Camp Guernesy, Wyoming where I spent 2 weeks for "Army" training.
CAST (Combat Airman Skills Training) or what I call Army training is an attempt for the Air Force to teach Airmen how to be a soldier. Why? Because this war is putting members of the Air Force into situations that are usually reserved for the Army and Marines. Airmen are now expected to drive in convoys, carry weapons, and interact with the locals in ways that they never had to before hence the need for Army training.
CAST consisted of 10 training days that covered skills such as land navigation (how to read a map and work a compass); IED (improvised explosive device) training (how to ID and hopefully avoid setting off an IED while on foot); mounted operations (how to drive in a convoy including avoiding driving over IEDs, assisting passengers in IED damaged vehicles, and vacating vehicles); armored vehicle egress training (how to escape from a rolled over vehicle); urban operations (how to walk down the street in a village and survive); first-aid on the battlefield; how to fire our weapon (yes…I had to shoot a gun again!).
What did I learn at CAST?
CAST consisted of 10 training days that covered skills such as land navigation (how to read a map and work a compass); IED (improvised explosive device) training (how to ID and hopefully avoid setting off an IED while on foot); mounted operations (how to drive in a convoy including avoiding driving over IEDs, assisting passengers in IED damaged vehicles, and vacating vehicles); armored vehicle egress training (how to escape from a rolled over vehicle); urban operations (how to walk down the street in a village and survive); first-aid on the battlefield; how to fire our weapon (yes…I had to shoot a gun again!).
What did I learn at CAST?
- Wearing a flack vest, wearing a helmet, carrying 100 ounces of water, carrying a brick (that’s Army talk for walkie-talkie), and carrying an M-16 rifle everywhere we went is tough. All together it probably weighs over 50 pounds!
- How to properly prepare and eat an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat). We ate these every day for lunch.
- When you’re hanging upside down in a rolled over vehicle and you unbuckle your seat belt, that heavy helmet really does protect your head when you land on it
- I don’t enjoy shooting guns…still.
- I have a whole new appreciation for what the Army does.
Peace out!
With that said, the most important thing I took away from CAST is basically that I joined the Air Force so I didn’t have to learn, or for that matter do, any of this Army stuff!!!
But all seriousness, CAST was a great crash course on skills that I hopefully will never have to put in practice, but if the situation arises I feel that I am prepared to do what I need to in order to survive and ensure others survive.
Ready to hit the road.
Helping transfer a "dead" body from one Humvee to the other. [That's me on the right]
Typical lunch break. Eating an MRE.
RSS Feed
