Tag: EFMB

The final day of the EFMB we woke up, got ready, and were out in formation at 4:30 am.  They bussed us over to the starting location where they checked our gear to make sure we had all the items we were supposed to.

At 6am they lined us up and we were off.  At the beginning of the week we started out with 104 candidates, by the last day we were at 29-31.  The course was mostly up hill one way, and seemed to be uphill going back also.  There was a small hill in the first mile, then some straight-away over the next mile.  the 2-6 miles consisted of one long 2-3% grade hill for 2 miles, then some smaller "roller coaster" hills towards the end.  Unfortunately coming back you hit everything in reverse order, so we had the "roller coaster" hills.  As I began the long hill down, I was thinking I was going to be able to run and catch up since I was behind the pace I wanted to be.  Unfortunatley as I tried to run I would cramp, and I was unable to do more than a quick shuffle.  I also realized that all my preventative measures to protect my feet from blisters, only postponed the inevitable.

At the 11 mile mark I was still behind where I needed to be, and as I came up and over that last little hill to the gravel straight away you could see all the people cheering us on.  The gravel road was about 1/4 mile long, and as I came onto it, I noticed my boss Colonel Scott.  He had driven up to support me, and realized how little time I had left to cross the line and came out to get me in on time.  He encouraged me and ran along side me the last 1/4 mile even though I really wanted to walk.

I crossed the finish line around 2:59.40 (time limit was 3:00.00).  Didn't have a lot of time to spare - but it was done, and I got it.  There was a lot of celebration that occurred.  They quickly busssed us over to the auditorium for the presentation of the badges.  while sitting there I began to feel pretty ill.  I got out of there (fortunately I was surrounded by medics).  The paramedics were called, and to make a long story short I ended up in a hospital in Hershey, Pa.  2 IV's later I was good as new.  I would definately do it all over again!!

SGT Thomas and I with his Commander CPT Smith

SSG Keith one of the main NCOs that "trained us up"

SFC Richey the other NCO that "Trained us up"

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  More to follow.

Yes - the black thing above "US Army"

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I nailed the medical lane and it felt great!  A lot of studying and a lot of help.  As I was reading my last post I realized I left out SGT Thomas from Ft. Belvoir.  He has been a great help ever since we began our preliminary training in March.  I owe him a debt of gratitude also.

We lost 4 more of our platoon today in this lane.  When I walked up, one of the guys just held up his hands.  You could see the simulated blood all over his hands – he had forgotten to put on his gloves.  That is the one thing that gives you almost an automatic failure.  Even though all the tasks were done correctly, without gloves you fail each thing.  So we are down to 9.

With today behind us, the only thing left is the ruck march tomorrow.  We will leave at 6 am.  We have been told the course is 6 miles up a hill, and 6 miles back down.  Doesn’t sound like fun, but I’ll get it done!

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Today was the NBC lane. We had 5 of our people in our platoon get eliminated today. It is hard to see the people you have been training with get whittled down little by little. I got dinged on a couple of items, and was able to appeal them and get some of them changed which was good.

Tomorrow is the hardest lane, and the one I need to hit the hardest tonight. It is our medical lane. I have a small cushion of tasks that I can miss and still have a “go”, so it is a little comforting knowing that. I still need to get the other things right. If that is a go, then I will be able to help a couple of our guys study for the written re-test, and then we will have the march the next day. The finish line is in view.

I have been cramming and cramming tonight with some of the guys. It is amazing the way people are pulling together to help each other out. Some guys would get bitter and shut off – but most are opening up to help their buddies succeed. For me Corporal Schwab from the Honor Guard (3rd ID Regiment) at Ft. Meyer has been a huge help. If I pass I will owe most of it to him!

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

10th day of EFMB. The weather has changed drastically. It had been in the mid to upper 80’s for the last week and a half. Today it didn’t get much past the mid 60’s and it was drizzling much of the day.

Today’s lane was the communications/evacuation lane that had about 10 things being graded. Out of our 17 left in our platoon, all of us passed the lane – although one had to appeal a grade and was successful. Many of the platoon got all tasks correct. A few got dinged on 1 or 2 events, and so they have less margin for error in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow will be our NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) lane. It will be a little harder than the lane we had today, but the toughest lane will still be the medical lane on Thursday.

For those Soldiers that have been eliminated, they are having them help out with assisting on the lanes, or other jobs around the barracks.

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I don’t even remember what day it is – does that tell you something? We got in from land navigation at 2 am, and I will be functioning off of 3 hours of sleep today. Fortunately it is one of the lanes I have down pretty good.

Yesterday on land navigation was tough for our platoon. We started out with 30 individuals, after the daytime portion 11 had been eliminated. 3 appealed and were successful and were able to stay in. We started night land navigation with 22. 5 were eliminated. 2 made appeals, and we don’t know how that will go. At this point our platoon has been cut in half to 17.

The points were still tough; the difference was the familiarity with the course at this point. I had gotten done with my daytime points after about an hour. During that time I was walking areas that I wasn’t familiar with to find points and increase my knowledge with the terrain. Even after I found my points I continued walking new areas for another 45 minutes.

At night I had one point I had already had a different night, and the other 2 intermediate points I had found earlier in the day.

In another hour we will take off for our next lane – evac and radio.

One of the platoon members SPC Naboa presenting me with a special gift – denture adhesive. Not sure if that was because I’m a dentist or because of my age. At 35 I am one of the oldest competitors. I am also the only major here. There are a few captains and lieutenants. The only person that outranks me is the test board chairman. That doesn’t really mean anything; I just thought there would be more officers here.

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

“Getting smoked” is a term that anyone that has been enlisted in the Army is familiar with. Although it has been quite awhile since I was enlisted, this brought back memories of many times I was “smoked”. Getting smoked is a physical way to help “send a message” and make sure someone remembers the message or instructions given next time.

These were some guys from our platoon. They said it was OK to post this.

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 down 5 more to go. Sunday morning we took our written test. It was 60 questions and you had to get 45 correct to pass. Overall pass rate was around 75% for all the Soldiers. Our platoon had 22/30 pass. Fortunately they will have a second chance Thursday night to retake the test if they aren’t eliminated prior to that.

Tonight we will have a 2 hour study hall to get ready for our tasks that we will do on Tuesday. We are studying for those tonight, because when we are out at land navigation we will not return until 2-3 am.

Tomorrow we go out and do the day and night land navigation. If you don’t get either one – you are out and done with the competition. Now that I have been out, and more familiar with the course, I am hoping for a much better out come then last time. I also believe that instead of trying to hike through miles of thorns and bushes, I will utilize the roads around the area more to find the points. This will speed up the overall time it takes to find the points, and if I have a problem with any of the points I can use the extra time to go back to the “trail blazing or dead reckoning” method.

There is one interesting thing I learned from CPT Leon the OIC yesterday. The medical command for the northeast that is hosting this event spent $75,000 to do this excellent training. Money well spent!!

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

T – 1 day to go. Today we had time to run errands, take care of laundry, and study. In the afternoon they had a “jeopardy-type” competition between us and another platoon to help us review for the test tomorrow. 

Dinner was a BBQ in honor of the first week being done. Choices for dinner were steak or BBQ chicken, and bratwurst, hamburgers, or hot dogs along with all the other fixings. I definitely ate more than I should have.

At night we studied for our test some more with some of the other guys. It will be early to bed tonight – we are the first group up for the test tomorrow. That will be good because it will give us more time afterward to study for the other days.

Chief Flanders with the Officer in Charge of the EFMB competition CPT Leon. Chief Flanders is one of the guys I have been training up with from Ft. Belvoir. He is the warrant officer over medical maintenance.

Study group the night before the test.

Corporal Schwab from the 3rd ID Honor Guard at Ft. Meyers. He’s been a great help getting us ready for the competition.

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Not much to report today. We are in the stages now where we have 2 days of quick rotations through all the points. At this point we are at the point where we need to just focus on the small stuff we are missing. Today we rotated through all the lanes, plus we had a class on land navigation. Tonight we will have study hall again – not too much longer now.

The way this competition works is you have all the tasks. The written test is first, if you fail you have a 2nd chance to pass (this is a new thing as of last year – before you only had one shot), 1 chance on land navigation, and then all the medical and soldier tasks in the other 3 lanes. If you fail land navigation, or more than 1 or 2 things in either of the other categories – you are done. You don’t get to try anymore, and you get to wait until next time. Definitely want to get this on your first try.

Wish me luck!

 Email

 Print

 Comments

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•