Military Officer - February 2006 - (Page 55) while.” But, he adds gamely, “Eventually you just get used to it.” Under the theater-immersion concept, new arrivals are introduced to battlefield conditions without delay. “When the 2-127th came in from Wisconsin, we brought them in from the airport in Gulfport, transported them up here in commercial buses, [moved them] onto smaller buses, and carried them right out to the FOBs,” says Shows. “That’s where they lived the first couple of weeks they were here. They were injected right into conditions they’ll face when they get into the field.” After two weeks of living in tents with no air conditioning or other amenities, the soldiers are billeted in climate-controlled, concrete-block barracks, 15 to 20 soldiers per building. That’s a closer match to their Iraq accommodations than the FOB, because the tents there will be airconditioned as well. A couple of weeks spent in Mississippi’s unrelenting heat gives troops an idea of what they’ll face after deployment, as summer temperatures in Iraq regularly hover between 120 and 130 Soldiers from the 3rd Logistics Support Battalion, 349th Regiment clear a “shoot house” room during MOUT (military operations on urbanized terrain) training. degrees Fahrenheit, though without the stifling Gulf humidity. A guardmember’s stay at Camp Shelby begins with Soldier Readiness Processing, where each person’s fi- Staff Sgt. Randy Oliphant, standing at far right, organizes a cordon line from the 4th platoon of C Company, 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment. nancial, legal, and job-specific documents are checked and the soldier is certified as physically and mentally ready for deployment. Then it’s time for classes and hands-on training in basic lifesaving skills, unexploded ordnance identification, cultural awareness, communications equipment operations, and chemical and biological hazard survival. The unit is issued battlefield gear and completes familiarization and qualification training with various weapons, wrapping up with a road march, stress fire, and reflexive fire training. It all happens in two-and-a-half to three months. A soldier’s day begins early, with physical fitness at 5:30 a.m., followed by any number of learning experiences. This could include Humvee convoy training, building-to-building and room-to-room searches, FOB defense, checkpoint and cordon-andsearch operations, and many others. And sleep doesn’t come early: Training often continues until 10 p.m. or FEBRUARY 2006 MILITARY OFFICER 55
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