3-1 Cavalry Exercise

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Neecee’s brother Thomas has graduated from SCSU and is now in the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant. He’ll be eventually  shipping off to Iraq (better there than Afghanistan, I say) and his unit held an exercise to demonstrate to friends and family what they would be doing during their normal assignments. Thomas helps operate a Bradley fighting vehicle, which is basically a tank with a slightly smaller main gun.

Recently, Thomas got what’s known as a “Bradley Bite”, where he pinched his thumb where the rear door closes. The Bradleys pictured above are similar, but this Bradley has a wide, rectangular door that operates with hydraulics and has zero give. I’m actually surprised he did not lose his thumb instead of just horribly maiming it. Lucky Thomas.

The last time I had been to any exercise on Fort Benning was when I went out for a Hands On Training Exercise (HOTEX). That was amazing: you were actually able to shoot a variety of weapons, from AR-15s, to the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle, and, amazingly enough, even a Bradley. I’ve always had a fascination with long-range rifles, so the Barrett was by far my favorite, but the Bradley was really interesting also. You don’t have quite the primal, “I shot something with a tool in my hands”, but rather you look at a screen showing your target and pull the trigger. I gave a good squeeze and, while I expected to shoot a round, I didn’t expect the hair trigger and shot four rounds. A few seconds later, I saw the target on the screen light up and I knew I had done my job.

This exercise was substantially different, as we couldn’t shoot any of the weapons ourselves, but it was really cool to see the Bradleys in action (by people who knew what they were doing). All in all, it went well and was enjoyable all around. I liked that the radio communications were broadcast through a PA system so the visitors could understand what was going on. Over the speakers, you could hear them receiving info: “Gas! Gas! Gas!”, where they would put on their chemical masks, “Fire! Fire! Fire!”, when they had locked on to their target, and so on. One of the things I remember Thomas saying he wasn’t used to in the Army was the amount of profanity, so while this was supposed to be a “family-friendly” exercise, I could hear the soldiers over the radio trying to regulate their language; I’d hear “Gosh Darnit!” when you knew for a fact that’s not what they wanted to say…

I used my long lens (70-300mm) the majority of the time, and am beginning to learn that it’s the lens to use at any sort of events like this. The closest you could get to any action was about 50 yards from the firing line, so being able to stand up on the bleachers and get a view from high was great. I’ve posted the photos and even have a couple of Thomas in all his gear and glory (and military-issue glasses).