Tuesday Letter

Here's today's letter. Nathan graduates next week, so I may get one more letter, or this might be the last one.

Amanda,

So, for you and all of our avid blog readers, here it is; the single greatest experience I've had in a long time. BEAST week was flat out amazing. I strongly encourage you all to look it up on the Internet to bet a little background. (about.com has great military articles, including one of BEAST.) Basically all of the sixth week flights hop on buses with full duffel bags and take a trip to the opposite side of the base to the BEAST facility. There are four separate zones when you get there that they split about 14 flights into. The zones were Reaper, Sentinel, Predator, and Vigilant. Our sister flight, some random other flight, and us were assigned to Vigilant. The whole week is basically a competition between the zones to see who gets "BEAST Excellence." I know you're all like "so what?" but it's actually a big deal. If you win you get a streamer on your guidon (I'm not sure I got that word right. He's handwriting can be a bit difficult to read at times. I think he's referring to a flag/standard that represents their flight.) It's a big source of pride.

Anyway, Monday, we get there. We go through a briefing, we get issued our full MOPP gear, we unpack our bags, we meet the zone staff, and then we started reviewing the four main sections that we learned so far. We had a class on IBD where we had to build our own Defensive Fighting Position and demonstrate minimal and deadly force and apprehension. Several times during the day we had fun little reminders of where we were (essentially out in the wild). For example, we were moving pallets while we were setting up camp, and we found two black widow spiders. Three times Monday and at least four times a day after that we found scorpions, either in the shower, in the tents, in the boots, or in the clothes. Luckily nobody really was injured by the wildlife.

Oh, hah. What are we eating out here since there is no dining facility? MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), 3 meals a day. If you haven't ever had them, they are pretty good (most of the time). Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to look at the ones we were grabbing or put them back. Sounds like a 1st grade mantra: You get what you get and you don't throw a fit! For the most part I got good ones. the minestrone and pineapple poundcake are excellent, but the chicken tetrazini isn't so much. No big surprise there. He doesn't like it when I make it either, which is unfortunate because I love it. I guess that will be a "deployment meal" for me.

Taps is playing. More tomorrow.

Sunday July 12th. So where was I? Tuesday was a full day at BEAST. We had classes that reviewed SABC, MOPP, and PARR. Did I mention that it was around 100 degrees outside nearly all week? Believe me, I know. I think Houston and San Antonio weather have been very similar. Have I ever said how much I love AC? Let me tell you, hanging out in full MOPP gear over your standard ABU's is NOT fun.

Oh, speaking of what we wear, during BEAST week you have to carry 2 canteens instead of one, you must carry your gas mask case on your canteen belt, your full MOPP suit and MRE's in your backpack, a helmet over your hat, and a 40 pound flak jacket. So picture me in ABU's (camouflage). Now picture me in ABU's with all of that extra stuff I just listed. Now picture me with all that PLUS vinyl overboots, thick protective jacket and trousers, gas mask, hood, and vinyl gloves. Standing in a building (oh yeah, with my M16 trainer weapon) where it's about 100 degrees with about 150 other people for about 30 minutes. That happened about twice a day.

What would basically happen is that the instructors who were supervising the zone would call out drills. The BEAST is meant to be a sort of mock deployment, so they made up some funny back story about how some fictional country is at war with the country you are stationed in and are raiding your camp at various times throughout the week. So they'd call out various alarms which indicated various stages of an attack and if they were using chemical weapons or not.

So first would come alarm yellow. Means drop what you're doing and proceed to the hardened shelter. Alarm yellow last for about 15-20 minutes and means an attack is imminent. Alarm red follows. You immediately take a knee and put on your mask, gloves, and hood if necessary. Means attack in progress. After the attack is alarm black. Attack is over. Pair up, check the seals on your buddy, and line up if you're assigned to a PAR team. Then it's Alarm Black initial release. The PAR teams go out and do their sweeps for Damage, UXO (unexploded ordinance), Casualties, and Contamination. If they find anything they report it and another team takes care of it. Like an SABC team would care of a casualty, and a cordon team block off an area around a UXO.

So anyway, on to Wednesday. Wednesday was our Tactical Deployment Mission (TOM). Basically we (the zone) separated into four teams and went out an hour apart. We left our heavy stuff behind luckily. Took our helmets, canteens, and weapons. We did a tactical march down a trail for about a mile looking for simulated IED's. My group was the only one to stop the IED before it went off. After the march there was the Tactical Course. Kind of a miniature obstacle course on steroids. Low crawl through the mud under some of that barbed wire stuff you see on TV for about 15 yards. Then a bunch of dashes and rolls with your weapon. Lastly, there was a 50 yard high crawl up a 30 degree incline. The low crawl was dirty, but not hard. The tactical movements were fun. When he uses the word "fun" it reminds of why I didn't join the military. Well, one reason anyway. I don't think I would have found any part of that "fun!" The high crawl was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I was completely dead after I finished. But I finished and that alone gave me a big boost of self confidence. Oh but I'm not done yet. When we finished the high crawl, our group had to set up 5 TEMPER tents and 2 DFP's. Suffice it to say that I was exhausted before we started setting up the new camp. When we finished we marched back to the zone. Everyone was filthy and tired. But alas, instead of showers and sleep we got a quick MRE and then MOPP drills. The shower that I took that evening in the crowded, hot BEAST latrine was the second best one ever (first being the one Friday night after getting back to the dorm).

Thursday was the evaluation day. The 2 hour period of time that the whole week was leading up to. We had an evaluator come and select random people to fill random roles. For example, you 2 go sit in this DFP, you four on an SABC team, you five will be evaluated on how you put on your MOPP gear, you ten answer memorization questions. I didn't get picked for anything. So during the DFP portion of the evaluation I was sitting in the tent. And then the alarms started rolling in so I go to the rear of the hardened shelter and don't get evaluated on anything. I just sat there in MOPP gear for an hour or so.

Get this. The Chief Master Sergent of the Air Force, CMSgt Roy (very, very big-wig), was at the BEAST complex during Thursday's evaluations but opted to only visit the Reaper and Predator zones. So not us. Boo on him.

Friday morning we found out the results of the BEAST. "And the winner of BEAST Excellence is...Vigilant!" We won and everyone was freaking out. I was proud of us. Everyone came back that day in great spirits.

Time to wrap this one up. I have my PT test on Wednesday. Wish me luck. Keep Nathan in your prayers. Other than the actual graduation, this is the most important day in his BMT experience. I'm excited to see you next week. Things are really coming to a close here quickly. I cannot really say that it's been fun (he's had a lot of fun during parts of it, like BEAST, but BMT is not meant to be a "fun" experience) or gone by fast, but it has been a good learning experience.

Hope this week goes well for you. As always, give everyone my best. I love you.

Nathan