CRC Day 6

Things have gotten busier here at CRC. The last two days we have had formations as early as 0520. Tuesday we went to CIF (*disclaimer: I really don't know what these abbreviations mean, but I pretend I do...*) to pick up our gear. That consisted of our Kevlar vest and helmet, gas mask, and duffle bags. Josh had to put my vest together. It weighs about fifty pounds. Here's me modeling it... but not too happily.

Also, my helmet, which is near impossible to smile in...

Getting our gear took from 5:30 until close to 10:00, then we went to the medical building. I was there until 1800 (6pm!). Since we had such and early formation, we missed breakfast, because the DFAC opens at 0530, and then we missed lunch as well because we were at the "Med Shed" all afternoon. But they prepared for this and fed us....... MRE's. 

And I don't care who you are trying to kid, MRE's are bad news. Chicken Pesto Pasta sounded very "Olive Garden-ish", but was more along the lines of "Stinky-Chef-Boyardee". It came with apple sauce, pudding, wheat bread, and bacon cheese spread. I ate the apple sauce and the pudding. 

Yesterday was fairly exciting. We went to the range up the hill and had TSIRT training, which stands for Theatre (someplace out of the country, in our case, IRAQ) Specific Individualized Readiness Training. This consisted of 12 hours of medical and IED/UXO training. For the first half of the day we learned about combat wounds and how to treat them. This included sucking chest wounds, abdominal injuries, open head wounds, shock, and inflating lungs. They had dummies for us to practice on, but I already had Josh. Haha....

After learning all things medical, we learned about IEDs and UXOs (Improvised Exploding Devices and UneXploded Ordnances). They actually even have a Iraqi Village of sorts set up here at Fort Benning, so you can walk around and try to spot IEDs. They have them hidden everywhere, and if you accidentally set one off, they have it rigged up to make a loud noise and smoke. Scares the pee out of you if you aren't paying attention. 

We got back from TSIRT training about 1830 and ate dinner. Still amazing food...

And I got a chance to take some pictures around post here. 

I posted the outside of my barrack before, but this is my room. I have the bottom bunk, and the locker on the left is to store all of my stuff. However, I still haven't figured out how to make a bed with two flat sheets and no fitted sheets....

This is the bathroom that about 25 or 30 of us share. The toilets are to the right, the showers are through the doorway on the left. 

These are the showers attached to the bathroom. There are eight shower heads in the room. I was NOT a happy camper when I saw them. 

This is the sign at the main entrance to CRC. CRC is actually a very very small part of Fort Benning, on the map below, it is number 20 on the bottom right. We've gone to the PX (1 on the map) on base a few times, and it is at least a ten minute drive. 

Today we have a briefing at 4:45, then we go over our flight information. We fly out to Iraq in the morning. I am very excited, because we will be making a stop in either Germany or Ireland. Either one would be really cool to see, even if only from the air. 

By Saturday I will (hopefully) be in Iraq. Keep sending prayers....