Chapter 12

We got up and did our usual morning routine before collecting the last part of our laundry that was still on the line which got stowed away into our rucksacks. Then we went out and hit the PT field. I guess they wanted us exhausted when our three-day Field Exercise started.

After chow and changing, we marched out to the Supply Building for one last time. At our first stop at the counter, we were issued a hard plastic container that had something heavy in it. Then we proceeded down to the next person behind the counter who handed out three good sized plastic pouches. From the writing on them, I saw they were MRE’s and checked out the meals when I was outside. The first one said Menu No 6: Smoked Franks, the second one said Menu No 8: Ham Slice and the last one said Menu No 2: Chili Macaroni. DI Oyono was standing next to me as I looked at them.

“Looks like you got the good ones ... or not.”

I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. I just hoped that none of them were horrible. We were sent back to the barracks to finish packing for our field trip. Once we arrived, we were shown what was inside the pouch. It was a Tri-Fold shovel or E-tool: the ubiquitous entrenching tool. The DI showed us how to use it and how to attach the pouch to our LBE. It seemed we were going to be doing a lot of digging.

There was a lot of yelling as we continued loading everything into our rucksacks. Once we were done, they dragged the whole platoon outside and into the IT pit. We had taken too long packing our rucksacks, so we paid the price for it.

After lunch we learned how to set our fighting positions into a perimeter defense. It seemed from what I could glean from the way they were talking; we wouldn’t be in our tents the whole time. I figured that two nights would be spent in tents and the third night would be spent sleeping in our fighting positions. It was going to be a long and interesting three days.

We spent the rest of the day in review. I figured that we were going to do it all and then some. We didn’t get IT’d after dinner, though as a whole it had slowed down the past few weeks.

We didn’t have a mail call tonight, probably wouldn’t be one on the field exercise. Friday, when we would be Marines, would be our next mail call. I was a bit apprehensive as I fell asleep.

Our morning started in a way that hadn’t happened in a long time. I got woken up when a trash can hit the support beam about 5 feet from my head. There were two other trash cans flying across the Squad Bay.

“Get the fuck up you pansies. It’s time to get a move on.”

I was up and into the head in a flash. After doing my morning ablutions and getting dressed, I put the last few things into my rucksack and then got my flak jacket and LBE on.

I started to help anybody who needed a boost. It was at this point that I could see the difference between the Four Musketeers and the Idiot Brigade. In that time the Idiot Brigade was still getting dressed, taking their own sweet time, the other four were ready and helping others.

DI Faamate was pissed and jumping in their shit. They actually looked surprised that he was yelling at them.

Within half an hour we had our rifles and were on the road. It was a lot earlier than we normally got up, so as we stood in formation, they handed out reflective belts that we attached to the rucksack in front of us. Guess we’d be safe from getting run over.

We stepped off marching right past the Mess Hall. So much for starting the day off with a balanced breakfast. We started with what I figured was a brisk 6-mile march.

We spent about 2 hours humping up and down the hills until we came to a huge wide-open area. We were then instructed to set up our tents, as this was going to be our home for the next three days. We were to set up the tents in rows of five tents.

We set about getting it done, and just like most things, there were people that needed help, though it was fairly easy.

We had the two shelter halves, ten metal stakes, two 3-piece wood poles (one with a nipple to go through the shelter half), and two ropes The two shelter halves snapped together along the top to become the ridge line. At the top, at each end of the ridge line you put the tent pole, with the nipple going through a hole at the end of the ridge line. Once you got that right, it was time to pound in the tent stakes on the side of the tent. We lay it down and put in the stakes for one side. Then Yohachi stood up one pole, and I started the stakes on the other side. When I got to the opposite end from Yohachi, I stood up that pole and finished the side stakes. Then we took the rope, attached it to a pole and attached it to another stake.

Yohachi took the entrance while I closed up the back end. The only difference was I hooked the guideline onto the tent stake and used the snaps on the tent to cover the guideline. In the front, one side was left open so we could get in and out

The part that everybody seemed to mess up with was the stakes. The stakes were aluminum and wanted to bend when you hit them with the entrenching tool. Yohachi and I seemed to have a softer piece of ground as ours didn’t bend that much, though a couple of guys had to try and straighten theirs back out.

This was going to be a pain climbing in and out of. Especially when we were tired and beat. It was maybe three feet high at the most, I wasn’t totally sure that my feet wouldn’t be sticking out.

We laid out our foam sleeping mats and then put our rucksacks on top so that it keeps the mat from curling up. No sleeping bag, we were going to have to get by with our poncho liners.

Once we were done, the DIs finally stopped yelling as we got formed up. Blank adapters were passed out and attached to the rifles. We made our way to an open patch and received our directions for the first event. It was going to be a Land Navigation evolution.

We had three points total to navigate. Out to point 1, from point 1 to point 2, and then to the Finish line. As long as you made it into a 50 ft circle around the target, you were good. According to my calculations, which was basic math, I was good. No leg of the course was over a mile. That meant that mistakes should only be small ones easily fixed.

I looked at the map to decide my plan of attack. By my estimation, during these three days we weren’t going to get a lot of food or sleep. They wanted us tired, hungry, miserable and on edge to see how we coped. My goal was to expend the minimal amount of energy in completing each task we would have. It was the old adage of “work smart not hard”.

I had laid out a plan that would avoid the steepest climbs and didn’t add too much time. There were a couple of them that I couldn’t avoid. We had been given 10 minutes to figure out our plan, and I had done that and already shot my first azimuth when the signal to go was given.

There weren’t any major issues during my trek to each point and I made it within the time limit. Most made it but there were a few guys that didn’t make it in the time limit. Two guys didn’t make it at all and got turned around somehow. Becker was one of the guys who missed the time window.

We formed up and headed to an area that had a few events waiting for us and got broken down into squads to complete. The first was an obstacle course, then there was a three-story wooden triangular structure, and the final event was a climbing event like the stairway to heaven. This one was different in that the boards were connected by a large rope on each side.

Each squad had 10 recruits and then was broken down into two fire teams of 5. Recruit Bulat was in my squad, and he was already being a total asshat. It seemed that I was going to be tested in the next three days. The Gods smiled a little on me in that regard, as my squad was being handled by SDI Brooks. DI Pugh would have made these three days completely unbearable.

SDI Brooks made the choice to make us compete against each other. Bulat would be in charge of one fire team, and I would be in charge of the other. He decided that he was going to start trash talking.

“My Fire team is going to lay waste to you. I’m going to lead my team to victory. You have no chance.”

It was so predictable. I wasn’t going to get into a war of words with someone who was unarmed.

“We’ll see.”

“Already losing you loser.”

I just turned my back to him and then noticed a twist that was going to raise the difficulty. There were a stack of ammo cans off to the side. We moved over to the triangular structure. Looking at it there was a hole in the corner of each level. It seemed clear what the point of this challenge was.

The instructions went as I figured out how they would go. Each fire team would be in possession of two ammo cans, which weighed 35 lbs each. We had to get ourselves and the ammo cans to the top level. SDI Brooks gathered us around.

“So, we’re going to turn this into a competition. Recruit Badzinski and Recruit Bulat will lead their fire team in these challenges. Each will be timed; the fastest fire team will get a point. Most points wins the day and bragging rights. You’ll stay in these fire teams for the whole three days. Recruit Bulat your fire team will go first.”

I wasn’t worried about Bulat’s fire team. He’d bully them into following his plan which would be designed to make him look good. In turn, I wasn’t worried about whatever plan he had as I figured it would be his undoing.

Looking over my fire team, I hadn’t dealt with most of them all that much. From what I could recall, I had two recruits who were capable, and two who needed some motivation.

Laslo Rajmund and Rasoul Kamron were capable, and both were about 6 ft and 180 lbs. The other two would be like herding cats. Marc Grouchet was 5’9” and about 165 lb. His big problem was he was lacking confidence and went into almost everything already defeated. Jenson Wheeler was the smallest out of us at 5’7” and 150 lbs. He was the textbook class clown. I figured he tried to make everyone laugh so they’d be his friend. I looked at them.

“Look, we’re going to have to rely on each other for the next three days. All you have to do is give it everything you’ve got, and we’ll make that meathead look like an idiot.”

The two chuckleheads started complaining about their individual foibles. I didn’t have time to mollycoddle them.

“Look, we aren’t going through your issues. If I have to drag both of you kicking and screaming, I will. So does anyone have an idea how to tackle this?”

We discussed it for a minute until we came up with a game plan. SDI Brooks called out for the time for Bulat’s fire team. It was 13 minutes and 25 seconds. I thought we would have no problems beating it.

We got into position to get started and the command was given to go. We moved to the first opening and boosted Wheeler up, he gave the all-clear. We all climbed to the deck then he got pushed up onto the second deck. As we repeated the process, I reminded everyone that there were no railings and to watch themselves. We made it to the third deck and time was called - 10 minutes 3 seconds. When we got down SDI Brooks informed us of the rules going forward.

“So, Recruit Badzinski’s fire team won. You recruits now have the choice to go first or second on the next event.”

“This recruit’s fire team will go second.”

“OK.”

We moved over to the swing steps event. This was going to be a bitch. There were five 2 x 6s about 6 ft apart. We had to get ourselves and the ammo cans up one side and down the other, made all the harder by its swinging all over the place. Again, I had an idea that seemed like it would work.

We talked about it, and nobody came up with another option. They finished and we had to beat 28 minutes. We got set up at the bottom and waited for the command to go.

We started up, with Wheeler and Grouchet having the ammo cans. They made it up three rungs. Kamron and Rajmund went up to take over the ammo cans and waited until the other went up a rung. We went rung by rung after that, with me helping whoever was having trouble. Going over and starting down the other side was a pain as the whole thing started swinging. We halted for a minute and then continued until we were done.

We actually won again, though this one was really close. Our time was 27 minutes and 47 seconds. A win was a win. I could see that Bulat was fuming and blaming the guys on his fire team. He just didn’t get that it wasn’t all about him.

We chose to go second again, this way we could see what didn’t work and what time to beat. The time they ran the obstacle course in was horrible, 33 minutes and 22 seconds. We found out for the first time, if you dropped an ammo can the whole fire team had to start the course over again. Bolt and his team dropped the can three times.

We got in line ready to start and SDI Brooks gave the command to go. The first two went over the low log and we handed the cans over and finished the first obstacle. Then it was the single horizontal bar, we used a similar tactic. Wheeler and Grouchet went over and then Kamron, and I went. We used the chicken wing method, when we got our first leg over, we held it there. Rajmund passed us the ammo cans and we handed them over the bar. Then we all got over ourselves. We were all physically beat; my arms were tired as hell.

When we got to the combination obstacle, it took some major teamwork. This is where Bulat’s fire team dropped a can all three times. Wheeler and Grouchet were the first two up, then I went. I rolled over onto my stomach so the other two could pass the cans up to me. I then in turn passed the cans off, reminding them to keep a hold of them.

What worried me the most was when they had to stand up. One of us moved right behind them and took hold of the cans. Once they were standing up, we passed the cans back to them. When we got to the bottom, we did the same thing. Two got down, the other two got onto the high cross log and then I handed the cans to the ones sitting on the cross log who then handed them down. We moved onto the next obstacle.

The 6 ft high walls were the easiest obstacle. The four went over, I placed the cans on top of the wall. They grabbed the cans, and I went over.

The high then low vault went really easy as well. That’s when we came to the one that was going to present a challenge. The double horizontal bar, we did it similar to the first one. Though I hoisted both cans over the bar, I almost dropped one of the cans. Luckily, we had Rajmund and Kamron on each side. Rajmund was able to reach up and keep it from slipping out of my hands. I was able to regrip the handle and get it over. Everyone was encouraging about it. This was the opposite of how Bulat handled his fire team. There was a final low vault, and we were done.

I was physically exhausted, but hell so was everyone else. The platoon formed up and we marched back to our bivouac area.

It was probably about mid afternoon at this point, so we took a break for chow. I decided to have the Ham Slice for today’s gourmet meal. We had a Marine Corps core value lecture while we were dealing with our meals. They wanted us to share our personal stories. I decided to worry about my meal and only share when I was forced to. Ripping open the dark brown pouch I was a little lost. So, I took stock of everything that was in the pouch.

Ham slice, potatoes au gratin, crackers, and cheese spread were the main items. Then there was cocoa, sugar-free orange drink mix, a tiny bottle of hot sauce, a spoon and an accessory pack.

The thing that interested me was the flameless ration heater. I read the instructions twice, though they were pretty much idiot proof. I followed them exactly as written. Pulling the Ham slice and potatoes out of their cardboard box, I slid the actual heat pad in between the two pouches of food which then went into the heater pouch. Holding them in the middle, I poured water into the bag to the fill line it showed.

Then I slid the whole thing into the box that the potatoes came in. It was a super tight fit, and holding it horizontally, I felt the whole box start to get warm. I found a log to lean it against, though the heater bag said rock or something. Nobody had been sharing and I wasn’t really paying attention as the accessory packet C drew my attention.

Lemon tea, that went back into the brown pouch never to be seen again. Sugar, salt, cream substitute, gum, matches, tissue (i.e., toilet paper), and a moist toilet towelete.

This packet reminded me of something Stosh had told me about MREs. If you have cocoa, sugar and cream substitute you could make something called Ranger Pudding. This was about the best thing you could get out of an MRE.

I mixed up the concoction with just enough water till it was thick like pudding. It was actually pretty good, not great though. I made an executive decision, and the cheese and crackers were set aside for later. I figured it would keep the worst of hunger pains away as the days went by to spread eating out a bit.

Picking up my main entrees, I squished the carton a bit to mix the ingredients a bit. SDI Brooks started pointing to recruits to get their story. I still wasn’t really paying attention and began eating my meal. It wasn’t hot but was warm enough. Halfway through the salty as fuck ham slice, SDI Brooks called my name.

“So, Recruit Badzinski, tell us your path to the Marine Corps.”

“Well, it ultimately goes back to my family. Every generation going back to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth every generation has had someone serve in the military save one. I was the second of this generation. My older brother is a Private First Class in the Army. That brought me here.”

I went back to eating my food and zoned out again. The last thing I had was something I somehow missed when emptying the MRE pouch. It was a pound cake, not great, but I’d have eaten almost anything at that point. I put the Tabasco bottle, crackers and cheese spread into my rucksack. I kept the moist towelette for later.

After cleaning up, we headed out to an area with an octagon shaped walled area. There was camouflage netting over it offering a bit of shade. Ironically, it was known as the Octagon.

We were going to be doing something I was good at - Pugil Sticks. There was an added twist though. There were signs above two of the entrances. One said, “Devil Dogs” and the other said “Penalty Box”. If you lost, you went to the penalty box and got IT’d.

This wasn’t a tournament. You went in, had your fight and then were done. We split into two sides. With Bulat’s fire team on my side, I couldn’t pummel him. Two guys on our side got geared up.

I was towards the back of the line waiting my turn. It was boring waiting, but that was the military, hurry up and wait. While waiting I started stretching, I was sore as hell and needed it. It felt good and then it was my turn.

When I walked into the fighting area DI Oyono started in on me.

“God dammit Badzinski, show some fucking energy!”

Looking across it was kind of a surprise, Yohachi was running in. He stopped when he saw it was me and then he began coming at me. I waited until he was about 10 ft from me. I exploded forward, there was a look of shock on his face as I drove the pugil stick into his chest. My size advantage was used to full effect. I drove him to the ground and slammed the pugil stick into his head several times. I leaned down.

“And that’s why I don’t have to worry about you stealing my girlfriend.”

I got up and walked out through the Devil Dogs opening. That was the first time I said it out loud to make it real. I guess I’d be having an awkward conversation with Grandmother about this. I took off the gear and waited till everyone else was done.

We marched back to the bivouac area, retrieved our rucksacks and other gear. It was time for a 6-mile road march. By the time we made it to the halfway point it was already getting dark. One thing they kept stressing to us was drinking water. We made pretty good time getting back to the bivouac area and stowed our gear again.

After storing our gear, we were informed that we would be manning Fire Watch posts although instead of there being three, we would have five recruits on fire watch. We would be expected to be wearing our helmet, LBE, and flak jacket, and would also have our rifles. Before anything else happened, we spent about an hour doing rifle PT. When we finished it was dark, we were moving with the help of our moon beams.

We were told to get into our tents and get some sleep, ‘cause we were going to need it. Yohachi and I crawled in, both looking at each other like “what had we gotten ourselves into”.

I was surprised that I actually fit inside the tent, just barely. The first thing I did was take care of my feet. Boot and socks came off so that my feet could air dry. I pulled out the crackers and cheese spread. Yohachi looked at me like I was crazy.

“What are you doing?”

“Eating.”

“There’s something wrong with you.”

“You hungry?”

“What do you think Badzinski? |

“So am I. Though in a minute I’ll be less hungry.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Yep, and I’m still not sharing.”

I put on a fresh pair of socks before wrapping myself in my poncho liner as best as I could. I fell asleep thinking how screwed I was having the fourth Fire Watch. It was the middle watch which was the worst to have.

Fire Watch didn’t go exactly as I expected it to. All four DIs popped up towards the end of my hour. Seemed like 3 hours of sleep was all I was getting tonight.

Reveille was sounded and everybody was being roused from their sleep. It was a clusterfuck of guys trying to get ready for the day. It was still dark as fuck as we stepped off to start the day.

We went back to the open area just off of our bivouac and began a PT in the dark session. It was weird having DIs running around using the moonbeams to watch and make sure everyone was doing the PT. Once we were sufficiently warmed up, we marched back to Edson Range. We stood in a school circle around SDI Brooks.

“So, I was feeling generous and decided to try something new with you recruits, so I have decided we’re going to have a competition. This is going to be fire team vs. fire team. The winning fire team gets a prize, and the high shooter gets the grand prize. Once the competition is over, the prizes will be revealed.”

We then marched down to the 50 yd line where there was a target on each side of the road down range. We stopped at the back of the shooting line.

“This is a human shaped target. As you can see there is a black circle spray painted where the heart would be. Only shots that land in that area will count as hits. They will be worth 5 points each. Each squad will select a shooter in case of a tie. Now you’re going to remove your blank adapters.”

We removed the blank adapters and then we received additional instructions. Two squads got ready, a fire team in a line in front of a target. The first shooter would step to the firing line and receive a magazine with five rounds. You had a minute to fire those rounds. The range would then go cold, and the targets would be checked. The hits would be covered, and the process would be repeated until the whole fire team went. After the first two squads completed their turn the rest of the squads would go.

My squad and fire team were in the second group to go. I got my fire team together and talked things over. It was a simple conversation - take your time, don’t rush things, make sure you are stable when taking a shot.

We watched and waited, then when it was our turn, we got up to the firing line. I was the only one in my fire team to shoot Expert, so I went last. Bulat was going last as well; it would be head-to-head.

Things began well, and we took an early lead. As three shooters finished, it was a 10-point lead for our fire team. The fourth shooter went horribly wrong. Wheeler shot Maggie’s Drawers (a complete miss) on all but one shot. We were down by 5 points going to the last shooter. I put my ear plugs back in and stepped to the firing line. I made one last check on my rear sight. The white out was still there and lined up.

Bulat and I received our magazines, locked and loaded, then waited for the command. The command came and I focused, taking a shot and then resetting myself before taking another. Dropping the magazine, I picked it up and left the bolt locked to the rear. I handed it to DI Oyono, SDI Brooks came back with DI Pugh grinning next to him.

“Seems we have a tie. So, there will be a five round shoot off. Fire team leaders pick a shooter.”

Before I could say anything to the rest of the fire team, Bulat had already chosen himself. I broached the subject with the fire team, their advice was for me to shoot as they thought it was our best chance.

As I walked up to the line. I glanced at Bulat, and the mind games started.

“Thanks for picking your fire team’s third best shooter. You made this simple for me Bulat.”

“Fuck you.”

“Nope, I’m just going to make you look like the idiot you are.”

I turned away and started to breathe deeply so I’d relax and focus. Once I stepped to the line, I shut the rest of the world out. I was focused on what I had to do. I kind of felt something off to my side, I turned my head. DI Faamate handed me the magazine.

“Don’t blow it, everyone is watching.”

Grabbing the magazine, I loaded it and prepared. The command to fire was given. I focused on the target. Before I knew it the bolt locked to the rear. Ejecting it myself, I held on to it and turned to see what Bulat was doing. He was jumping up and down like he’d won the lottery. SDI Brooks, and DI Pugh went down to look at the targets. Bulat was still celebrating when they came back. DI Pugh looked like someone had just kicked his puppy. Things were looking good for me, Bulat seemed oblivious to it. SDI Brooks then addressed us.

“So, we have a clear winner. Recruit Bulat hit the target 3 out of 5 times. And Recruit Badzinski, the winner hit 5 out of 5 times.”

I heard Bulat bitching as he walked off that it was bullshit and that I cheated. The guy was an idiot with a warped sense of reality. We got formed up after replacing the blank adapters to our rifles and got the obligatory pat down for secreted rounds before we left the range.

We marched out to our second event for the day. It was a smaller version of the Infiltration course. This was to be a squad-based event. A squad would start by moving towards the course. Multiple recruits from the squad would become casualties. The squad would then have to move those wounded recruits through the course. Then we had to put together field expedient stretchers and move the casualties a mile and a half. The landing zone was going to be marked again with smoke.

Our squad got in line and waited for our turn. We got prompted to move forward, and when we were about 5 ft from the first obstacle, we got our casualties. SDI Brooks walked up to Wheeler.

Recruit, you’ve been shot in both legs. Hit the deck.”

Wheeler hit the deck, SDI Brooks then stepped to Bulat.

“You’ve been shot in the stomach. Hit the deck.”

Bulat looked as if he wanted to argue, though he finally laid down on the deck. Our time started, we had an hour and a half to complete the whole thing. We had to low crawl under the barbed wire again, though this time we had to bring our casualties with us.

Each squad dragged their casualty along. Looking over the other squad was having issues. They were trying to use the same method we were. Bulat wasn’t helping by trying to force them into doing things how he wanted. I put a stop to this before it got worse.

“Bulat, you moron shut your pie hole. If you say another word, I’ll tape your mouth shut.”

They finished a minute or two after we did. When we got to the poles and created out our stretchers, I decided to change things. My fire team took over the stretcher with Bulat. I explained to them how we were going to carry our stretcher. They decided to use the same method, but Bulat didn’t like this. I leaned down.

“You’re a casualty, shut up or I’ll drop you as we’re moving.”

Bulat decided to keep his mouth shut, though I could see him stewing. I got my fire team to encourage the other fire team as we went along. I could see that he was going to be a pain in my ass until graduation. We kept his fire team in front of us. That way if they needed motivation to keep them moving, we would be there,

We made it to where we could see the smoke. This time it was yellow and blue smoke marking the landing zone. We were a few minutes early. We put our BDU blouses back on, and once everyone was finished, we marched back to the bivouac area. SDI Brooks called a school circle.

“So can I have the four fire teams that won their match earlier.”

The twenty guys moved forward.

“So, it’s time for your prize. Di Oyono please bring the boxes up here.”

DI Oyono brought up two MRE boxes.

“Everyone on a winning team gets to grab an extra MRE.”

I waited until everyone grabbed one before getting mine. I didn’t even look while getting mine. Turned out to be tuna and noodles. I’d have to see how good it could be.