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.

Revisiting Land Nav

I had someone send me a message regarding some of the things I wrote about my land navigation post - I had to go back and read what I wrote, as it had been a while, but his words got me to thinking.

First, about the dead reckoning.  I believe my words were that you should 'never dead reckon at night,' which I would posit are true - for the course.  But I was guilty of not thinking beyond the course itself; after all the purpose of land nav training is not to pass a course, it's to be able to move on the battlefield, and know where you are at any given point.  So, on the land nav course that advice might be well and good, but in the real world, if you have to march through nasty, hellish thicket, then you have to do it.  And if you have to do it, you better know what the hell you're doing.  So yes, you should practice dead reckoning at night, through crappy terrain, and if my advice for the course steered you away from doing that in your future, my apologies.  On that note, there is a book by John Poole called The Last Hundred Yards, which talks extensively about route planning and land navigation, and talk about the perils of dead reckoning, and how to mitigate them.  I would recommend reading up on it, and trying out some of the techniques to see if they work for you.

The other thing mentioned was the, for lack of a better word, cheating.  Which it was - you can mince it any way you choose, I suppose, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to do the course without assistance.  It's an easy endeavor, and I would posit that all the LTs out there are proficient enough that they need no assistance, despite the horror stories you will inevitably hear - so why do people bother at all, then?  I think it stems from a goodhearted, if not flawed, desire to help each other out - nobody wants their fellow man to fail, even if he doesn't really need the help all that much.  The second question that arises is, why mention that it occurs at all?  Well, because it does occur.  And because it does occur, I think it needs mentioning.  After all, what someone reading this journal wants is an accurate, or at least honest, description of what to expect.  I will, however, say that I tried to make light of it, instead of bluntly stating what it was - cheating.  Passive, perhaps, but cheating nonetheless.  So, in closing, I will say that while it occurs, if you feel that you need to rely on it, well-intentioned though it may be, then you should be spending your free time in the woods practicing, and becoming proficient.  After all, there will be no coughing fits and clanging cups in Afghanistan when your GPS dies on you.

Slacker!

Yes, I am one.  Sorry.  We are now ,however, up to date!  Once I return, I'll upload some handouts specific to the OPORD stuff that we did, so you can prepare yourself before hand.

Week 11 - Patrolling

What a week!  Right off the bat, I will tell you that decent cold weather clothing would be a solid investment for you, if you're coming to this course in the winter.

From what I could see, this week was completely different, depending on which platoon you were in.  Some ran more missions that others, others spent quite a bit of time doing rehearsals or classroom instruction.  Regardless, you will be out in the woods for hours on end.  This was basically the first experience for many people with platoon-level operations.  As you would expect, we focused on raids and ambushes for the missions, with instruction being devoted to setting up security halts, ORPs, and MTC/Deliberate Attack.  We operated out of a TTB, which meant warm beds for our four hours of sleep, and porta-johns to download in to.  I would imagine that had the weather been more agreeable, we would have slept in patrol bases.  As it were, only a couple more degrees, and Gore-tex would no longer have been effective.  No joke, my canteen water was slushy, and guys with Camelbaks were SOL - their tubes would freeze up.

I won't spend a lot of time telling you about specifics - you have the field manuals, so you can see for yourself.  I'm going to skip straight to the lessons learned, which were plentiful for this week:

• They are going to take away your compasses after Land Nav.  Go buy one.  You will need it, and they will expect you to be able to do all kinds of things you need a compass for, but won't bother to give you one.  Navigation, setting fields of fire, establishing azimuths for egress, all kinds of things.  You need to have one, and if you don't, find out who in your platoon has one and keep him close by.  We had two guys in our platoon who had personal compasses, and they got requisitioned constantly.
• Prior planning prevents piss poor performance!  Make a copy of the grading sheet the give you in week 8 for your OPORD (or get the one that I will post in a few days) and USE it during your planning.  I would say 90 percent of all the heartache we ran into during missions could have been avoided with a clear and concise OPORD, with appropriate graphics.  Which brings me to my next point:
• If you're going to have a sand table / graphics (and by if, I mean you will unless you're an idiot), make them big enough for everyone to see, and place them where everyone has access to them.  otherwise, you're wasting everyone's time.  If the cadre give you overhead photography of the objective, pass it around so everyone can see it.  How silly is it to do a raid on buildings when the assaulting element doesn't know how many buildings are on the objective, let alone their layout?
• It's important to avoid last-minutes indecisiveness, but that doesn't mean you can't alter the plan, given circumstances on objective. If conditions differ significantly that for what you planned, adapt accordingly.  Don't, for example, place an ORP 600 meters out (especially without those compasses we mentioned) just because on your map recon there was a huge clearing, if the whole place is densely wooded when you show up.
• Sector sketches, sector sketches, sector sketches.  Have templates made up before you go out, it will save you time and energy once you establish patrol bases.
• It should go without saying, but as a leader, please keep a map on you at all times, and make sure your special teams and key personnel have important grid coordinates on hand.