My first non-Marine Corps related post. A former professor of mine died this morning after a year-long battle with lymphoma. He was well-loved among the students at Mudd and had a large impact on many students. I still remember one evening when I was a freshman struggling with my math class and he spent a full hour with me, going over the material until I understood it. I'm sure he had plenty else to do that evening, and I might have even caught him right before he was about to leave. But I was very thankful that he was willing to invest that time in me, and any other student--senior to freshman--that asked.
Rest in Peace, Professor Moody.
HMC article.
21 January 2010
14 January 2010
Ordnance
I received a question regarding my previous post asking if we knew what the ordnance looked like beforehand, or if we were looking for pressure plates. For this particular scenario, we were looking for a pressure plate because we knew there would be wires that would lead us back to the ordnance (which would be partially buried and thus difficult to find).
We didn't know exactly which ordnance we would find in this scenario, but we had a week or two of ordnance identification training before we did this ordnance reduction class. That class went something like this: we'd get there in the morning, and the Gunny would have ten pieces of ordnance lying out on the table. We'd walk around the room, classifying every piece of ordnance on the tables, and identifying the fuze, which you need to know to know which types of safeties to associate with the round. Once everyone was done, we'd go over the ordnance, talk about the characteristics of each piece, and what characteristics would make us give it the classification it had.
After a few days of that, we moved into the classroom, where we'd be given a picture of a piece of ordnance and have to find it in a computer program. Then we had to find the physical ordnance in the computer program. Once we'd completed each of those steps, then we started trying to identify the ordnance by looking at it via a low-quality camera mounted on a robot. Crawl, walk, run--the Marine Corps' favorite teaching method, and fairly effective.
I've opened comments up so that you don't need an account anywhere to leave a comment, so I hope that will facilitate more questions and comments. If you can, though, please leave me some way to identify who you are--your full name certainly isn't necessary due to privacy concerns, but a first name or first name/last initial would help. I'm 100% more likely to answer a question from someone I know than from some random person on the web that I've never met before. Thanks!
We didn't know exactly which ordnance we would find in this scenario, but we had a week or two of ordnance identification training before we did this ordnance reduction class. That class went something like this: we'd get there in the morning, and the Gunny would have ten pieces of ordnance lying out on the table. We'd walk around the room, classifying every piece of ordnance on the tables, and identifying the fuze, which you need to know to know which types of safeties to associate with the round. Once everyone was done, we'd go over the ordnance, talk about the characteristics of each piece, and what characteristics would make us give it the classification it had.
After a few days of that, we moved into the classroom, where we'd be given a picture of a piece of ordnance and have to find it in a computer program. Then we had to find the physical ordnance in the computer program. Once we'd completed each of those steps, then we started trying to identify the ordnance by looking at it via a low-quality camera mounted on a robot. Crawl, walk, run--the Marine Corps' favorite teaching method, and fairly effective.
I've opened comments up so that you don't need an account anywhere to leave a comment, so I hope that will facilitate more questions and comments. If you can, though, please leave me some way to identify who you are--your full name certainly isn't necessary due to privacy concerns, but a first name or first name/last initial would help. I'm 100% more likely to answer a question from someone I know than from some random person on the web that I've never met before. Thanks!
10 January 2010
Boring is Good
Between Friday at 1600 and Saturday at 0800, I got to stand duty as Area Officer of the Day (AOOD) here at Courthouse Bay. The AOOD represents the Commanding Officer in his absence, ensures the security and good order and discipline of the school, and handles emergencies and problems that come up overnight. The AOOD has two assistants--a Duty NCO, and a Duty Driver. Both times that I have stood AOOD, my DNCO has been a Sergeant that has stood duty before. The Duty Driver is typically a Pvt or PFC that has not stood duty before. The Duty Driver has a van checked out and can drive anywhere on base (i.e. the base hospital) if the need should arise.
Officers that stand duty are expected to roll right into work the next day, so I prefer to stand duty on Friday or Saturday to give myself some time to recover. The post is a sleeping post, so we are not required to be awake the entire night, as long as rounds are completed. The "rounds" are two tours of the area before midnight and two tours after midnight, checking on specific buildings and locations. We also stop in the barracks to check on the Junior Marines standing duty there.
Bored yet? Yeah, me, too, but boring is good. It means that I'm not dealing with Marines that fall in the shower and split their heads open, Marines that get drunk and get into serious trouble in the civilian world, Marines that pull fire extinguishers out of the wall and spray them everywhere...you get the picture.
The fire extinguisher incident actually happened earlier this week, while someone else from my class was on duty. As punishment, the whole company ended up standing firewatch at the barracks, meaning that for the past few days, they've had six Marines walking up and down the walkways outside the barracks for two hours at a time. It's not exactly a fun post to stand, particularly because it's been in the high 20s/low 30s at night recently. At some point at TBS, I remember being told that the best time to talk to a Marine is when he's on post in the middle of the night, so during one of my rounds last night I stopped to talk to some of them.
They were understandably unhappy about standing firewatch, especially because they weren't even from the same class as the knucklehead that pulled the fire extinguishers out. They were in good spirits, though, mostly because I caught them right as they were finishing their shift, and getting ready to head back inside to their warm beds.
The most exciting thing I did all night long was take the bolt cutters over to the barracks and let a Marine cut the lock off his wall locker. Given the potential alternatives, I'll take it.
Officers that stand duty are expected to roll right into work the next day, so I prefer to stand duty on Friday or Saturday to give myself some time to recover. The post is a sleeping post, so we are not required to be awake the entire night, as long as rounds are completed. The "rounds" are two tours of the area before midnight and two tours after midnight, checking on specific buildings and locations. We also stop in the barracks to check on the Junior Marines standing duty there.
Bored yet? Yeah, me, too, but boring is good. It means that I'm not dealing with Marines that fall in the shower and split their heads open, Marines that get drunk and get into serious trouble in the civilian world, Marines that pull fire extinguishers out of the wall and spray them everywhere...you get the picture.
The fire extinguisher incident actually happened earlier this week, while someone else from my class was on duty. As punishment, the whole company ended up standing firewatch at the barracks, meaning that for the past few days, they've had six Marines walking up and down the walkways outside the barracks for two hours at a time. It's not exactly a fun post to stand, particularly because it's been in the high 20s/low 30s at night recently. At some point at TBS, I remember being told that the best time to talk to a Marine is when he's on post in the middle of the night, so during one of my rounds last night I stopped to talk to some of them.
They were understandably unhappy about standing firewatch, especially because they weren't even from the same class as the knucklehead that pulled the fire extinguishers out. They were in good spirits, though, mostly because I caught them right as they were finishing their shift, and getting ready to head back inside to their warm beds.
The most exciting thing I did all night long was take the bolt cutters over to the barracks and let a Marine cut the lock off his wall locker. Given the potential alternatives, I'll take it.
06 January 2010
Special Trust and Confidence
One of the privileges of being an officer is promoting Marines and recognizing Marines for their accomplishments. This morning, one of the Gunnery Sergeants that's an advisor for one of the enlisted classes asked if anyone in the class would volunteer to do a promotion ceremony today. I eagerly volunteered, and was looking forward to it, but it fell through. So I'll just have to tell you about the other promotion ceremonies I've done.
Only an officer of senior rank can promote a Marine. Authorization for the promotion comes from higher up; for the promotion ceremonies I've done, promoting Privates to Privates First Class, our Company Commander, a Major, is the promotion authority. My function is to represent him in the ceremony. If circumstances prevent a commissioned officer from performing the ceremony, I've been told that Staff NCOs can substitute. But since they have plenty of commissioned officers here at the schoolhouse, we get to do it.
The first promotion ceremony I did, I was quite nervous, because I didn't want to mess up the Marines' promotion. Fortunately, the Staff NCOs here are accustomed to new Lts doing the ceremonies, and the Gunny coached me through it. The Gunny formed the platoon and called them to attention. I marched to the front of the formation, and the Gunny saluted and reported the platoon to me: "Good afternoon, ma'am. BCE-X is formed and ready for promotion."
I saluted back and said something appropriate that I don't remember, probably something like "Very Well."
The Gunny took his post and read the promotion warrant. "To all who shall see these presents, greetings. Know ye, that reposing special trust and confidence in the fidelity and abilities of ..." [Here, the Gunny read the names of all the Marines to be promoted; there were seven in my first ceremony.] "...I do appoint this Marine a Private First Class in the United States Marine Corps, to rank as such from the first day of November, two thousand and nine.
"This appointee will therefore carefully and diligently discharge the duties of the grade to which appointed by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto pertaining. And I do strictly charge and require all personnel of lesser grade to render obedience to appropriate orders. And this appointee is to observe and follow such orders and directions as may given from time to time by superiors acting according to the rules and articles governing the discipline of the armed forces of the United States of America.
"Given under my hand at Marine Corps Engineer School, this first day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine. [CO's name], Major, USMC Commanding."
The seven Privates were standing at attention in a line in front of the rest of the platoon. The Gunny and I stepped over to the one on the far left. He was holding his chevrons in his hand (chevrons are the pins that indicate what rank an enlisted Marine holds). We each pinned one on, then the Gunny handed me the new Private First Class' certificate. I gave it to him, shook his hand, and congratulated him. We went down the line, pinning on each new PFC and giving him his certificate.
Once all seven had been pinned on, I stepped back in front of the platoon, and called the Gunny up:
"Gunnery Sergeant, front and center!"
The Gunny marched up in front of me.
"Gunnery Sergeant, take charge of the platoon, and carry out the plan of the day."
The Gunny saluted. "Aye, aye, ma'am."
I saluted back, then left-faced and marched off.
In a promotion ceremony for an NCO or an officer, the oath of office will be re-administered, and the CO and/or the Marine will address the Marines assembled. It's also common for someone important to pin the Marine's new rank on.
Rank is important to Marines. It awards both responsibility and privilege, is not given lightly, and can be revoked for poor performance or behavior. (This is not a joke. In my single year in the Marine Corps, I have met more than one Marine that has been reduced in rank.) It was my privilege to award these Marines their first promotion, and I look forward to the promotions I will get to do for my Marines in the years ahead.
Only an officer of senior rank can promote a Marine. Authorization for the promotion comes from higher up; for the promotion ceremonies I've done, promoting Privates to Privates First Class, our Company Commander, a Major, is the promotion authority. My function is to represent him in the ceremony. If circumstances prevent a commissioned officer from performing the ceremony, I've been told that Staff NCOs can substitute. But since they have plenty of commissioned officers here at the schoolhouse, we get to do it.
The first promotion ceremony I did, I was quite nervous, because I didn't want to mess up the Marines' promotion. Fortunately, the Staff NCOs here are accustomed to new Lts doing the ceremonies, and the Gunny coached me through it. The Gunny formed the platoon and called them to attention. I marched to the front of the formation, and the Gunny saluted and reported the platoon to me: "Good afternoon, ma'am. BCE-X is formed and ready for promotion."
I saluted back and said something appropriate that I don't remember, probably something like "Very Well."
The Gunny took his post and read the promotion warrant. "To all who shall see these presents, greetings. Know ye, that reposing special trust and confidence in the fidelity and abilities of ..." [Here, the Gunny read the names of all the Marines to be promoted; there were seven in my first ceremony.] "...I do appoint this Marine a Private First Class in the United States Marine Corps, to rank as such from the first day of November, two thousand and nine.
"This appointee will therefore carefully and diligently discharge the duties of the grade to which appointed by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto pertaining. And I do strictly charge and require all personnel of lesser grade to render obedience to appropriate orders. And this appointee is to observe and follow such orders and directions as may given from time to time by superiors acting according to the rules and articles governing the discipline of the armed forces of the United States of America.
"Given under my hand at Marine Corps Engineer School, this first day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine. [CO's name], Major, USMC Commanding."
The seven Privates were standing at attention in a line in front of the rest of the platoon. The Gunny and I stepped over to the one on the far left. He was holding his chevrons in his hand (chevrons are the pins that indicate what rank an enlisted Marine holds). We each pinned one on, then the Gunny handed me the new Private First Class' certificate. I gave it to him, shook his hand, and congratulated him. We went down the line, pinning on each new PFC and giving him his certificate.
Once all seven had been pinned on, I stepped back in front of the platoon, and called the Gunny up:
"Gunnery Sergeant, front and center!"
The Gunny marched up in front of me.
"Gunnery Sergeant, take charge of the platoon, and carry out the plan of the day."
The Gunny saluted. "Aye, aye, ma'am."
I saluted back, then left-faced and marched off.
In a promotion ceremony for an NCO or an officer, the oath of office will be re-administered, and the CO and/or the Marine will address the Marines assembled. It's also common for someone important to pin the Marine's new rank on.
Rank is important to Marines. It awards both responsibility and privilege, is not given lightly, and can be revoked for poor performance or behavior. (This is not a joke. In my single year in the Marine Corps, I have met more than one Marine that has been reduced in rank.) It was my privilege to award these Marines their first promotion, and I look forward to the promotions I will get to do for my Marines in the years ahead.
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