Camp Shelby was a pretty dreadful place to mobilize from. We were quartered in 50 man World War I barracks, ate MRE’s(Meal Ready to Eat) for lunch, breakfast and dinner in a DFAC(Dining FACility) the size of an average Chinese restaurant, and couldn’t leave post except for weekend MWR(Morale, Welfare, Recreation) runs. The barracks were single story cinder block walled buildings with concrete floors and mattresses that sunk two feet in the middle when laid upon. The latrine, which was 40 meters away, was of the same type of building and had two 4 foot long sheet metal urinal troughs, a beige tiled 12 man shower room and, luckily, porcelain sinks and toilets with full stalls.
The best thing in the DFAC was the toast for breakfast and salad for dinner even though the vegetable toppings often weren’t thoroughly thawed. Some MRE’s aren’t bad but, with only 24 entrees to choose from on top of the fact that they’re designed to prevent bowel movements, I don’t think it’s hard to imagine why soldiers avoid them whenever possible. Luckily there were about five decent but overpriced food trucks next to the PX(Post Exchange) that we could eat lunch at if we didn’t have training. When we had time off on weekends we could take 4 hour MWR runs in large groups to the nearby small town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi to visit the mall, Walmart, or eat at a decent restaurant. One night I decided to go on an MWR run to a rodeo that was thrown by the University of Mississippi as a fundraiser. It was quite an interesting event inhaling millions of manure particles and seeing all the people dressed up in cowboy boots and hats along with the numerous guys dressed to go deer hunting. While hearing the southern country accents I realized it was possible to get culture shock in one’s own country.
Training at Shelby was quite redundant and only marginally useful. We repeated all the processing and training from Camp Mcgrady, albeit a bit more thoroughly, along with a few additional tasks. Going through SRP again I received three more shots: a FOB dot smallpox vaccine and another anthrax and Hep-B shot. We also did a 'Brainscan' which is a sequence of simple tests on a computer to form a basis for diagnosing levels of TBI(Traumatic Brain Injury): a common result of the concussive forces of IEDs and the vehicle rollovers that often follow.
Over the course of 4-5 days we were issued all the things we needed for the tour; along with duffel bags full of stuff we would never use. I will include a list at the end of this post. We will only use about 30% of our issue and our unit's mission has us leaving and spending nights away from our assigned base. Most other soldiers who will stay on a FOB(Fobbits) won't use 10% of their gear issue. However, all soldiers still have to bring all the gear to their AOs(Area of Operation). Got to love army efficiency!
We did HEAT training over again with MET training added on this time. The acronym MET(MRAP Egress Trainer) was used since MEAT was deemed inappropriate. On the topic of acronyms, the Armor Training Brigades are being moved from Fort Knox to Fort Benning where the Infantry Training Brigades are currently stationed. The Infantry ANCOC(Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course) title must now be altered to encompass the Armor ANCOC students and has been changed to Maneuver ANCOC. I think the army missed that acronym.
We qualified with our M4s and CCOs(Close Combat Optics) at a pop up range the standard way, with our Pro Masks on, and at night. I scored 31/40 but should have received higher since my 100M target wouldn't go down. Still, an improvement over my previous qualification. The NBC and night fire were basically pointless since they were so easy; more like a familiarization qualification. The rest of our training was mostly classroom or death by powerpoint briefings. I'll include a list since the details aren't very interesting. After going through SRC(Soldier Readiness Checklist), to ensure our SRP was done properly, we got a 4 day pass, flew to and stayed in Kuwait for a few days, and then flew on to our assigned bases and units in Iraq.
More on that next time!..on the Fang show! ;)
Gear List:
- M4 Carbine Assault Rifle, CCO(I got an Aimpoint CompM2), 30 Round magazines
- JSLIST(Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology): Chemical Protective Mask, overboots, gloves, outerwear, decontamination pads, and a nerve agent antidote autoinjector.
- Body Armor and accessories: small arms plates(front rear and sides), DAPS(Deltoid Axillary Protection System), groin and neck protector, ACH(Army Combat Helmet).
- TA-50: assault pack, pouches for all types of stuff, canteens, LBV(Load Bearing Vest), 5 pc sleeping bag system, Rucksack.
- Clothing: FRACU's(Fire Retardant ACUs), thermal underwear, Extreme Cold Weather bear suit; think 'A Christmas Story', nomex balaclavas, wet weather gear, work and nomex gloves.
- React to sniper
- Crater Analysis(Mortar craters)
- Culteral Awareness
- Sniper Awareness
- Health Awareness
- Convoy Ops
- Personnel Recovery
- Detainee SOPs(standard operating procedures)
- ROE(Rules of Engagement)
- LOW(Laws of War)
- COC(Code of Conduct)
- Suicide Prevention
- UXO(UneXploded ordnance)
- EOF(Escalation of Force)
- IED
- Basic First Aid
- PMI(Preliminary marksmanship instruction)
- EST2000 M2 240B
- FOB(Forward Operating Base) Defense
- MOUT(Military Operations in Urban Terrain)
- Language (essential Arabic)
- Land Navigation
