Introduction - Matthew

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Re: Introduction - Matthew

Post by Carpenter »

Rangers,

I've begun working to improve my APFT scores by starting Ranger Silverbacks's push-up program. I will hopefully have updated APFT results within a few days. In the mean time my brother and I have been working on toughening up our feet for upcoming rucks. My brother and I have been trying to keep up our PT as well, but my grandmother is known for 'cooking enough food to feed an Army'.

In addition on January 9th my brother and I will be leaving to attending a Field Operations training in Florida as apart of Sea Cadets. Looking forward to my next update.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

Post by IntelToad »

Good update, enjoy Florida.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

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Roger Ranger IntelToad.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

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Rangers,

Today my brother and I completed a six and a half mile ruck. We didn't time the ruck but in the future we plan on making the ruck weekly and eventually extending the distance even further. We rucked with our packs loaded up to the 35 pound standard and with all gear loaded our packs weighed in at 50 pounds. My brother also is working on breaking in his new boots. The boots I currently wear for Sea Cadets are steel toed standard issue Navy boots, however I am waiting for a new pair to arrive in the mail that do not have steel toes and are much lighter. The new pair are jungle boots and will make rucking much more enjoyable.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

Post by Disinfertention »

Sounds like you guys are having fun. Make sure to let us know how that sea cadet training goes. Seems interesting!
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

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Roger Ranger Disinfertention.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

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Rangers,

Today my brother and I completed a 9 mile ruck in 4" of snow and nasty wind. We completed this ruck with our good friend Jack, who also wants to be an Army Ranger. He is also attending the Field Operations training in Florida with us, and we will be driving down together. I think he has the motivation to become a Ranger and referred him to join the website.

I also received my new pair of boots today, I have little time to break them in so we will be rucking again tomorrow. Before we begin any rucks tomorrow my family will be driving to Cape May, New Jersey where my oldest brother will be graduating from Coast Guard Boot Camp as an E-3, Seaman.

Currently for rucking I use a very old ALICE pack. I've gotta admit the kidney pad on the ALICE pack has not been working too well for me. It just doesn't give me enough support for my lower back. To solve this problem after trying on my brothers Molle II pack, I bought one myself. The support it gives me is ten fold. I'm exited to start using it when it arrives. In the meantime my brother and I have been toughening up our feet by putting rubbing alcohol on them. Any blisters we had are starting to go away and our feet are starting to harden. After the Florida training we plan on buying Tuf-Foot to help increase that process.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

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Rangers,

Today my brother and I completed a 7.7 mile ruck in the snow. We stopped at our halfway point briefly to eat some snacks, but I am proud of our total time for completion which was 2 hours and 40 minutes. It is always neat to take in all of your surroundings and just be drawn in by it. When you're rucking at 23:00 and you don't even need a light because the Moon lights up the field around you is always something that I look forward to. My boots that I received fit like a charm and breaking them in hasn't been that difficult.

I've been continuing to work my feet and will most likely not stop rucking until the day before we leave for the Florida. I figure that if I don't work my feet now and I don't break my boots in enough than I will pay for it later.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

Post by Disinfertention »

Matthew,

Sounds like you guys are having a great time training. Keep it up and stay warm.

If you think of it pass my congratulations on to your oldest brother. Thank him for his service. There is a tight group of men and women who serve the Coast Guard back home for me and many of my family have served on the waters. I know they do more than that, but you get the idea! :)

Is Jack also on the website? I'm not great at recognizing names but I don't recall any Jack's here. If you think of it maybe invite him over and see if he can get something out of being here.

Looking forward to your next updates.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

Post by Carpenter »

Roger Ranger Disinfertention,

I will be sure to send your congratulations onto my oldest brother. I am unsure if Jack has created an account yet but I have asked him to join. He isn't very tech-savvy but I will see what I can do.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

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Rangers,

I've completed my Field Operations training in Florida yesterday afternoon and I am already in my vehicle on my way back up north.

The instructor for my training had previously been an Army Ranger and retired as an 18D after 22 years of service.


We learned many things namely a few such as buddy rushing, calling in a 9-line, first aid, movements, and of course land navigation.

I plan on being cadre for my own Field Operations training this upcoming summer at Fort Indiantown Gap along with my brother and Jack so we were taking notes on the do's and don't's.

The training was overall really good I learned a lot and it is always good to build leadership. My brother was assigned to Bravo Company and Jack and I were assigned to Charlie Company. My brother was also assigned to the position of Assistant-Company-Comander (ACC) for his company. Jack was assigned as my Squad Leader. Each company had their ACC and CC (Company-Commander) with them at almost all times. The people in these positions were all Petty Officers however my brother is a SA or Seaman Apprentice for anyone not familiar with Navy Ranks. How he got the position of ACC only he could say because I haven't got a clue. We worked with the Marines who taught us most things and the former Ranger who was our OPS taught medical.

Of course this wasn't all of training, we did night patrols and night missions were we were ambushed by OPFOR, including a Company assignment where we were assigned the mission of rescueing a downed F-18 pilot over enemy territory and that it was to be a stealth mission. I'm sure you will hear stories from my brother but this last mission was a Charlie-Foxtrot for my Company. It was near dark when we were assigned our MRE's for the night and by the time we applied our camo face paint it was pitch-black. We formed Into our Companies and each were assigned radios and given the coordinates for the marker we needed to navigate to. Long-story short our navigator got us lost. Super lost, I had a map with coordinates on it from earlier and we had 3 maps in total. I used mine as a personal map because out navigator had one already. Essentially we overshot the furthest point on the map by at least 3 kilometers. We had been moving in a staggered-column for at least 3 hours and and were stopping very often because our point-man with NVG's was constantly stopping. We finally stopped because our navigator thought we were at the position and after no point was spotted in the area we stopped to eat our MRE's. Radio signal was very spotty so communication was limited. Now when we embarked we were told not to create any fires. We are eating and some guys in our company decide to start one with the matches from the MRE's. Jack and I instantly tell them to stop because we were told not to, and that we were not about to get kicked out because they were cold. Earlier in the training our OPS told us that the chemical heater in the MRE had been used in IED's and to not light them on fire. To say that the people playing with fire weren't even using common fire safety was an understatement we were all resting on dry pine needles and dead brush and they were creating small fires without even clearing out a circle they were literally sitting on the line that they were burning. When the ACC for my company of all people took out a magnesium rod and was sparking it everywhere on the ground is what really made me angry. They gave us an inch and we took a mile. The people in my company started burning their trash from their MRE's and eventually it moved to burning their chemical heaters. This all took place within 2 minutes. I even tried taking the matches from the other cadets in my company but I couldn't. Jack and I were pissed at this moment because both our ACC and CC completely lost it and were playing with fire like everyone else. It was like we were baby sitting. The ACC response to us telling him not to burn his trash including his chemical heater was "It just sparks I did it yesterday.". You would think that if people have used it to create an IED you wouldn't burn it. They started to try lighting it on fire and I put my foot down. I took my canteen out and poured it out onto the fire. Jack did the same thing and extinguished it. We yelled at them and told them to get ahold of yourself because we still had a mission to complete and that we needed to get going. A call went out to RTB because of boars in the area. After awhile we got them back into formation and went north because we were way off the map and if we head north because that is where the FOB was. About 50 meters north from where we ate was an opening with a barb-wire fence. My idea was go into the field find a point such as a tower with a light that you could see from the FOB get an azimuth and have the FOB do the same, this would at least give us an idea of how far north or south we were and we could figure how much north or south we would have to move. They told me that you couldn't find azimuth at night and shot my ideas down. The ACC and CC were more concerned on being made fun of for getting lost back at base than our own safety. I called them out for it and it sparked retaliation among the company because we ruined their fun. One piped up saying "tell me one thing (insert Jack's last name) that they would do if we told them that we were lost!" He responded "Send out a search party dumbass!" Jack was livid at this point but kept it together this guy then goes "So now you are going to call me a dumbass?" He just responded with a "Yes". Jack turned to the CC and told them to control his Company. I gave them the realization speech that we were lost and that they act like it is a joke because we were hours away and we only know that traveling east will bring us to a main road hours away because we were way off our map. Of course they don't let us go into the field to get radio signal so we travel east and every couple of minutes I tell our radio operator to check coms to give the FOB a SITREP until he can get a solid copy. Eventually after a long hike we take a trail and make our way back to the FOB I didn't talk to the ACC or the CC for the rest of the night nor did Jack. They lost my respect entirely. We took control of the group again and completed the objective.

Overall I enjoyed the training I learned a lot and it was fun. Jack and I took the initiative and we completed the mission but not without having to overcome some obstacles.

I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes because I am on mobile and my battery is about to die but I did check it over.

Looking forward to the next update.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

Post by Disinfertention »

Sounds like you had a pretty interesting time. At this point the only thing I feel like I could reply with is that it's not how well you do but what you learn. Also, you are never lost. Just a bit misoriented is all.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

Post by Carpenter »

Roger Ranger Disinfertention,

I apologize for going on a bit of a tangent. Sometimes expectations for people in high places aren't always how they should be.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

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Carpenter wrote: January 17th, 2018, 12:30 pm Roger Ranger Disinfertention,

I apologize for going on a bit of a tangent. Sometimes expectations for people in high places aren't always how they should be.
That's 1 good lesson. Just reading your post I know there are 2 to 3 more in there to learn easily.
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Re: Introduction - Matthew

Post by Carpenter »

Rangers,

Today we worked on marksmanship in Sea Cadets. I am apart of the Rifle Team and today was our first official practice. We worked on reload drills, tightening up our groupings, identification drills, and reaction time improvement drills. I was in-charge of the ammunition, reloading magazines, and helping to supervise. Our group went through over 1500 rounds of ammunition in three hours. Afterwards we field stripped and cleaned the rifles. I injured my wrist working out a few days ago so I've been going easy on it, today was the first day I woke up and it wasn't painful to move. It is still sore to move in some directions but I just need to make sure I don't overdue it next time.

Looking forward to the next update.
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