter 8.

Thursday was our COIN / Defense quiz.  Topics covered:

• Definition of insurgency, counterinsurgency
• Historical examples of insurgencies
• Characteristics of good/bad counterinsurgency
• Paradoxes of counterinsurgency
• Types of stability operations
• Types of battle positions
• Characteristics of the defense
• Forms of defense
• Parts of an insurgency organization
• Purpose of Lines of Effort in COIN
• Steps in preparing an engagement area

After that, we reviewed for our cumulative exam for Friday, and the cadre answered questions we had about the defensive OPORD due the next day.

More to come on Saturday.

Atmosphere at IBOLC

One thing I've never really touched on about IBOLC is, 'what is day-to-day living like?'  I talk about what we do, but I don't talk a lot about free time, your relationship with the cadre, etc., which was one of the primary concerns of mine going in to this.  It seemed rather strange that I never talk about it.

IBOLC is a gentleman's course...ish.  In many respects you are treated as an LT, but in many respects you are treated like a private.  It's not like IET where you're braced up all the time, people jumping down your throat, pumping out push-ups every twenty minutes for some infraction.  You're address as Lieutenant or Sir by the cadre.  So long as you're doing what you're supposed to, cadre are friendly, more than willing to talk about their experiences, and help you get to where you need to be.  You're expected to make mistakes, and they offer constructive criticism.  At the end of the day, assuming you're not in the field doing patrol ops or the ilk, you are free to do as you please.  Weekends are all your own, and while my platoon has bonded well, you will always have particular individuals that you build more rapport with, and end up hanging out on your free time - barbecues, trips to other cities, and such.

Then there's the other side of the coin.  There are times where they make your place known.  A lot of admonishment for not moving fast enough, only to sit waiting for extended periods of time for events to begin.  Strict adherence to uniformity, which has always struck me as pedantic, is present as well - everyone has to look and wear the same thing, at all times.  Evolutions that are conducted not because they provide concrete knowledge, but because you're a hardcore infantryman and you should embrace the suck.  For instance, staying overnight in the field, only to get on a bus the next morning and be dismissed.  There's worth to it, to be sure, but if you've got a wife and kids at home, you would like to spend as much time with them as you can.  I've other examples, but I think they are more cadre-dependent, and not indicative of the course as a whole.

Bottom line is that you are still your own person here, and you will have time to wind down and enjoy yourself, but like anything else in life, there are those annoyances and frustrations that come with bureaucracy. They might put on a hard face at the beginning, but this course is nothing that someone with adequate physical preparation and a level head cannot handle.  Relax and have fun, here.  You'll meet some great guys.