Sending the "Good News" Down Range

A delivery of skullbusters

A prescription for 5.56mm* of hot lead

Live dope outgoing

Battlefield preventative medicine

Sending the good news down range


These and a host of other well crafted phrases are the primary (and often hilarious) euphemisms that the Army drill sergeants here use to describe firing the M16A2 rifle. We have spent the the better part of the last three days working on BRM - Basic Rifle Marksmanship. It is really pretty impressive when you see all the science, physics and training that goes into making a good marksman with this weapon (or as the Army calls it "your weapon system"). I have fired the M16 on two previous occasions but have never received such intensive and high quality instruction on HOW to fire it.

And we did not even put live ammo into the magazine until Thursday. We started with a huge video game in what is known as a Fire Arms Training Simulator (FATS). It even recreates the kick on the weapon when the trigger is pulled. What it does not recreate is the deafening sound of 30 M16s lined up on a live fire range.

Don't get too sped-up here - I don't get to carry an M16 in Iraq, but I do get to train on one. This is great because if I were ever in a situation where I needed to use one (which would mean I was in a pretty bad situation), I'll know what I am doing and have at least a decent chance of putting "live dope" on my target ;-). My "take to war" weapon is an M9 pistol. This the weapon that I am required to wear any time I am out of my quarters.
The M9, commonly known as a Berreta 9mm, is the NATO standard side arm. It has a maximum effective range of 50m, if you are a really good shot. The qualification distance is 25m with 40 rounds, including a timed series of 4 quick magazine changes in mid-firing cycle and firing from four different positions. I hit the center mass of the target 34 times. That means I am qualified to "prescribe a hot dose of 9mm lead." But the running joke is that if the situation is so bad that you have to use the M9, you might as well just throw the gun really hard at the enemy and hope it knocks out one of them.

Looking down the qualification range, each lane is numbered and every three lanes are covered by a range safety officer.


The Army qualification range has pop-up targets at from 50 to 300 meters. In this photo, a drill sergeant assists one of my classmates with the sequence we have to fire from the kneeling position.


Among the five different marksmanship scenarios we went through, this one is called Flex Fire. We engaged pop-up targtets from 25m, 15m and 7m. You'd be surprised to know how easy it is to miss a target, even one only 20 feet away, if you are not applying some skill to the shot.

Gear
Remember back when there was much a do about our military not having sufficient or correct gear? Those days are OVER. I have FOUR seabags (think huge duffle bag) of gear, probably weighing in at 250 lbs. The Individual Body Armor (IBA) itself weighs close to 70 pounds and includes side armor, a groin protector, shoulder armor, a neck protector and a throat protector (I am waiting for the model with a built-in bottle opener to come out).


Here I am, in what is referred to "Full Battle Rattle." My kevlar helmet is hanging off my waist. The kit on the left of my vest is an IFAK (Individual First Aid Kit).

I have long underwear, 2 different pairs of ballistic goggles, winter boots, summer boots, knee pads, elbow pads, bug spray, a chemical weapons suit and gas mask, and, my favorite, an ENTRENCHING TOOL! Fondly called an E-Tool, it is a small, collapsible shovel that I’ll be glad to have on hand if I ever need to dig a fighting position in the sand . . . . which, based on what I know, is actually less likely than me ever having to throw my M9 at the enemy.

Food
The Army does many things well, such as firearms instruction and marksmanship, first aid training and, well, marching. They do not do food well. The dining hall appears to be only a few years old and from my observations, is well equipped with modern and expansive preparation and cooking equipment. Yet there are many days when I yearn for the food my culinary specialist (CS) staff produced at our Seabee field exercise in June. Somehow, from a tent, using gear that probably has not been replaced since the Korean War, in arduous climate and under simulated rocket and mortar attacks, my food service team was able to produce absolutely superior meals compared to what I am confronted with here. I guarantee you we never served ¼ inch thick pounded fried chicken pieces with heavy gravy, fried cauliflower and red beans. Never. So allow me to once again thank my Food Service Officer, Matt McCabe, and the incredible Chief Mike Farrell for great food. You guys did better from a tent than the Army seems to be able to do from a $1 million dining complex.

Drill Sergeants
I've been really impressed with the Drill Sergeants here. They are good humored, knowledgeable and obviously love their jobs. It also speaks well that they are able to transition from dealing with 17 and 18 year old army recruits to dealing with a hodge podge of Navy enlisted and officers.


*5.56mm is the caliber of an M16 round

Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center

Last night I reported to the Navy’s Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center at the Camp McCrady training grounds of Ft. Jackson, just outside Columbia, SC. The Latin on the shield below translates to "Sailors First."

Columbia, SC is the home of the "other USC" and several of the fans here have already gone out of their way to tell me how this USC was first, is better, is the only, blah, blah, blah. I let them go but do admit that I would really like to see the two teams play each other if only for the fantastic color commentary and tee-shirts a Game Cock/Trojan match-up would produce.

I’ll be here for two weeks to complete the Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training Course before I leave for Kuwait in a few weeks. All participants, regardless of rank, are housed in army barracks (below).

Fortunately, it is a light week and in the Junior Officer Barracks, we only have maybe 20 guys in a space that accommodates 80. They just installed wireless internet in the buildings, so even better. I was surprised to find that of the 120+ folks here, there are only maybe 10 reservists and everyone else is active duty. Note next to the bed the highly-tactical, camouflaged and upside down Home Depot five gallon paint bucket that also doubles as a night stand, chair AND seabag liner. Thanks to the eminent LCDR(s) Kevin Coyne for this useful tip.

The first week here will be primarily weapons familiarization and qualifying, along with some first aid training. Below is a photo of what is called a clearing barrel – We’ll be issued weapons tomorrow and part of the process of acclimating folks to carrying a weapon is the clearing barrel. Prior to going into a building, weather it be the galley or an office building or housing, everyone ensures that their weapon is “clear” by 1) visually inspecting the firing chamber and then 2) pulling the trigger to dry fire the weapon.

If you actually fire a round into the barrel, you failed at step one, which is bad, but would be worse if the round was loose.

Last week started at Port Hueneme, in Ventura County, CA at the Navy Mobilization Processing Site. This is where they go over all your records with a fine tooth comb, making sure you are medically qualified to go forward, switching you from the reserve pay system to the active pay system (I hope that worked), giving you a legal brief, a family support brief, etc. Since I was the only person mobilizing at that site on Monday and Tuesday, I was finished in under a day and a half. My folks came up to visit on Wednesday night and we I had a fantastic last home-cooked meal not far away at the home of long time family friends the Dabkovich’s.

Thursday morning I got on a plane and headed to Battle Creek, MI to meet the civilian side of the operation and the folks I will be dealing with while I am in Iraq. It generally reinforced my conviction that a civil service job would drive me crazy. All good, well meaning people, don’t get me wrong, but maybe just not for me . . . .

Farewell Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 23

Over the last four days, I undertook the immensely difficult task of detaching from NMCB23, my Navy Reserve home for the last three years. It wasn't practically difficult. It was really, really emotionally difficult. When my fellow Seabees and I would commiserate about all the time a reserve Seabee battalion consumes, I frequently, and in jest, would accuse them of allowing their personal and civilian lives to interfere with the Navy. Theoretically, the Navy reserve is only supposed to take two days a month and two weeks a year (you've heard the ads). I like to say: "Join the Navy Reserve Seabees, only two weeks a month and and two months a year." As much as it devoured my personal life and infiltrated my regular job, I loved it and I am a far better officer and person for it all.

The Seabees, born of the WWII necessity to

quickly build advance bases throughout the Pacific and in the European theater, are designed to be a self-contained military unit, able to defend their perimeter, run convoy security elements and independently operate in hostile areas all while building bridges, repairing sewer systems, restoring electrical service, creating airfields and all manner of horizontal and vertical construction. The Seabee moto: “With compassion for others, we build, we fight.” The battalion has about 500 members living in six states and the District and is composed of five companies along with five main departments (Admin, Operations, Logisitcs, Communication and Training. I led the hard chargers of the Supply (Logistics) Department and it was our job to handle logistics, food service, purchasing, contracting, warehousing and the like. The battalion has about 25 officers and the remainder are enlisted personnel. Most of the officers belong to the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) so my assistant supply officer LT Matt McCabe and myself, along with the chaplain, doctor and dentist, were in the minority as non-CEC officers.

The last four days encompassed three time honored and centuries old Naval traditions: a Dining In, a Hail and Farewell and a Change of Command Ceremony.

Dining In:
This rule-laden highly formal dinner sounds really stuffy on paper, but in reality, the rules are there to break. The event is presided over by the commanding officer (Mr./Madam President) and the most junior officer in the command (Mr./Madam Vice). The dinner is attended by the officers and the chiefs (about 65 of us). If you violate one of the rules, you are sent to the grog bowl, which is usually made of some sort of rum concoction. Now lets think this through – the punishment for misbehavior is that YOU GET TO HAVE A DRINK. Hmmm . . . where does my motivation lie? One of the traditions of the Dining In is what is called “Parading the Beef.” A plate of prime rib is paraded around the room and delivered to the commanding officer (CO) who samples the beef and then ceremoniously says “I find this beef to be fit for consumption.” It use to be that prime rib was the only choice of meal but now, as time has changed, there is a

The "Parading of the Chicken."

chicken dish and a vegetarian option also. Given this, my best friend in the battalion, LT Dwight Roberson, and I decided that it was time to give the chicken its own time in the spotlight. Thus Dwight rented a chicken suit, recruited a chicken suit wearer and to the surprise of all, we “paraded the chicken.” Needless to say, Dwight and I spent a lot of time at the grog bowl.

Battalion Chaplain LT Nathan Solomon takes matters into his own hands when the bartender disappears.

My fantastic leadership staff: LT Matt McCabe, Chief Todd Thomas, Chief Mike Farrell and me.

Dwight and I join the Command Master Chief, Lou Schwalbendorf, in a toast.

Hail and Farewell:
We hail the incoming officers and say farewell to the outgoing officers. I was one of the later, along with some outstanding friends, LT John Schaefer, LT Dave Wilhite and a top notch CO, CDR Susanne Openshaw. The event is half-roast, half fond farewell. The battalion chaplain, who possesses one of the most wicked senses of humor, presented me with a disguise kit just in case I needed to go undercover in Iraq . . . . .

Change of Command:
On Sunday afternoon, the battalion officially had a new commanding officer and it also marked the official end of my tenure as the Supply Officer. It was difficult to drive away, made all the more somber when I was overwhelmed and surprised to see my fellow junior officers line the front of the compound and render a hand salute as I drove off. I wanted to stop and thank them each again, but I was already trying to come up with reasons to miss my flight later that night to spend just a few more hours at the battalion and I knew if I stopped the car, I wouldn’t make it to the airport.

Two of the battalion's most outstanding officers, LT Otis Davis and LT Dwight Robertson, join me in a final toast before I leave.

NMCB 23 allowed me to meet scores of dedicated sailors from all walks of life. Architects and engineers, heavy equipment operators and electricians, mechanics and contractors. I would have never crossed paths with most of these folks had it not been for the Navy. They shared with me life outside the big city, the challenges of being a single parent, the struggle against cancer, the joy of getting a new job and the disappointment of a promotion missed. Many answered the call of a nation attacked and joined after September 11th. Others have served since Vietnam. They work full time regular jobs (if not two jobs), raise families, cope with ill parents, and tolerate the often less than perfect Navy bureaucracy, all of which is well beyond the demands on my life. They leave their office job, or their highway construction crew or their plumbing business and sacrifice weekends with their families and friends to be sure they are ready to toss off their civilian lives, put on a uniform and answer the call. I thank them all.

Mobilization Day

And so it begins . . . I reported to Naval Air Facility Washington DC, located at Andrews AFB, on Wednesday morning to start the archaic and paperwork intensive mobilization process. The navy has some of the most advanced weapons in the world but when it comes to personnel management, we are a little hurting. Although my orders did not commence until 0730 on the 14th, I was wary of getting through NAF Wash in just one day (and I was right . . . it took all or part of three days). But now I am vacinated against small pox and, as a special bonus, free of charge, anthrax too! The anthrax vacination makes your upper arm sore for about a day and the small pox vacination comes with a pretty hard core briefing and about seven handouts summarizing what to watch for and how to care for the vacination sites, even a warning about not letting domestic pets lick the used bandages (oh yeah, you know what, this is the military, it must have happened at some point). I got a new set of dental x-rays (still looking good) and went through a dozen other administrative check out procedures.

In all seriousness, the Navy really takes the health/medical screening seriously. I'm sure this is cost driven but it is also good for the individual sailor too.

Many of the reserve management software programs (most notably, the payroll system) do not talk to the active duty systems so the transistion between reserve and active means a lot of manual data input and scores of forms, checklists and applications. No doubt this is what people think about when you see images on TV of America at war: DATA ENTRY WARRIORS! I have been told that for every one combat troop in Iraq, there are five support troops of one kind or another. So when people wonder how it is that with 160,000 troops in country that we can't maintian peace, remember that it is really only about 32,000 of those troops who are doing all the patrols and the raids and the convoy security, etc. Those are the hard core ground troops.

Happy Hour and a Great Fundraiser for NMCRS

Last night I had a little happy hour to benefit the 103 year old Navy/Marine Corps Relief Society (www.nmcrs.org) and as a going away get together for my friends in DC. Thanks to everyone who came I'll be sending off over $1,800 to NMCRS tomorrow. That's money that will go directly to help sailors and marines in need. Thanks everyone for your generosity and your time.

Special thanks to Ania Krasniewska for her expert party planning, Paige Lance for the E-vite management and Kelli Vail and Stacy Hope for not letting anyone slip by without "reporting to the quarterdeck." And congratulations to the winner of the $150 Bobby Van's gift certificate, John Modzelewski, former colleague from CRDF.

Mailing address and Update

As some of you know, my orders were moved up from 1 October 2007 to 14 September 2007. I'll actually be in DC until the 16th when I leave for Port Hueneme, California for a week at Naval Mobilization Processing Station Pacific Fleet.

Once I get to Iraq on or about the 14th of October, my mailing address will be

LT Robert Kurkjian, SC, USN
MNF-I R&S, DLA, DCST-IZ
Allgood Hall, Bldg. 58a
APO, AE 09342-1400

All you need to do is put regular domestic 1st class postage on the envelope or package and it should be to me in 7 to 10 days.

For those of you who have already inquired what all those acronyms mean, here you go:

SC - Although I like to tell people this stands for Southern California, it actually stands for Supply Corps
USN - United States Navy
MNF-I - Multinational Forces Iraq
R&S - Resources and Sustainment
DLA - Defense Logisitics Agency
DCST-IZ - Defense Contingency Support Team - International Zone

Many of you have also inquired about where I will be spending most of my time - at Camp Victory in Baghdad, so I have pasted in the links below if you are interested:

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,96060,00.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/abu_ghurayb-cc.htm (scroll down the page until you get to the Camp Victory part)

As I said, I leave for NMPS on Sunday night. I'll spend a week there and then go in to Camp McCrady at Fort Jackson, SC for a two week combat readiness course. For many members of the Navy, this will be all new. Fortunately for me, it will be more of a refresher since much of the curriculm is the core of what a Seabee must be qualified in anyway. www.seabees.navy.mil After McCrady, I will head to Kuwait for a week to complete a practical convoy security course and then I head to Baghdad, via air.