EOBC 6 weeks down -- The latest poop



To All Who Shall See These Presents, Greetings: Be it known that 2LT Nicholas C Kliewer has 75 days remaining on active duty! (sounds better than 2.5 months.)

Whew, a lot has been going on since I wrote last. Where to start..... Well, bad news first. I scored an 88% on the last exam (exam #5 on Common Core Tactics) which dropped me in the class ranking to #9. I know, still in the top 10, but still a disappointing setback. Not that the guys here aren't top notch. Some of my fellow lieutenants are really smart and have it all put together. It's just that I decided well before I was shipped here that I would graduate on the commandant's list which is the top 20% of each class. In this case, it is the top 13 students. Anyway, our next exams I should be able to shine. Engineering topics!

Yes, we finally started what I call the "bread and butter" of engineering. Bridging. I had NO IDEA that there were so many different types of bridges!

*** Had to insert this comment. As I write this, I hear M60 gunfire and artillery rounds going off in the distance. Funny, but it's not really disturbing. ****

So what do you do when a mortar shell has put a huge crater in the road or knocked out a bridge you need to cross? You call in the Army Corps of Engineers. I have learned how to design a Medium Girder Bridge and a Ribbon Bridge as well as how to ferry vehicles one at a time (if need be) across a river. Very useful! At least this subject material seems to suit me better than the other basic Army stuff. We actually had to break out our calculators this week! Tomorrow we are going to ruck march out to the boonies and actually build one of these bridges. We are being issued an MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat) because we will not get back until late. Yum! If you have never had the opportunity to sample one of these culinary delights, you are missing out. Then next week, we'll learn how to blow up bridges in the demolitions classes. I am very excited about that. I need to remind myself to bring my earplugs!

Another cool skill that I have recently acquired, is the ability to classify bridges as to their load bearing capacity. Basically we are taught this skill so that we can determine if a platoon of tanks can cross a given bridge. Kind of neat.

Tuesday and Wednesday was spent perfecting my land Navigation skills. Since I had experience doing this as a Sergeant in the Non-commissioned officer's academy, it wasn't too difficult. But I hadn't done it for 10 years! So I had to dust off a few cobwebs.

We had to qualify at both day and night land navigation. Which means that we were given a handful of grid coordinates and headings and had to plot them on a military map (more on military maps later) and then take the heel-toe express to each of the points that we plotted to (hopefully) find a white post with two letters on it. You write the letters down to prove that you found the point that you were supposed to. We were given three hours to plot and locate six points (some a couple of Km away from each other) and return back to the start location. My legs are TIRED! Luckily the snow stopped falling a couple nights before. Then, when night fell. We were given a flashlight and had to find five points within three hours. I found them alright, as well as every single briar bush on the Ft. Leonard Wood countryside. Ouch! One of the lieutenants was looking to closely at her compass instead of the ground in front of her and messed up her knee pretty good. Doc says that she can't run for a while. In military terms this is called a "profile."

So LT Reynolds missed out on our "little PT run" this morning. We have a First Sergeant who is a PT nut. So when he smiles with a Grinch who stole Christmas grin. You know you are in trouble. We ran twice around a trail known as the "Sapper trail." Now mind you, a Sapper is an old term use for the people who used to dig zigzag trenches all the way to the enemy's position. Tough dudes to say the least since this was in colonial times and they didn't have backhoes. Well, as you can imagine, the Sapper trail is 2.6 miles of up the hill -- down the hill -- up the hill -- down the hill. One hill being a 45% grade. Anyone caught walking was court marshaled. Not really. But they were "volunteered" to run a remedial run at 5am on Saturday! So I kept chugging. Sometimes I'd slow down some, but I kept running.

Military maps. This is one area where the Army has some neat tools. With satellites photos and detail maps, it's amazing. We were taught how to use a computer tool that you can take a topographical map (the Army has much of the world mapped in detail) and overlay where heavy vegetation is, or steep slopes, you can pick a point anywhere in the world and see where an M16 can hit and no hit from that position. Amazing stuff.

Next week is my chance to show the cadre what kind of leader I am. I am being put in charge of the third squad in 1st platoon. Basically, the squad's success or failure will reflect on me next week. This is where it has been important to be a good follower. I feel sorry for those guys who were difficult to their peer leaders earlier. When it is their turn to get in charge I imagine that they will have trouble. I've been pretty good about being a good worker bee. Hopefully nobody gives me any problems. I take over tomorrow at the last formation. Since next week is demolitions, it should turn out to be an interesting week. Wish me luck.

By the way. Thank you everyone who has sent me packages (the goodies were yummy and the Hot-Wheels (TM) were pretty cool too. :) Also thanks for all of the letters and emails. That has really been a real motivator for me. Especially my neighbor's daughter who made me a card (that's on my desk) with Texas Bluebell flowers colored on it that says:

> Dear Mr. Nick,
> Thank you for being in the Army.
> Love Regan

I have never been prouder to serve in the military.

It is 22:30 so I need to get some sleep for the ruck march and bridge building tomorrow. I'll leave you with a couple of not-so-out of context quotes.

Best wishes,
LT Nick

"If they get it, then they just got something that they never had." -- SSG Wiley on OPFOR (enemy) capturing equipment.

"Let's not try to figure out why the cat has four legs. It just does." -- SFC Martinez on Calling for Artillery Fire.

And the winner is one of my fellow lieutenants while giving a remedial class on time management:

"Most people wish that there were more hours in a day. For me, if the day was any longer, I think I'd go crazy." -- 2LT Young


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