My Combat Airman Skills Training (CAST) is coming to an end an it appears I’ve lived to tell about it.
We completed our Field Training Exercise (FTX) today, bringing together what we learned in the previous days. I’ve been too busy to write about all the training modules we’ve completed, and I missed taking photos at many of them due to the types of activities we were doing and the amount of equipment we were handling. Here’s a brief rundown of our classroom and field training:
- Active Shooter
- Escalation of Force/Rules of Engagement
- Weapons and Firing Range exercises, including rapid fire and shooting at targets up to 300 meters away that would fall and pop back up, providing instant feedback on your performance (I’m not a bad shot!)
- Land Navigation using both map/compass and DAGR (Defense Advanced GPS Receiver)
- HMMWV (Humvee) Egress Assistance Training (HEAT)
- Small Unit Tactics (SMUT)
- Urban Tactical Movement
- Communications, including tactical voice and radio equipment and transmissions
- Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) including using Individual First Aid Kits (IFAK) to provide care under fire and tactical field care (The exercise associated with this was my favorite of the whole CAST: we extracted and cared for simulated casualties from various scenarios in the “Box of Death” while the Cadre fired man-marker rounds — what I called “paintballs” in previous posts — at us.)
- Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) operations including Vehicle-Borne IED training. The coolest part of this training was the Petting Zoo where the Cadre set up various IEDs along a path in the woods and we walked the path learning how each device works and how to look for it on foot patrol or while in a vehicle.
- Mounted Operations including how to move in a Humvee convoy, transfer personnel and equipment from one Humvee to another under fire, extract and transfer casualties, and recover disabled vehicles
Here’s me in my ICE (Individual Combat Equipment) at the beginning of training (note my incorrectly slung M4 carbine):
I felt like a fake, somebody playing dress-up. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing.
Here’s me at the end of the course:
It’s hard to see much difference. Under all that gear, I’m covered with bruises and my knees are killing me, but I know a lot more about combat skills. Compared to the other students who I got to admire in action I still feel like a fake, but my M4 is slung correctly and I can comfortably operate it. I can even take it apart, clean it, and reassemble it all by myself — a milestone for me.
I can’t say this has been fun. It’s been hard, but it was worth it. I’m glad to be done, and I’m looking forward to my deployment to Afghanistan where I hope to never have to use most of what I learned at CAST.
MM
Tactical Underwear 