Hurry Up! and Wait!

Hurry up! [then we wait] something we do often here at good ol` Camp Atterbury. Although it is no ones fault in particuclar it is just part of training. Many that have been through any type of military training know it is just a thing we do often. Anyways, I haven't posted in a few days which is why im staying up late to do this quickly. This is just to throw some random stuff out there.

Recently, I went through Combat Life Saver course. It was 4 days long and we had a final exercise at the end to perform under pressure. I went through CLS last year in Iraq and I was pretty upset that we didn't get to perform IVs and stick the Nasopharyngeal down each others noses. Although that feeling SUCKS, it is for good photos. I wasn't really able to shoot during this training because I was part of it and there is no way I can "save a life" and take photos at the same time. I love photography but I rather save one of my battle buddies. Here is some  random stuff...



Airman 1st Class Fuerst prepares to drive this 1151. I'll have to say
he is an awesome graffiti artist




Airman 1st Class Steven Armenta prepares to conduct a fire
evactuation off the HUMVEE




SSgt Wishnewski prepares to evacuate the 1151
during a fire evac exercise




SSgt Curtis Sutton calls in a 9-line report during an exercise.

 Today, we did do HUMVEE rollover training. Now THAT was fun [and a little painful]. Unfortunately, I am not able to take photos in there because of operational security reasons but let's just say we rolled over in a HUMVEE and many people loved then personal protective equipment on the way out of the upside down HUMVEE. I know I did.

Here and there god answers my prayers. Sometimes he doesn't because he wants me to learn the hard way so life can be challenging like it is for everyone else, but earlier this week he answered a prayer for me without me having to ask. He put a beautiful photo in front of my face, all I had to do was snap the camera and MAGIC! IT was there. This is the funny part to this. I was walking with my towel and shirt off to the showers [obviously had my stuff to clean my body]. As I was about to turn to the showers I heard someone playing a guitar. I look at the other side of the bay and I see SSG Mader playing his guitar. He was in perfect position wit the perfect lighting. I quickly ran back to my rack [bed] and put my stuff down and run back with my camera to the other side. On my way all I hear is "Woah Woah Woah! Where you going with that camera [tower still over my shoulder so it looked wrong and my shirt off]. Obviously, I explained myself but I thought it was a funny moment because of what it appeared I was going to do. You nasty minds! So this is the photo.



SSG Mader plays his guitar. He has opened for disturbed and
many more. I forget

 Ok so by now you have seen the poor photo on the right side of my header. Yes, I know it sucks but I wanted to fill it in for now until I get in country and get a photo of my actually near the border of Afghanistan. Until then, that photo will have to do. Well this concludes my short post. The next 4 days will be intense and in the field alot so be ready for some of that fun stuff. Time to wake up in 4 hours!!!

=]



A regular day for me. YES! that's my HD Go Pro. Still need practice with it.



If it ain't raining, We ain't training!

So this is post 2 of my blog. Post 2 of many that is. Reason for me naming it 'if it ain't raining, we ain't training' is because here at "lovely" Camp Atterbury [not] it is ALWAYS raining! It's pretty ridiculous.

 Recently, we been having lots of real-world type of exercises and while I have some down time at my work station (which is very rare) I'll share some more stuff with you all of some of the training we've been doing. After all, I am trying to catch up.

So I did not mention in my last post what a PRT is. PRT stands for Provincial Reconstruction Team. In simpler terms, what we do is conduct civil-military operations in Zabul Province to extend the reach and legitimacy of the Government of Afghanistan. We want the Afghanistan government to be able to do things on their own. We are trying to get them to that point. Now with that said, I can show ya'll more photos.

Little by little we all have our time to shine. Our Air Force services Airmen are doing a good job. Although I've always known what they do at home station, I wondered what they "really" do in a deployed environment. I don't mean at a nice well built base, I mean what they do "in the field". Well my stomach and I are happy to have them in our unit. They actually provide us with warm chow [that's food for you civilians and I say that with love] and serve it to us in the field. Of course, we aren't getting 3 hot meals daily but at least one hot meal a day is very appreciative.



Airman 1st Class Steven Armenta serves us some hot chow




Senior Airman Sarah Baker feeds service members from several PRTs

A few weeks ago, we practiced Team Live Fire. This is very foreign to most Air Force personnel. Normally, Air Force deployments are nothing like this deployment. When do you ever picture the "AIR Force" [notice the air being in caps] doing house clearance. Well, maybe our Spec Ops would. Well with going with our Army brother-in-arms, we were able to learn all that fun stuff. Because of me having to learn all that stuff and us running from one training to the other, I wasn't able to take much photos of it but here are the few.





Instructors demonstrate team live fire movements




Demonstrating once again




Simulating a door check



I wish I had taken more photos of all this BUT this is a fail on my part. I will jot this down on my naughty list and fix it next time. NO EXCUSES.

After team live fire, I documented our SECFOR do some Squad Live Fire. Now this I was able to cover a little more in detail. Basically, they had to get from one location to the other while taking fire. Since they're taking fire, they had to maneuver to the other side as a squad. Well here's a little more [photos and audio slideshow].



Specialist Paul Bradley gets ready for night squad live fire




A U.S. Army soldier takes a knee during a break




Soldiers takes cover during an exercise



Staff Sergeant Reynolds gives a command to his squad




Specialist Christopher Perez listens to his after action report




Soldiers participate in a squad live fire exercise




Private Washington is the freshest soldier out of boot camp
 in our PRT. Recently got promoted to Private



This is definitely a rough audio slideshow. As it being only my second one ever done [both being done alone] I am not going to beat myself in the head too much for it, but I do know I need some improvement and I know that I can do better with some practice. I always accept critiques especially from my photographers, journalist and video folks. Feel free to e-mail me or comment on here. I have thick skin so no worries. Stay tuned for another post in the near future.



Let the games begin...

Finally, I start this blog that I've been promising my friends about. I would of started a long time ago if wordpress wasn't so difficult and uncompliant so Blogger will do the job. And so far I love the simplicity. So as my first post, I'll have to quickly brief you on where I've been. I've been training at Camp Atterbury for the past month. Granted, most of the training we have been doing has been death by powerpoint. Most of you military folks know what I am talking about. At this point, we have about 98% of our team together. I have been trying my best to interract with each member of the PRT. Our PRT includes Airmen and Soldiers. For our civilians out there that aren't too familiar with today's forces, it is a team made up of U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army personnel.

Recently, we've done some training out in the field. It's a tough balance to go through training and learn what everyone else is learning but also document the training. I am not the best multitasker and while I am trying to get "the shot" I can forget to pay attention. The hours of training are very long and the post-production process can be dreadful but this is my job as a combat cameraman. Don't believe me? Check out this hardcore Nikon D3 after a muddy shoot at the range.



Nikon gets a little dirty!

  We have been practicing for an 8-mile ruck march that has to be completed in less than 2 hours. To those civilians unaware of what a ruck march is, it is basically a thick uniform, heavy boots, about 55 pounds in  your ruck on your back, and 8 miles ahead of you to walk. Not to include the combat load we'll be having on our bodies downrange. Anywho, here are a few photos of it. You can find more of these photos on my Flickr account! =)



Sergeant First Class Robert Russell leads his platoon through a ruck-march




Sergeant First Class Steidl shows us what REAL calves are like




1st Lt. Belena Marquez leads the way of our PRT in the ruck-march

 We began by doing 2 miles with no load on our back to get out feet used to it. Three weeks later, we now wear the boots, our Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV), the ruck and helmet. I think we're are definitely getting there.

So want to know what is nice about having Army training? We actually get to qualify our weapons during night time. I've qualified multiple times through Air Force shooting ranges but never did I shoot at night until I got here. Of course, I took my camera with me to show you guys a few images of day and night.



A red flag signifies that the range is hot. Safety Precaution.




Airmen qualify on the Night Range




Specialist Alan Wine qualifies on an M240B Machine Gun

 Although training can suck, I, for some off reason, like this stuff. Yes, we do wake up at 0500 to go do some physical activities. We do have to sit through long powerpoints. We also cannot quit our jobs if we wanted to. Even if we dont get paid, right? ;)

But how often can you go through a grenade. So we did grenade training about 2 weeks ago (did I mention I was trying to catch up). I think it was a good experience because not all military folks can do it.



Tech. Sgt. Matthew Kangas throws a grenade while Staff Sgt.
 Kenneth Wright takes cover.

I did forget to mention that we are getting new uniforms. We are getting that high speed multicam uniform that is now the Afghanistan deployment wear. It's pretty sick I must say. We aren't wearing them just yet but soon enough when it gets closer to us leaving we will definitely be wearing it. Like I mentioned earlier, I have been here for about a month and there is some stuff I did not include above. It is 1.20am and I need to be at the gym by 0500 for some good fun PT. I will work on getting everyone caught up over the next few days. After that, I will try posting as much as I can. I might get busy so don't get all upset with me when I dont post. Feel free to share this blog with whomever and I hope you enjoy the images and etc.



Never did I say I won't post a few pics of myself here and there.
This is what happens when you're waiting for hours at the range.