Jack 'Em Up!

Defense Force Protection: We spent this day with the Security Forces (the people you see when you want to get on base). We learned procedures for when unknown people approach an entrance. If they don't know the password, they are about to have a really bad day.

STORY: The female Tech Sergeant instructing

us told a story about a time a well endowed female Major wanted to come on base. They had to search her. Our Tech Sergeant quickly checked her for concealed weapons & avoided her chest area because it made her uncomfortable. When she finished checking she turned her back to the Major. The Major pulled out a pair of sharp scissors from her chest and held them to the Sergeant's throat. "You just cost the lives of your entire team." Our sergeant learned a very important lesson that day. It doesn't matter why or how inconvenient it is for the person getting searched, "they shouldn't have been there, and now they are going to have a really bad day."

The Security Forces personnel are just one group of the military that put their lives on the line every day.

Our Sergeant liked to say "now you get to jack 'em up!" (Security Forces people are crazy like that- don't mess with them). Once a person fails the screening process we forcefully tell them to get down on the ground. Your buddy points the gun at the person, while you advance to bind him.

Once they are bound you look for concealed weapons, etc... You do this by taking a small piece of their clothes, grab it, and twist. You do this over the whole body front & back. There is even a clever way to check the pockets without "violating" them.

Overall this was a fun day, later we searched vehicles for weapons/bombs, and set up a defensive position using sandbags. The sandbags aren't as much protection as they look, but it's better than nothing.

Guns + Sand = A Big Mess!

Small Unit Tactics: This is why you should join the military, you get to play in the sand! Why do we "low crawl" you ask. The reason is if you are being fired upon, you still need to advance on the enemy. All of the wires and bars you see represent bullets flying over you. If you touch a wire than you are crawling too high and got hit by a bullet.

This image shows you just how low those wires really are. While you are doing this, you want to make sure your muzzle doesn't touch the sand- that's bad.

Once we were done practicing tactics and crawling around on the ground, we had the privilege of cleaning our M4's. You would be surprised how easy it is to take apart a rifle. However, all that sand you saw up above is now in our rifles! Which means we have to clean it all out- attention to detail, can't leave any specks.

There is no exact science once you have broken down the rifle. You just use cloth, gauze, or snakes to clean the rifle. A couple of the M4's were pretty bad and took about an hour to clean. I was lucky, mine barely had any sand! Once your done you put her back together, slap a little bit of oil on and lube up the M4, then your done!

Post Tear Gas

Chemical/MOPP procedures: I am pretty happy with myself because I stayed in for 3 breaths, a lot of people leave after 1 good one. Usually what kicks you out of the "chamber" is the choking. It doesn't feel so good, this is Kevin recovering from the gas in his lungs. Mmmm, good stuff! I did the same thing.

Once you leave the gas you just want to close your eyes, and you really can't see for about 5 minutes, I looked the same as John.

Reaction of different people after the gas

Ever wondered what it would be like to be tear gassed. Well it may not be as bad as you were hoping for. Here is the reaction of 5 of our flight members that went through it a second time, no masks, and determined to show how manly they were, by staying in as long as possible.