Days 10-11: Ranger Joe's is evil

It's our last night stateside before shipping out tomorrow and I spent it shopping like a kid in a candy store at the uber super mega military surplus store called Ranger Joe's. That and stuffing myself with piles of red meat at a Texas Roadhouse. Kevin was sort of my chaperone and chaplain attending my last rites. I am in a state of food coma now, so please pardon gaps in logical thought or if I don't finish.

Why is Ranger Joe's evil? Because it's like a friggin IKEA or (for Californians), Fry's Electronics. You cannot leave there without buying something and the longer you stay there, the more you end up spending. It has a massive amount of miliary footwear, clothing, accessories, holsters, knives, sunglasses, tactical flashlights, etc for a primarily military and law enforcement clientele. The pistol holster that the Army issues us is pretty crappy (rides on your belt, which is very uncomfortable), so I needed to get a new rig to replace it. I ended up with a quick release holster that fits on my chest. Then, of course, I needed to check out tactical sunglasses, sunglass holders, knives, even a sleeping mask. I walked out of there $150 poorer, but at least I got good service.

Other than my moments of weakness, today was actually fairly light. We were up early to draw weapons for weapons familiarization and qualification. They were popup targets, which is always fun and I did pretty well, hitting 29 of 30 targets. Was the top shooter, until some upstart lieutenant shot 30/30 -- must have cheated! :) Unfortunately, the tornado from last week had damaged the situational training lanes for us to do the assault course. Everyone was happy, but I like that stuff and would rather train it now than do it for real.

Yesterday was chock full of classroom instruction on IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and how to recognize indicators that one has been placed along a route used by coalition forces, is in a vehicle, or is borne by a person (suicide bomber). There was a pretty shocking video probably taken fom an extremist website showing an insurgent stuffing a dead animal with some device and then a US truck traveling by and getting hit.

That was followed up by good first aid training ranging from basics like evaluating a casualty, which is similar to first responder training I had before from diving, to treating open chest, abdominal, and head wounds. We went through a lot of techniques, but another classmate, a captain who has seen ad treated casualties in Afghanistan told me to focus on the most important takeaway: if you can stop or stem massive bleeding, enable breathing (clear airway), and summon medical evacuation quickly, you have increased a casualty's chances of survival by 75%.
Tomorrow we fly out into theater so combat and hardship pay, family separation, and all the other nice allowances kick in. It may be awhile before I am able to post again, but stay tuned...