Posted on Jun 15, 2016
What Were The Worst "Field Problems" You Participated In?
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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.
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.
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MSG (Join to see) - My breakfast (on the run) for years was Pop Tarts and Pepsi (or other cola). So how great a career did I have if that was my "worst field" problem?!?! Could have been worse. Could have been a bear. Still mad at raccoons though.
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SSG (Join to see) - Fort Hunter-Liggett. An NCO I met from Range Control swore "We don't have raccoons on Fort Hunter-Liggett."
"Really? Well then you've got a good sized kit fox running around post wearing a mask."
"Really? Well then you've got a good sized kit fox running around post wearing a mask."
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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.
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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.
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.
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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!!
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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.
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.
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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.
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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).
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