NIACT part 1

The flight to Columbia, SC did not go too well. None of my baggage arrived. The Master Chief who greeted us assured me he would get it when he picked up the next load of people coming in on an later flight - he made good on that word. We arrived at Camp McCrady after a 30 minute van ride. Camp McCrady is a National Guard training center where NIACT takes place; its part of Fort Jackson. We were greeted by Army drill sergeants, they told us our company and barracks as well as gave as linens and a roll of toilet paper. Our living arrangements (pictured above) were open bay barracks, boot camp style - the pits. Only very senior officers (O6) had something better and even they had two man rooms.

The first day was all about gear issue, lots of it. The gear included a complete set of body armor, helmet, sleep "system", "hydration system", mosquito net, sunglasses, ruck sack & frame, shovel, goggles, and a full set of extreme cold weather clothing. Two full seabags of stuff and there was more to come later. I used a lot of the gear during the training but now that I'm in Africa most of it won't get touched again.

The second day was the start of our weapons immersion training. Each of us were issued an M-16 rifle and some were also issued an M-9 pistol. Depending on your mission and destination your issued weapon(s) were either a 'go to war weapon' and/or a loaner. I just got a loaner M-16, folks going to Djibouti don't carry a weapon there - fortunately, its not needed. From that point on we had to carry the weapons with us everywhere, even the dining facility. The only exceptions were at night when sleeping, in the bathroom, or on liberty; however, during those events a watch had to be setup to maintain accountability of the weapons. We then learned how to disassemble and clean the weapons. The following day was classroom training, including combat first aid, personnel recovery, and humvee rollover trainer familiarization. The next week and a half was focused on rifle and pistol marksmanship. With the exception of a few classes and HUMVEE driver training we were outside on the firing range most of the time.