Extreme Smoker and Mandatory Fun

That's how Seth described the last two days....Extreme Smoker! Imagine putting on all of your clothes, a couple extra sweatshirts and carrying a book bag filled with bricks. Then picture yourself walking, running, falling to the ground, jumping up and running some more. Now do all this in 100 plus heat! You get the idea. The last two days have been spent practicing field maneuvers. As they move down the road they practice engaging an enemy, taking defensive and offensive positions and most importantly disengaging from the enemy. As they move forward shots are fired and they practice over and over how best to respond to each scenario. The idea is to make their actions second nature....training kicks in and they respond. Of course they're dressed in full battle rattle the entire time in the Mississippi heat and humidity - an extreme smoker! Tuesday they completed this exercise with no ammo in their guns, yesterday they used blanks and today (Thursday) they will be doing it as a live fire exercise. Jan can't imagine why they need to be shooting real ammunition and just hopes they'll be careful. On Friday Seth will be on the 240 Range. This is a mounted large caliber automatic weapon that he used in Afghanistan. THEN......it's a mandatory fun outing. The platoon is going to the mall for an outing. Everybody must attend, hence they're calling it "mandatory fun." Seth and Eli have both said that ordinarily they wouldn't be looking forward to spending four hours at a mall, but given their current circumstances they'll gladly go......the thinkning is dinner and a movie! Life is good! Exreme smoking and mandatory fun!