Army training! Sir

Okay so we have been training now for quite a while and while some of it is redundant and .... well stupid so is very helpful. I will elaborate on both.

The stupid is the training we do most of the time. Since the war is still being fought training doctrine keeps changing and each place in Iraq, each command, hell each company does things a little to a lot different. This makes for a ever changing standard. That is hard to train for. We keep hearing "oh you wont use this at all in Iraq but you have to train on it anyway." What sense does that make? Or we hear " this isnt how your will do it over there but learn this anyway." I find all this does is create a false muscle memory for our soldiers. I dont want my guys learning the wrong way to conduct a TCP "traffic control point" or the wrong way to pull roadside security. These "bad habits" can lead to soldiers being out of place or even in harms way if something were to happen. Oh well is what im told, "just check the box and get out of here." Well i understand that but i still dont like it. I vent here because that is the only place i can.

The good training is something like what i did a week or so ago. I went through CLS or Combat Life Savers Course. Basically you learn to be the first line of medical aid when a soldiers goes down. Medics are really a thing of the past or for the infantry. We dont have a medic in our company... at least not an ARMY one. SO the CLS learns how to give an IV, learns how to do a "needle chest decompression" and bandage and splint many types of wounds. Its a great class, tought at a fast pace and one really never hopes to use what they have learned. Yes I did have to stick someone in order to give them an IV. I did very well i think. I also got stuck by another one of the students. He was one of my soldiers a Sgt Kopel. He has a permanent shaking problem so watching the needle shake as it inched towards my blood supply was a little un-nerving but we got through it. We also did some weapons training on some of the heavier weapons such as the 240B. This is a cross between the M60 and the M249. Great weapon, great stopping power and heavy.

I like training but wearing our IBA's (armor) and just walking around or sitting in the sun is really not what i expected from an ARMY that has been involved in combat operations for 5 or so years. our lessons learned are being cut short by budget cuts. Pretty sad when soldiers are still going down range to the fight. Write your congressman or woman and ask for more military training dollars. It will keep our force stronger so you can sleep better.