Day 48: Launching Grenades!

When we first arrived at Fort Riley, we were issued grenade pouches to wear on our body armor. Naturally, we wondered when we would get the grenades to put inside the pouches. We asked and were told that we never were going to be issued grenades. So the grenade pouches became our camera and cell phone carriers.


Today, however, we finally were able to lay our hands on some grenades. We went out to the range to fire the Mk-19 Grenade launcher. This weapon can shoot at a rate up to 400 rounds per minute and can shoot up to a mile away. It is a pretty impressive weapon. The video below shows me in the turret of the Humvee taking my turn to shoot.

Day 47: Attitude Adjustment

President James E. Faust said, "It's not so much what happens to us but how we deal with what happens to us."Life has its ups and downs. It has its twists and turns. It is up to us to determine how we will react to the situations or challenges that face us. We can choose to make the best of a situation and try to learn from it, or we can fall into self-pity and despair. A positive attitude can help us cope with anything that life might throw at us.

Over the last few days I have thought a lot about my attitude. There have been a few instances where maybe I haven't had the best attitude in the world or have let some complaining words escape my mouth. Ultimately, I realize later in the day that things always work out and that if I simply would have tried to make the best of something, I probably would have enjoyed it from the start. It is funny how we sometimes make life harder than it really needs to be.

I am grateful for a good run and a talk with my wife to help me get my attitude back in check.

Sorry for the philosophical post. Tomorrow we are going to shoot a grenade launcher so I should be able to give you something a little more exciting to look at.

Day 46: The Range

When I was a kid, I remember going to my friend Lynn's house to shoot pellet guns. Now, as most of you know, I have never been much of a weapons person. Sure I have a pretty mean shot with a rubber band gun, but outside of that my experience with weapons is pretty limited. Lynn on the other hand was a true hunter who could shoot with the best of them.

On one particular day I went over to Lynn's house to shoot with him. I remember standing under a small fruit tree with a little bird in it. I was probably only 10 feet away. I aimed, I shot. BOOM! I waited for the bird to fall. I waited some more...and then the bird flew away. Lynn then took the pellet gun, aimed at a bird clear across the field, shot and watched it drop. My hopes of being a world renowned gun slinger were dashed in a moment.

Yesterday was my chance to redeem myself. It was range day. We had qualifications with the 2 weapons I mentioned yesterday--the M9 (pistol) and the M4 (rifle). First, we went to the M9 range. We were given 40 rounds (bullets). There were little green men that would randomly pop-up from the ground which you would shoot. Without any kind of practice they told us to go out and shoot them. Now, I actually had shot this weapon before, so I felt a little confident in my abilities. I went out to the range, loaded my weapon, and 40 loud bangs later, I had defeated my enemy and conquered the course.

Next came the rifle range. This was quite a bit more complicated. First we had to go to a "zeroing" range. This is basically where you get into a foxhole and shoot for hours at a time, until your sights are adjusted into an accurate position. I don't want to brag, but I was one of the first guys done...beginners luck maybe? I then went up to the qualification range. At this range you had to shoot at 30 targets at different distances. There are the gimme 50 meter targets and the I can barely see you because it is 3 football fields away, 300 meter targets. In between are various other targets. Again, the targets popped up and my job was to make them fall back down by hitting them. We shot from 3 different positions...standing in a foxhole, lying on our stomachs, and kneeling. In the mid-afternoon heat, we went out in full body armor and shot. Amazingly, I qualified on my first try.

Some of the guys waiting to shoot

Once everyone qualified (which took all day because people had to keep shooting until they were successful) we moved on to night shooting. This was pretty cool. We put on our night vision goggles, turned on a laser sight that is mounted to our weapon, and shot the same range in total darkness. With all the lasers turned on it was kind of like a laser show with a lot of loud sound effects. About 2AM this morning we all qualified and headed home.

It was a long, hot, uncomfortable day, but the shooting itself was pretty fun. I successfully qualified on all of my first attempts. So I am thinking of turning down my doctor job and becoming a sniper while I am in Afghanistan. What do you think? Well, okay, maybe I'll keep my day job and leave the shooting for someone else. But hey, those little birdies at Lynn's house better watch out now or they won't know what hit them.

A nice sunset at the end of the day

Day 44: Shaving Cream?

We are busily preparing to go to the rifle range tomorrow to qualify for the weapons we have been issued and will be using while in Afghanistan. We have 2 main weapons that we have been issued--an M9 and M4. The pictures below show examples of what they look like.

The M4

The M9

In preparation for the qualification, we went today to a computerized simulation range. Basically, it was like playing a giant video game. We shot fake rounds onto a large screen and the computer told us if we hit the target or not. It was fun but I definately need some more practice. Tomorrow I will tell you a little more about my previous shooting experiences and my lack of skill with a weapon.

One thing that makes this weapon qualification more difficult than any I have done before, is that we have to wear our full body armor while we shoot. We shoot from several positions including the prone position (on our bellies). It is hard enough to turn your head or even move with this stuff on, let alone position yourself to accurately shoot at moving targets. One thing that complicated things even more today was that our eye protection that we are required to wear fogs up. Today it fogged while we were in a comfortable, air conditioned room. It will only be worse tomorrow while we are shooting in 100 degree weather at the range. So what is the solution for fogged glasses? Would you believe shaving cream. That's right. Apparently, this works to keep your mirror from fogging up when you shower and similarly stops your glasses from fogging up. So I spent a few minutes wiping down my glasses with shaving cream and then buffing it off. Will it work? Probably not. Of course, having my glasses fog up will provide me a good excuse for why I didn't qualify. So maybe we will hope the shaving cream doesn't work after all.

Day 43: Blue Light Special

The only thing I have enjoyed about being deployed is that I do not have to go shopping. As Sue will attest, shopping is not my favorite activity. She claims I get grumpy when we go shopping (I know, I don't believe her either). However, I will admit that I can think of a lot of things I would rather do than hit the mall on a Friday evening. Today we went shopping. However we weren't shopping for diapers or baby wipes. We were picking up Humvee's and machine guns--a little more exciting than my usual shopping trip. As you will see below, my shopping cart is filled with numerous large weapons that we will be using during the remainder of our training. Over the remaining four weeks of training, we will start doing more "GI Joe" stuff such as riding around in convoys, shooting all kinds of weapons, learning to clear buildings and houses, etc. It definately will be things that I am not very familiar with. It should be interesting.

I love shopping!

These will be my team's 3 vehicles over the next 4 weeks. They are all Humvees of different varieties (I know the picture makes them look similar but they are quite different). I will principally be driving in the middle vehicle.

Our first real convoy.

Day 42: 1041 Miles

1041 miles. This is the distance between my family and me. It took just two short hours to fly here this morning. But now, sitting in my barracks, it seems like a world away. It was nice to go home for the weekend but the time passed too quickly. Times like today make the reality of "452 days" really sink in. I think of the soccer games, school performances, movie nights, and goodnight kisses that will be missed. It is hard at times. I feel for my wife who bears most of the true stress and burden while I am away. I love her for her positive attitude and support. I hurt when she feels lonely or afraid. I miss my kids--their naughtiness, their pure love, their simple innocence. I'm grateful for my mom, who tries her best not to let me see her cry but whose worry about her "little boy" makes it impossible to hide. How blessed I am to have family and friends who love and support Sue and me.

At times, when I feel sorry for myself, I think of others who have suffered or made sacrifices far greater than my own. Recently, I have been reading the Doctrine and Covenants and learning more about the prophet Joseph Smith. What an example of faith and endurance despite incredible obstacles and challenges in his life. After being dragged from the arms of his wife and children, and imprisoned in Liberty Jail the Lord offered him this comfort: "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high" (D&C 121:7-8). Ultimately, he sacrificed all, even his life, for the cause in which he believed.


The Plan is simple. We are here to learn and gain experience. Our goal is to become as our loving Heavenly Father. There are supposed to be trials along the way. This is how we grow. I am grateful for my Father who knows that although hard, sometimes we need 1041 miles to help us become as He is.

Day 40: Family on the Fourth

Food...fireworks...popsicles...basketball...camping in the backyard...swimming...messy kids. It made for a perfect day of fun with the family. Happy 4th of July!

Day 39: Cheesecake and Sparkling Apple Cider

Traveling can be fun. However, often the getting where you are going can be a slow and painful process. There are always lines to wait in and delays at the airport. Once you get onboard the plane, there are always “interesting” neighbors who either ignore you, talk too much, or as in my case today, cough on you during the course of the whole 3 hour flight. The only thing that makes it worth it is the reward at the end. For me it was the beautiful wife and 4 little munchkins that picked me up from the airport. Now I have mentioned more than once during this blog how much I love and miss my family. But since it is my blog, I will say it again. They are awesome and I am so grateful to be blessed with such an amazing family. I love you guys!

Due to the 100 degree weather, once I got home we decided to fill our day with indoor activities. The older girls (and Sue I think, although she might not openly admit to it), had really been wanting to go to East High school where High School Musical was filmed. So we went. It was so amazing to walk down the halls and step foot in the gym where Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez had once walked. I could hardly stand the excitement. It was the fulfillment of many hopes and...okay, enough of the sarcasm. Actually, it really wasn’t all that exciting and the school was pretty dirty. However, I think the kids enjoyed it and if nothing else, we can finally check that one off the to do list.

After a quick lunch, we went down to the Gateway for a mid-day movie. We went and saw the new Pixar movie, Wall-E. The kids seemed to enjoy it as evidenced by the fact that all of them, the little guy included, stayed in their seats and watched the whole thing. There were some slow parts (robots don’t talk all that much) but overall it was fun and the air conditioning felt great.

Finally, in the evening, after dropping the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, Sue and I went with her family to the Mandarin for dinner. It was really nice to see everyone and the food as always was great. Thanks to all of you who came.

As a final surprise, I had arranged to leave the kids at my parents overnight so that I could take Sue on an overnight getaway. We spent the night at the Anniversary Inn. It was nice to have some time alone. The Inn itself was a little cheesy (it has different themed rooms such as the gondola room that we were in) and seemed a little dated. However, the complimentary cheesecake and sparkling cider were delicious. We watched some movies and caught up on some sleep. Actually, Sue is still asleep as I write this post. I may have to pry her from the bed before check-out time. Oh well, she deserves at least one night without someone waking her up. There will probably be plenty of long nights for her before I finally make it home. So I will just let her sleep. Sweet dreams honey.

Sue relaxing on the gondola

Breakfast...another one of the highlights

Day 38: Raindrops Are Fallin' On My Head

Drip...drip...drip...drip.

These are the sounds that surround me as I am sitting in my hotel waiting for my flight home in the morning. That's right...it is raining and my roof leaks. I am staying at the world renowned Days Inn Airport of Kansas City. Rather than take an early morning shuttle home like I did last month, I was able to arrange for transportation into KC and a stay overnight at a hotel--all for less than the cost of the shuttle to and from the base. It seemed like a great plan. I researched my hotel options. Obviously staying at the Hyatt or Marriott would ruin the financial advantages of my plan. I had to stay at a more "modest" location. So after a little research I decided that the Days Inn was probably going to be a little nicer than the Econo-Lodge. I arrived this afternoon and found perhaps one of the worst hotels I've stayed in my whole life. Now I have stayed in some cheapies before. I remember well the paper-thin walls of the Holiday Motel in West Yellowstone (don't let the name fool you, it was nothing resembling a Holiday Inn). There also were many "hurry and barricade the door and don't turn on the lights or you'll see the rat running across the room" hotels that Sue and I stayed in during our journeys across the country over the past several years. But this one may top them all. To make a long story short, I ended up changing from my original room to a new one. It definitely was a trade up and so I feel like I really can't complain about a little water dripping from the ceiling. At least it is dripping on the floor and not my bed.

Oh well, at least I will be home in the morning. A little leak and a less than desirable hotel is worth the price of getting to spend the next 3 days with my family.


By the way, I did look up on the internet the worst hotels in the United States. A Days Inn in Pennsylvania popped up. So on your next vacation beware of the Days Inn.

Day 37: Paintball Commandos

When I was down at BYU, some of my roommates and our apartment complex neighbors got into laser tag. A bunch of grown men would go down once a week and run around shooting at each other. Looking back it is funny how seriously we would take it. I remember sitting around with some of the other guys strategizing and planning our attacks. Ultimately, all of our planning was for naught as we were consistently beaten by a bunch of 12 year old kids every week. It's funny how easily guys are entertained--I guess we never really grow up.

Today reminded me of the college days some, although it was paintballs we were shooting instead of a laser gun. Over the last several days we have been taking part in an advanced trauma course. The purpose of the course is to become more proficient in advanced life saving skills that would be used in the field rather than in the hospital setting. This morning we were able to get our hands dirty so to speak. We each had a simulated patient who had both legs amputated, a gunshot wound to the chest, and any other injury they could think to throw at us. In full body armor, we had to tie on turniquots, dress wounds, put in breathing tubes, etc., while the whole time being distracted by smoke and "gunshots" all around us. It was a pretty good time.


Then this afternoon we topped it all off by going out and playing paintball. The scenario was as follows: There are 2 casualties in a downed helicopter. The enemy surrounds you. You must recover, treat, and transport your patients while still fighting off the enemy. The pictures below show you how things went down.

Somehow, we rescued the casualties and we all made it back alive. In reality we probably all would have died--we make pretty good medical personnel but lousy soldiers. Oh well, hopefully paintballs will be the most dangerous weapon I will face over the next year.