What Were The Worst "Field Problems" You Participated In?

2016-06-15T22:05:11-04:00

Man, TOO many to recall, but I do have a "top two."
JRTEX (Joint Readiness Training Exercise) While in the 82nd, we did two JRTEXs, one for the Generals and one for the State Representatives. It was all done at night and, as Artillery, we didn't get off the DZ until 0400 and had to be back at the Battery at 0900.
Second, Northern Edge in the winter. My Arctic Warriors can attest to this.

Response by SFC Pete Kain made Jun 15 at 2016 10:12 PM

2016-06-15T22:12:57-04:00

Jack Frost 1979, -50 and the aviators could not find us for pick up. Worst 2 weeks of my life.
Well ok the D.M.Z. in Korea sucked too, but still....

Response by SPC Darren Koele made Jun 15 at 2016 10:23 PM

2016-06-15T22:23:11-04:00

I also have two.
Grafenwoehr (Graf) - Rang 301 - Was a 5-ton dump operator (M929). We were will building a road over the course of a week. During that week, I had 21 flat tires. Kept picking up huge bits of metal. Changed all 21 in the field using a pick mattock to break the bead and pry bar to take it off the rim then put it back on.

Reforger 88 - our squad was set up in a nice shady spot in a tree line near a small town. They forgot about us, our three vehicles, and the GEMSS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNQIE-D8uwY) until the evening before the last day.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2016 1:23 AM

2016-06-16T01:23:35-04:00

ok ... really ... No sh** ... A raccoon stole my pop tarts.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2016 3:17 AM

2016-06-16T03:17:42-04:00

Winter Reforger 1985, cold and wet with no heater in our tank.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Jun 16 at 2016 3:22 AM

2016-06-16T03:22:01-04:00

The only Field Problem that I ever felt was an issue is the Failure Rate of SM-2 Surface to Air Missile and it's love of trying to come home. Never a good thing watching one you just launched do a U turn and come back.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2016 8:08 AM

2016-06-16T08:08:44-04:00

A field problem in Korea, in monsoon season. They set us up right in the middle of a rice paddy. Only a week long but it rained the entire time and saying we were muddy would be an understatement. Cold, wet and miserable. Great memories!!

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2016 9:56 AM

2016-06-16T09:56:15-04:00

FT Hunter Liggett, CA will always take the cake for my worst field problems. The first time we went there, some how or another fuel for vehicles was an issue.......yet somehow there were 3 or 4 5K fuel trucks going around fueling the generators at the base camp. We had to roll out on a convoy one morning and when we went to fuel up (and we were not the only vehicle trying to get fuel) we were turned away by the fuelers because their orders were to ONLY give their fuel to the generators. Pissed a bunch of people off. The shower point would work one day and be down for 3. Same for the laundry point. With explicit instructions that NO MALE would ever walk into a female tent no matter the reason, females were constantly walking into mine. One particular time, a female walked in while a guy a few cots away from me was changing his clothes and everything on him was swinging free of clothes. Ended up having a chat with her AND her team leader. They in turn reported me to their LT who also resided in my tent.......and they were MPs. The porta-johns were not enough for the amount of people on the base camp and were not cleaned on a regular basis.....on top of the fact that some people would drop a deuce on top of the lids. Speaking of deuces and shower points. After so many times the field shower points broke down, it was decided that a contractor company would bring in some very nice shower trailers. Well, that went nice and all for about the first two weeks. Then they were completely shut down after someone dropped a deuce in one of the stalls in one of the male AND female trailers. This on top of the many females that were leaving their used feminine products laying free willy nilly in the stalls. I could go on and on and on about that sh*thole, but I won't. Just that from a Preventive Medicine standpoint.......uber worst place I had ever been.......worse than Iraq in my opinion.

Response by SSG Carlos Madden made Jun 16 at 2016 12:48 PM

2016-06-16T12:48:20-04:00

Every year of "Operation: Red Dragon"

Response by LTC Kevin B. made Jun 16 at 2016 12:50 PM

2016-06-16T12:50:44-04:00

I have two examples, both involving cold weather.

1. As a young CPT (mid-90s), I went on a JRTC rotation with the 101st where a big ice storm hit Central Louisiana. We had a nice 3" layer of sleet on the ground. After a brief thaw, followed by a quick refreeze, we would up with a 2" sheet of solid ice on top of everything. It was so bad that the helicopters couldn't fly. After a few days, they had to make emergency convoys into the box because all of the troops were running out of food.

2. As a young PFC stationed over in Germany (mid-80s), we had a surprise alert and rolled out into the German countryside for 10 days. Snow was everywhere, it was cold as heck, and since it was a surprise alert, nobody had any pogey bait. That sucked.

Response by SPC Wesley Ruland made Jun 16 at 2016 4:08 PM

2016-06-16T16:08:05-04:00

We were at the 9mm range for qualification predeployment. At the end of the night fire exercises...after being in the Ft Stewart sun all day and in to the night, we could not be released as we had a M9 unaccounted for. Had half the battalion doing police calls up and down the range looking for it. We must have been looking for a couple of hours when somebody asked where our newly assigned 1SGT was. Turns out he had the weapon in the Humvee where he was sleeping.

Response by SPC Wesley Ruland made Jun 16 at 2016 4:11 PM

2016-06-16T16:11:00-04:00

Or 2LT getting lost at Ft Irwin with no less than 5 GPS units in our convoy. Total time on the road was well over 15hours. Started snowing on us at about 0300 when it had been in the high 70's low 80's during the day (early spring).

Response by CPT Joseph K Murdock made Jun 16 at 2016 7:56 PM

2016-06-16T19:56:52-04:00

It was OCS, raining and cold.

Response by Sgt Jamie Grippin made Jun 16 at 2016 9:33 PM

2016-06-16T21:33:58-04:00

I was a Loadmaster on a KC-130 and we were dropping some RECON Marines into the bay off Okinawa. We opened the cargo door and dropped the ramp, the green came on and they were gone. As the 1st Mech and I are pulling in the static lines we can see them scattered everywhere. Apparently a gust or cross wind of sorts came up and they landed everywhere except in the bay. The rocks, the middle of the base, one on a building, it was a total mess. I have no idea how long it took to round all of them up.

Response by MCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2016 11:47 PM

2016-06-16T23:47:14-04:00

My very first.

January, 1981, we hit the field and get set up. It starts to rain and get chilly. That night, it gets cold - and the rain turns to freezing rain which then turned to sleet which then turned to snow. When the call came to pack it in, we had about half-an-inch of ice on our tents (shelter halves), covered with about an inch of snow.

Oh, did I forget to tell you that this was at Fort Polk, LOUISIANA?!?!

One of the guys (from Modesto, California) had to go to the medics because he was "frozen." He had EVERY item of clothing on that he had packed - and looked like the kid from A Christmas Story. The medics told him that he had "Stage 1 Frostbite" - which, at the time, meant that his skin was numb, and when he warmed up a bit, he'd experience a prickling sensation.

I grew up in the upper Midwest, and have been in that situation just about every day of every winter that I was growing up - we called that condition, "Normal."

We called this kid the "Ice Princess" for the rest of his tour there.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 26 at 2016 2:46 PM

2016-11-26T14:46:42-05:00

2nd Lt. using DAGR at Hohenfels instead of the map and protractor, getting entire platoon lost after batteries died.

Response by SGT William Harding made Nov 27 at 2016 6:32 PM

2016-11-27T18:32:48-05:00

Too many to count and not the time to tell them all. If it ain't raining then you ain't training. Korea, Ft. Benning, Ft Hood, NTC, and JRTC.