Today we were getting to do what I hoped would be one of the more fun parts of training: the MOUT site. Mobile Operations in Urban Terrain. Basically it was the non-Infantry version of the training the Army did for bashing in doors and clearing houses. Theoretically, it wasn’t something I would be doing as I had joined to be Signal Corps - a glorified Army computer nerd. That being said, you were a soldier first, a technician later. A low chance of being in combat wasn’t zero chance, we all knew that coming into the Army.

Getting to the training site was the same as with any Army training: the Drill Sergeants covered the tasks, conditions, and standards. Wearing 35 pounds of body armor and ammunition - blanks - we would be carrying our M-16 rifles and clearing through several buildings. The idea behind it is violent chaos. Your breacher clears the door for visible booby traps and then will kick the door in. The three behind the breacher then rush into the room calling out what you see: “Door right, window left”, etc. Each person receiving a section of responsibility to clear. The breacher is then the last person in and makes sure to keep our entrance clear so we don’t get attacked from someone coming in behind us.