Ive been in Ft.Bliss Texas since the 22nd of February. We were scheduled to leave Ft.McCoy in Wisconsin around noon on the 21st but bad weather pushed us back until 2 AM on the 22nd. We flew in on a 747to the base down here. We were issued some new body armour and fire retardent uniforms for use Overseas, so don't worry anybody I am safe now! just kidding.

They have the troop staying in 14 man tents with twin size beds. Wehave A/C and Heat so its not too bad really. I'm staying in the command tent so there is really only 8 of us in the tent. Being close to the commander has its perks!

The training here has been up and down. I have learned a lot of really really cool useful stuff, but i have also had to put up with a decent amount of pointless training.

Some of the good stuff:

Unarmed self defense- Learned another unarmed skill set. How to defend against knife attacks, pressure points, wrist and arm breaks, and baton fighting. It was a mixture of akido and brawling. Very good stuff.

Forced extraction- Learned how to remove a person from a room without injuring them. We pretty much get 5 guys in riot gear stack up, charge into a room, slam a guy down, cuff him and drag him out. Its a good time.

Riot control procedures- Imagine 400 motivated troopers in riot gear with shields and shotguns coming at you in formation. Not good right?It was fun. They put on a training riot for us, about 50 or so people acting as rioters and we got to do our thing.

Some bad training:

OC Spray: Imagine military pepper spray. Its like mace but 20x more painful. We had to get sprayed with a stream into our eyes with it and then run a gauntlet of tasks. Without a doubt it was the most unimaginable pain i have ever been through. My skin felt like it had3rd degree burns on it and someone was pealing away my skin with sandpaper. My eyes swelled shut for about an hour and just burned like hot coals on my retinas. The pain lasted for about 2 days. I never want to be hit with it again, end of story.

The Taser: I was hooked up to a taser and shocked. I cant complain too much because i volunteered for it. It was a terrible decision on my part.

Death by Power Point- Any training we do is preceded by power points.5 Hours of power points. Enough said.



But besides all that I am in good spirits and good health. I'm anxious to get overseas and accomplish my mission. After I'm finished with Iraq I will get Afghan taken care of and come home.