Body Armor Day

Yesterday was the equipment issue day, as mentioned earlier.  They gave us a ton of new stuff, including body armor and the new ACH (the helmet), which is a big improvement over the old helmet.  Like the new ACU uniform, the ACH relies on velcro instead of awkward straps and clips. 

A photo of myself wearing the new helmet and body armor is below.  The photo doesn’t convey how heavy this stuff is.  There is a large ceramic plate in the front and back, said to stop 7.62mm bullets.

Brian in ACH and Body Armor

Anyway, today we had several training sessions.  They taught us about the radio system, medical evacuations, and some other things.  One really cool thing was the Humvee evacuation training (HEAT, I forget what that stands for exactly).  They have a machine which includes a full passenger compartment of a Humvee, and then it rotates the thing at any angle, including fully upside down.  They make you escape while it is upside down.  It was great training, because several people have died in Humvee rollovers.

So it’s getting late now, and I plan to be in bed by 9.  Up by 5AM.  That’s the routine here.  Good night…