Training

Day 793, 08:32 • Published in USA USA • by Heather Fuchs


This week we meet the men of Bravo Company 4th Platoon as they train in resistance war maneuvers.

The convoy driven by members of the TD delivered Bravo 4 to a small semi-abandoned village about 100 miles east of WAIT!! I’m not Geraldo Rivera, I’m not telling you exactly where they are, just know they are in Chhattisgarth, (but don’t tell anyone I told you that.) They were there to work on counter insurgency maneuvers for preparations against resistance wars.

Chhattisgarh was a good place for it, it had large rural areas of limited population, and there was also the threat of Maoist insurgency in the area that they could deal with. They dismounted their Bradley’s and gathered around Lt. Dave Covnant, the PCO, and faced the village of about 50 buildings.

“Simple enough job today fellas, sweep and clear the village” He said with a wave of his arm over the town. “Search each building top to bottom. Give the door a good knock, if you get no answer kick the door in and look around. Three squads of three, one guy on the door, one guy backing him up and one guy on the rear of building. I’ll be behind you as you move, directing traffic.”

He then split the platoon up into the three squads. He assigned the newest member, Pvt. Spranker less than a week on board, to his XO Sgt. Dctatt. Dctatt would take care of him, he was a great XO and Dave Covnant couldn’t ask for more out of an XO. Pvt. Old Gregg and Pvt. w_b_yeats also took the lead of a squad of three. w_b_yeats was the resident badass of the platoon; he was 15+ strength and a Field Marshall. Let me put it these way, if you take a .50 caliber machine gun and strap an RPG to it you get a w_b_yeats, he’s just badass like that.

They split up into “East, West and Center” and began to move north though the village. The plan was simple, yet dangerous, kind of like a Lawn Dart. Check every building for insurgents and/or weapons. That was the simple part, the dangerous part was not knowing who or what is in each building. In a situation like this it was easy enough to walk up to house and raise you hand to knock and be dead before your knuckles touch the door. But hey, when you motto is “With none to fear” like Bravo 4’s is, then the job gets a little simpler.

Pvt. Ryan Rusher was with yeats on the west side squad. He had recently gotten a SS2 medal and had hoped to put his strength to use today, but knew this would not be much more than training. He was assigned to the rear of the buildings while yeats did the knocking while Pvt. Zack Keith, who was still rather wet behind the ears, backed up yeats. w_b_yeats worried that the FNG behind him would get nervous and shoot him instead of any unsavory character that opened the door, but once they had moved through half a dozen buildings he had calmed down.

Old Gregg pushed Pvt. Tanner Jennings and Pvt. Ica23 quickly though the paces. He was literally getting a kick out of kicking in the doors to unoccupied buildings. Once inside he directed ica23 through a thorough search of each building while Tanner Jennings stood watch outside, the squad was moving as smooth and calm as ice up the East side of the village.

Sgt. Dctatt took a slower pace with his squad. Spranker was new and nervous and sweaty. It was warm in India today. He had already nearly shot two goats and a dog within the span of time it took them to clear 3 buildings. Pvt. Lvl Six Ftw was a solid enough trooper and he placed him on the back door duties, he took orders well but needed some guidance here and there, like “Stop petting the goats and cover the back door, please”

Lt. Dave Covnant watched his platoon move with a smile; they were sharp and well trained. He had been the Co for just over a month and the previous Co had done a great job with them. Only recently had he started to feel like it was “His” platoon. The training exercise was good for them, the newer guys needed the work and the veterans were able to blow off some steam breaking doors down. Six hours after they started they were done. They had confiscated several small arms, some ammo an old grenade and a goat; Dave Covnant made them leave the goat, much to Lvl Six FTW’s dismay.

The sun was setting as they road home to (can’t tell you, classified you know) another job well done by the “War Dogs” of Bravo 4 eUSMI. They relaxed and their minds wandered to pie(yes pie because pie won), or when the next REAL deployment would be or thoughts of goats. Lt. Dave Covnant was proud of the way his new guys had handled themselves and was eager, as were they, for some action


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Respectfully submitted
Hampton H. Hampton
Mobile Infantry Press Officer

Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us. - Earl Nightingale