Weapons Familiarization

Motivation

"Greatness is a lot of small things done well."

- Ray Lewis

My Path

I FINALLY GOT PAID! I just wanted to put that out there. I could get used to it, but something tells me I should hold onto some of that money. Looks like I might have gotten over-paid. We'll see though. Now to pay off student loans with the USAA Career Starter Loan I'm about to receive. Much lower interest rate than my private loans. That's one thing that my SPC pushed hard in my initial interview, and a good piece of advice I would give to new Lieutenants. Get rid of the high interest debt, even if it means making a larger payment each month. You won't pay as much in the long run, and your new officer pay will allow you to make more than the monthly pay. You should be able to pay off your Career Starter in less than the five years they give you. Just make it a priority.

So today consisted of weapons handling, nomenclature, and a practical application test. I've done this each summer of OCS, so twice there, and now once at TBS. Something tells me that this is SOP for anytime that you receive a weapon for the first time at a new unit, just for safety reasons. It's nice to have a weapon back in my hands though. I didn't get to go to the range as often as I had wanted before TBS, but we will have plenty of range time before qualification next Friday. After we qualify, the next three days will be combat and night live fire exercises. Things will be a bit stressful and pressed for time the next couple of weeks. Just giving everyone a heads up that I won't be able to make many, if any, posts during that time. I anticipate that the next couple of days will be uneventful, so I plan to write about my goals in the Marine Corps in my next post. This is in response to a letter I received from one of my Fraternity Brothers. If there's anything that anyone wants to know, don't hesitate to write me an email or letter and I'll do my best to answer it here or in a personal response. But during times like these I'm running out of material. All we do is sit through classes, essentially, and then I go PT after we are secure. Please ask questions.

Thanks again to everyone for the support and views. Still blown away by how many people are taking the time to read this stuff. Let me know what you think or what you want to hear about. OORAH!

WOD

Wendler 5-3-1 Strength: Week 2 (70%x3, 80%x3, 90%x3 or More)

Bench Press: 170#, 195#, 220# (7 Reps)

Weighted Cindy
20 Minute AMRAP - 28 Rounds + 5 Reps
Boots and Utes w/ 16.5# PC & Pouches
5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Air Squats

A Hike and M16A4

Motivation

All good things come through effort, patience, struggle, and pain. Nothing worth having is easy to attain.

My Path

Today turned out to be much better than expected. We started with a three mile hike to set the pace standard expected throughout the POI. Our load was probably the lightest it will be the entire time we are here. I mentioned that may have concerns and that I would talk about them in this post. Most of my concerns stem from being a Heat Casualty last summer at OCS. On our graded, nine mile hike, I fell out of the event with less than a quarter mile left. When I went down I had a body temperature of 106.7 degrees fahrenheit. It wasn't until TBS, during one of our safety briefs, that I realized that I had heat stroke, based on the list of symptoms and temperatures. I was always told that I had heat exhaustion. During OCS it was just an occurrence of events that led to my heat stroke: lack of sleep, little chow, dehydration. It was a perfect storm, really. But I've learned from it and have trained in such a way to try to prevent it from happening again. But once you have a heat illness you are more susceptible to suffering from another one. I've found that it is very much a mental game you play with yourself.

After the hike we had an Armory brief. We were told what was expected of us when receiving and returning weapons. Then it was off to the Armory. We were issued an M16A4 Service Rifle, a Rifle Combat Scope (RCO), an Infrared (IR) Laser aiming device, and a Night Vision Goggle (NVG)/Monocle. Basically, if I lose any of this gear I will be using a couple pay checks in order to replace it. Doesn't sound like a good time to me. We finally got the chance to grab a shower and put on clean uniforms during chow. Then the last thing was the Phase 1 Exam 1. If I counted correctly, I should have scored a 92%. Not too shabby. Definitely room for improvement, but I'm not upset. We were secured very early today, around 1430. Not going to expect that ever again, unfortunately.

A couple of people have asked me about mailing packages to me. The address I gave in an earlier post is only good for standard mail (i.e. things that don't require a tracking number/express mail or are larger than a standard envelope). The below address can be used for anything larger:

Ross Allen

P.O. Box 207

Dumfries, VA 22026

I feel like I'm still trying to catch up on sleep for some reason. I guess this would be the week to do it as we don't have any strenuous events, really. Friday is our first time out to the range, which is where we will be for all of next week, as well. These days will start with a 0430 ODT and an unexpected arrival time to the SOQ in the evenings. It's about a three mile hike out and back. I wouldn't be expecting many posts from me throughout next week. I'll be spending most of my energy trying to qualify "Expert" on the M16A4 Rifle and M9 Pistol. Only shooting for the best badges to be on my uniform!

Bed Time....

WOD

3 Mile Hike - 49:05

USMC Field Pack & Plate Carrier ~ 65#

Update of the Last Few Days

Motivation

You can never be blamed for trying when things fall apart due to circumstances you have no control over.

My Path

It's been a long few days, to say the least. We wrapped up our MCMAP training, and I have my tan belt now. They say we know just enough to go out into town and get our asses beat. Haha! Some of the stories of Marines going out, getting into bar fights, taking their "Basic Warrior Stance" and yelling, "Marine Corps!" are hilarious. I'll wait until I get my grey or green belt before I try anything stupid. Kidding! But I do want to move up in belts while I'm here. One Marine in my platoon is a Martial Arts Instructor (MAI) and will probably hold classes for a couple hours each weekend so that we can work up to higher belts. The Martial Arts Center of Excellence (MACE) is also open during lunch for those who want to move up as well. I might head over there a few times a week, depending on our schedule.

Part of what made my week so long was being the Company Duty Officer (CDO) on Thursday night. I had to report to my post at 1900 for a brief on my duties, and then another Marine and I got to split the rest of the shift how we wanted from 2100 to 0630. The post is a glorified Fire Watch. Throughout the night we make our rounds about the SOQ and report any unusual activity. My shift was from 0130 to 0630. It made Friday extremely long as we had our Warmup, Exercise, and Flexibility (WEF) circuit. It consisted of Pugil Sticks, Body Sparing, and a Landing Zone (LZ) Drill. It wasn't too awful, just exhausting. I held my own in the Body Sparing and Pugil Sticks. The bayonet techniques we learned throughout the week really work!

Needless to say, I spent Friday night and Saturday recovering. I went to bed by 2100 Friday night and woke up around 0800 Saturday. I wanted to go to church this morning, but my body wasn't having it. I was able to get back into the gym Saturday and today though. It's nice to get back into a PT schedule. Tomorrow morning we have a three mile hike. I'm not too concerned about this hike as it's basically an introductory hike at a three mile per hour pace. I may share in my next post why hikes/humps may concern me. Some of you already know about my experience with them at OCS, but I will share with those of you who don't later. In the afternoon we have our Phase 1 Exam 1. There's a good amount of information being covered, some of which I know pretty well from OCS and some that I need to keep studying for. I studied for a couple hours this morning, then hit the gym. I'm going to study some more after posting this, get some dinner, and study some more. It's going to be an early night with a 0515 On Deck Time (ODT) and a 0700 step for the hump. The rest of the week is in preparation for "Range Week!" Excited! OORRAH!

WODs

20120727

MCMAP WEF

Pugil Sticks

Body Sparing

LZ Drils:

Squad Pushups, Buddy Side Carry, Buddy Squats, Buddy Drag, MCMAP Striking Combos, Bear Crawl, Buddy Vertical Situps, Buddy Flack Drags, Buddy Deadlifts, Crab Walks, MCMAP Knee Stricks, Broad Star Jumps, MCMAP Leg Sweeps, Squad Lunges

20120728

Wendler 5-3-1 Strength: Week 1 (65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5 or More)

Military Press: 100#, 115#, 130# (8 Reps)
Deadlift: 255#, 295#, 335# (8 Reps)

3 Rounds for Time - 7:29
1 Muscle Up into
5 Ring Dips
10 GHD Situps
15 24" Box Jumps
20 1.5 Pood/53# Kettlebell Swings
25 Double Unders

20120729
15 Minute AMRAP - 8 Rounds 8 Reps
1 20' Rope Climb
5 Burpees
10 20# Wallball Shots

MCMAP and Sunburn

Motivation

Take achievements and failures with identical strides.

My Path

It was a welcomed change to be outside for a change. The welcome went away after about three hours though. I could feel my forehead starting to burn. Surprising I wasn't affected by the heat very much, even in full utilities and sleeves down. It was just the sun taking a toll on the skin that started to get bothersome. Of course no one utilized "forward thinking" to bring sunscreen. Although it may be a little late, having some on hand never helps. Sunscreen, along with some aloe, made it onto my shopping list for tonight. We were outside learning MCMAP techniques for at least eight hours straight today.

Today started with the "basic warrior stance," foot movements, punches, leg sweeps, and lower body strikes. Apparently, these basics will be covered each time we begin to "belt up," or increase our belt rank up through to green (the third belt). I understand the importance of being brilliant in the basics, so this doesn't both me a bit. But I wish we got into some more advanced techniques. Much of what we worked on today I had a basic understanding of from my years of Kenpo training. After lunch we got to "box" for a one minute round, body shots only. It was a pretty good way of getting some frustration out. Looking at the schedule, we won't get to do anymore hitting until Friday, which is the newly scheduled day for receiving our tan belts. This opens up our Saturday, thank God. But tomorrow has some interesting techniques scheduled: bayonet fighting, armed manipulations, unarmed restraints, and defensive skills/counters to attacks.

What's cool about the MCMAP training is how instructors conduct "tie-ins." After working each technique, everyone gathers around as the instructor goes into further depth of explaining the technique and then addressing important issues within the Corps. When talking about falls, the tie-in was about suicide. Other subjects were addressed after subsequent techniques, with some personal stories being told. Everything related back to what we can do when we have to lead Marines.

I may not be able to get a post out tomorrow as I assume the Company Duty Officer (CDO) duty right at the end of the training day. I won't be relieved until thirty minutes prior to the start of the next training day. It is a two-man post and I will have the opportunity to sleep, so that won't be a concern. I just want to use my time to perform well during our MCMAP testing. Rest is Key. I'll talk more about my SPC interview on the next post.

WOD

Punching

Kicking

Getting Punched

Getting Kicked

Throwing

Getting Thrown

Falling...A lot!

Company PT and Company Commander

Motivation

"Talent you have naturally. Skill is developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft." 

- Will Smith

My Path

There's no better way to start the day than with some Co. PT. I've been looking forward to stuff like this. It wasn't your typical PT. This was more of a training PT to give us an idea of how we could train our Marines when we become a Platoon Commander. They called it a "Combat Conditioning Skills Demo." The thought is, "You train how you fight," so we were in Boots and Utes, performing movements that one might expect to perform while in combat. It's a lot of body weight and buddy weight exercises. It wasn't too difficult, but was educational nonetheless.

The rest of the day consisted of more classes. But tomorrow we begin Marine Corps Martial Arts Program training (MCMAP). This is the fundamental combat skills taught to every Marine. By Saturday, I will earn my tan belt. Over the next four days we will learn punches, falls, bayonet fighting, armed manipulations, unarmed restraints, counters, and falls and participate in pugil sticks. It sounds like it will be a long four days, but a fun and educational four days, to say the least. I'm just looking forward to finally getting out of the classroom environment and do something hands-on.

I finished the day with some more PT. It was said by a uniform shop representative in one of our briefs last week, that all we would have time for would be "PT....And Studyin'!" This seems to be the case thus far. I'm not sure how I'm going to meet my goal of reading twelve professional development books every year with all of the reading they have been assigning us. But what can you expect with 1600 hours of training in six months. That's more than you get in your four years of college. And this is just the beginning of our careers.

WOD

Company PT

4 Minutes/Station

Station 1: 5 Squad Pushups, 5 Buddy Squats, 5 Buddy Situps

Station 2: 30 Seconds/Plank Position - Front, Left, Right

Station 3: 5 Lunges/Leg, 5 Dive Bombers, 5 Burpees

Station 4: 5 Vertical Situps, 5 Buddy Deadlift, 5 Buddy Leg Throw/Raises

Station 5: 5 Situps, 5 Back-Bridge Leg Extension, 5 Slide Side Reach

Station 6: 25m Fireman's Carry, 25m Buddy Drag, 25m Crab Walk, 25m Bear Walk

3 x Tabata (20 Seconds Max Effort + 10 Seconds Rest x 8 = 4 Minutes Total)

Pushup Tabata: 140 Reps

Air Squat Tabata: 160 Reps

Flutter Kick Tabata: 215 Reps

Wendler 5-3-1 Strength: Week 1 (65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5 or More)

Back Squat: 200#, 230#, 265# (6 Reps)

EMOTM for 15 Minutes
3 Reps 135# Power Clean
5 Pullups


Echo Company, Company Commander Maj. Warfield

Major Warfield enlisted in the Marine Corps in November 1990. During his time as an enlisted Marine, Major Warfield was stationed in Okinawa, Marine Corps Security Force Company Banger, 2nd Marine Division and 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company.  In 1997, Major Warfield was commission through the enlisted commissioning program and subsequently graduated from the Basic Officer Course in July 1998. 

In August 1998, Major Warfield reported to the 2nd Landing Support Battalion / 2nd Transportation Support Battalion for duty.  During this period, Major Warfield held the billets of Air Delivery platoon commander,  Landing Support platoon commander, operations officer-Company A, 2nd Transportation Support Battalion  and the Transportation Support Detachment Commander for MEU Service Support Group-22 for 22nd MEU deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (2002) .

In November 2002, Major Warfield reported to the 7th Marine Regiment for duty as the Assistant Regimental Logistics Officer and Regimental Motor Transport platoon commander.  From January 2003-July 2003, Major Warfield deployed with 7th Marines in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Major Warfield again deployed with 7th Marines in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from January 2004 through July 2004.  In July 2004, Major Warfield was selected to attend the Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS) in Quantico, VA.  After completing EWS, Major Warfield reported for duty in Frankfurt, Germany as the operations officer for Region 7 (2005/06) and subsequently as the executive officer for Region 1 (2006-08).  While assigned to this duty, Major Warfield advised the Department of State officials on the employment, training and morale of Marines assigned to the embassy Marine Security Detachments.

In 2008, Major Warfield reported for duty as the logistics officer for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.  During this period, Major Warfield coordinated logistics throughout the Western Pacific for numerous exercises and contingency missions.  In August of 2010, Major Warfield reported to the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) G4 for duty as a logistics operations officer.  During his time with III MEF, Major Warfield was the III MEF implantation officer for the new logistics management system, Global Combat Support System, and the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (3rd MEB) logistics operations officer.  While with 3rd MEB, Major Warfield participated in exercise Cobra Gold and coordinated logistics in support of Operation TOMODACHI from Sendi, Japan.

In June of 2011, Major Warfield reported to The Basic School for duty as the schools logistics officer.  In June of 2012, Major Warfield assumed command of Company E.

Major Warfield is married to the former Leah Cann of Bellingham, Wa.  He is also the proud parent of 2 great kids Blue (17 yrs) and Makena (14 yrs).

Day 1 of Phase 1

Motivation

"Because I REFUSE to accept mediocrity from myself or others." - Zach Miller

My Path

Today was the official start of training. It didn't really feel like anything different from what we've experienced so far. Just more sitting through classes, twelve hours of classes to be exact. But the classes were informative and beneficial. We received a brief from the TBS Commanding Officer, Colonel Desgrosseilliers. More motivation from higher for sure. I'll include his Bio in a later post, today's will include the Bio of our Staff Platoon Commander (SPC). I was mistaken in saying in a previous post that SPC stood for "Student" Platoon Commander. Honest mistake. In all honesty, I'm feeling rather drained from the long day and having a hard time recollecting what all happened. We did have a discussion group over Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP) 1: Warfighting. This was a bit intimidating for me as we had two Tactical Decision Games (TDGs) given to us. I've never seen done one before, but it was an eye opener. It definitely got some major points across from MCDP 1 and made me realize what's expected of us. Time to switch it on!

WOD

Wendler 5-3-1 Strength: Week 1 (65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5 or More)

Bench Press: 160#, 185#, 215# (9 Reps)

Courtesy of Guerrilla CrossFit
"Annie"
50-40-30-20-10 fo Time - 5:35
Double-Unders
Situps


Echo Company, 6th Platoon Capt. Yurkovich

Captain Yurkovich graduated from United States Naval Academy and was commissioned in May 2007.  After commissioning, he attended Basic Officer Course 5-07 and Infantry Officer’s Course 2-08.

 In April 2008, Captain Yurkovich reported to 3d Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division and served as 2d Platoon Commander, Company K until June 2009.  During that time Captain Yurkovich deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to Gulistan District, Farah Province, Afghanistan. 

From June 2009 to August 2009, Captain Yurkovich served as Weapons Platoon Commander, Company K.  In August 2009, Captain Yurkovich was assigned as the Scout Sniper Platoon Commander, Headquarters and Service Company.  While serving as the Scout Sniper Platoon Commander, Captain Yurkovich deployed to Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia as a detachment commander to assist Marine Corps Training and Advisory Group with a mission rehearsal exercise for the 31st Georgian Light Infantry Battalion.

Captain Yurkovich then served as the Assistant Operations Officer for Battalion Landing Team 3/8, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, from April 2010 until June 2011.  In August 2010, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed early with the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group to Pakistan to conduct humanitarian aid.  Throughout the course of the deployment Captain Yurkovich planned, coordinated, and conducted bilateral training throughout the Central Command area of operation.  From January to May 2011 Battalion Landing Team 3/8 was detached from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to Afghanistan to reinforce the Regional Command Southwest Winter Campaign.

Upon return to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Captain Yurkovich transferred to The Basic School, Quantico Virginia in June 2011 and was assigned as a Platoon Package Primary in the Warfighting Department.  He is currently assigned as 6th Platoon Staff Platoon Commander in the Basic Officer Course, Company E 5-12.

Discovering the E-Course...Kind Of...

Motivation

Accomplishments aren't measured by medals around the neck or trophies on the shelf. They're measured in the blood and sweat poured to get there.

My Path

Two things I forgot to mention yesterday. First, it was pretty surreal having Ramer Hall to myself, lower gym and weight room, for almost an hour. It was nice to have no distractions and push myself for myself. Second, I'm falling in love with Quantico. It's something about the wilderness feeling and the weather. As I was walking to the gym yesterday morning it was raining and as I passed the Colors (American Flag) Morning Color's played. I pass the Colors daily, but it's rare that I'm within earshot of Morning/Evening Colors. It was something about the rain and being the only soul visible, aside for the duty detail, that made me realize what an awesome opportunity I've been given. With the cool rain and mild breeze, this place is paradise. Hopefully I'll be hear a little longer than the six months of TBS.

I woke up this morning with every intention of going to church. My roommate and I got up early to knock out some of the online courses we needed to have completed by tomorrow morning and got ready for church. For some reason, we just weren't meant to make it today. We tried three different addresses for the church we wanted to attend, and none were correct. Hopefully we don't get as lost looking for ammo can boxes in the woods during land navigation as we did looking for this church. Dunk'n Donuts and a trip to the PX would suffice after 45 minutes of roaming about Quantico. We grabbed a quick breakfast and picked up some essentials for new assignments we were given the night before. It seems like word gets passed at the last minute around here, but "C'est la vie." But after that we came back to wrap up the online stuff. Originally I wanted to load up our new Field Packs (ruck packs) and go for a little hump; 3-5 miles. We decided to go for a run along the Endurance Course (E-Course) route instead. I'll have some more info on this in the "WOD" section.

Because we haven't been given the "Introduction the E-Course" class yet, we weren't going to negotiate any of the obstacles. We just wanted to run the path. From my understanding it's a little over 5 miles long. I wouldn't be able to tell you with any certainty after todays run as we got about half way through it and couldn't find the new path's separation point after the turn around. And I don't know if you could really say that we "ran" it. We didn't want to go balls the wall and had every intention of jogging it, but parts of it were more like a march. It wasn't because of a lack of endurance, but more of a safety precaution. A little over a week ago, one group of Lt's went out on the course and incurred a casualty. A Lt rolled his ankle pretty bad, despite his boots, but was able to make it through the PFT four days later and medical screening later that week. We didn't feel like getting hurt just before picking up the actually POI. It felt good to get out and do something other than lift weights or another CrossFit workout. As much as I love CrossFit, somethings you need to just go primal and run through the woods.

Once we cleaned up after the run we worked on a "Terrain Model Kit," yet another short notice assignment, for a couple hours. It consists of basic troop/unit indicators, maneuvers, and tools for creating a map grid on the ground or in a sandbox. The idea is to, basically, project a 3D map onto dirt/sand in the field using miscellaneous objects that represent actual landmarks, terrain features, man-made roads/structures, and friend/enemy positions and actions. It'll be really cool getting to use this stuff, but it was a pain making it all. Then it was time to make sure the rest of our Fire Team (FT) and Squad had their trash together. It was a small Three Ringed Circus this evening. But we all worked together and made it work. Probably one of the longest days I've had since checking-in at TBS, but I'm well aware that it won't be THE longest. But I'm looking forward to it.

WOD

Boots and Utes (Combat Boots, MARPAT Trousers, PT Shirt) Run/Jog/March

Route: Modified E-Course - Approximately 4.5 Miles

Duration: Approximately 1 Hour

Gear:

Modular Tactical Vest (MTV)/Plate Carrier (PC) - 13#

Full CamelBack Hydration System - 3#