August 22, 2007

We have gone on our first Field Training Exercise. We left yesterday morning after breakfast and got back around 1330 today. It was extremely tiring to say the least. We had to dig a hasty fighting position for each two man team. It had to be big enough for both people and our rucksacks. It had to be 18 inches deep as well. That was a LOT of work, let me tell you. Then at night we had to have one member of each two man team on guard duty at all times, so it was two hours on and two hours off. I only got four hours of sleep last night. I'm sooo tired. I had a good teammate though. It was the guy I mentioned before, Heath Jones. We work well together.

I came close to passing out yesterday. Jones and I didn't receive our compass directions for our fields of fire until 1330 and we were supposed to have our position dug by 1400, so we were digging like mad in a heat index of something like 105. I survived though. They made us stop and rest, then follow the army standard for work in those temperatures, which is work for ten minutes, then rest for fifty. Kind of hard to get much done that way, but at least you don't pass out.

That FTX was my first time sleeping outdoors without a tent. We just slept on the ground. Tomorrow we have another foot march. This one is supposed to be around 4 to 4.5 miles long. At least it's in the morning when it's a bit cooler.

PFC Sam Jones