29 Palms

After two and a half years of training and waiting, I am finally a Platoon Commander. Yesterday I spent 13 hours traveling, starting in Eugene and ending when we pulled into Camp Wilson at 29 Palms. Unfortunately, I can't jump into training right away because I don't have the proper briefs for the training areas here. I can't get the proper briefs right now because it's Saturday, but I'll get them Monday morning.

Just a quick description of the camp. Mojave Viper, which is the name for the whole training package that the Battalion is going through, is run out of a permanant camp that's based on K-spans. These look like drainage pipes turned upside-down on concrete pads, maybe twelve feet high and twenty yards long. Last night it was colder inside than it was outside because the concrete sucks all the heat out of the air. The women in my Battalion have one K-span for our barracks, and we're sleeping in sleeping bags on cots. The mess hall and heads are standing buildings, and they've thoughtfully provided other ammenities such as laundry facilities, a PX (post exchange, or convenience store), and an E-club that has (extremely slow) internet access, from which I am posting this.

These living conditions aren't that bad. For our field exercises, we'll be sleeping on foam mats (if we sleep at all), have MREs for chow, and the great outdoors for heads. Or maybe there will be blue rooms provided, but certainly no showers. We'll be here for another week, and then we'll head back to Camp Pendleton, where we'll be in barracks very similar to the ones I lived in at Engineer School. I'm still trying to figure out my routine and how to handle all my stuff. I forgot both my shower shoes and my comb when I went to shower this morning--you can bet I won't forget tomorrow!

Our unit has been put together from multiple separate units. Our company has two platoons from the Eugene unit and a bridge platoon from a unit out in Camp Lejeune. "Bridge platoon" simply means that the unit specializes in bridge construction--they have extra training specific to bridges, and some additional equipment. [Side note to show you how small the Marine Corps is. I met the platoon commander for bridge platoon way back in Dec '07, the day I went through my medical screening to determine if I could even go to OCS. Two years later, we're headed to Afghanistan together.] Our company is attached to a battalion from Okinawa, Japan. And I am by far not the only 2ndLt around here; there are a few other 2ndLts and a few 1stLts as well.

My first field exercise will start Monday evening and last two days. It's a convoy with a live fire range at the end, I'll be shadowing my Platoon Sergeant (PltSgt), who's been the platoon commander for my platoon while I've been gone, and the bridge platoon commander. It sounds pretty intense, so I'm glad I'll have a chance to observe before I'm expected to actually execute. I have been trained on everything we're doing, but I've never actually been the one calling the shots. In all of the field exercises I was on at TBS, someone else was always in charge of the whole platoon. I was occasionally in charge of my squad or my fire team, but it's a very different experience when you're the one in charge of the platoon.

My platoon has been getting some good training while I've been waiting. Yesterday they returned from a 10-day field exercise, so they've been doing a lot of sleeping and weapons maintenance since then. Within that 10-day exercise, which was for the entire company, my platoon participated in a single-day exercise. Each exercise is monitored and graded by permanent personnel, and on the platoon-specific exercise they scored a 98/100, which is phenomenal. I'm very proud of them and have a high degree of confidence in my PltSgt and other NCOs.

I'm very excited to finally be here! I'm catching some flack from the other officers and NCOs for being away for so long, but whatever. It's time to get to work.