Hello folks, how are you doing? We're having an extra holiday from the service this Monday since we were locked up until Saturday because of all the after-camping maintenance of the equipment. The camping has been suffered for now and thanks to the massive amount of spare time I got plenty of great pictures for you guys. I photographed most of the main equipment we use, including all the weapons used within an Armour Jaeger squad and the vehicle we use for transportation. I'll detail the pictures later on.
Last Monday most of the company had an hour long 20 kilometer MT-LB march to the camping destination which was pretty cool I heard, you could even sleep even though the vibration is really hideous. The machine gun course along with the sniper course got there and back by bus. Nothing special there. Once we got there we set up the tents which were the usual size (pictures included) and not the half meter tall, only-for-sleeping-tents that were rumoured to be used during this camp. We might use the small versions later on. Anyway, each squad has it's own tent which they set up and sleep in, meaning I set it up with the other Alpha 2 soldiers and there were 10 of us there in total. Setting it up takes somewhere around 10 to 20 minutes, could be done faster in a hurry but we were on a slacky schedule anyway since there wasn't anything planned for the rest of the Monday. We even got a rounded wooden underlay for the tent which consisted of six pretty heavy peaces of wood, like pizza slices, that made it a lot more comfortable to sleep in instead of just hard ground. Above them there were the usual ground cloths that keep away the shit from the ground, not that relevant since we weren't on a wet or damp ground anyway. You then sleep your feet headed to the center of the tent where the stove is also located in order to keep the tent warm during the night. Picture included.
This camp was a lot more laid back than the one we had during the rookie season, mostly because this one was about shooting training rather than a war situation practice, meaning the only guard shifts during the night were one hour "spark-shifts" that include keeping the stove alive and making sure no one burns their toes into it. No alarms either, thank god. We also got use outhouses for shitting and eat the 6.30 AM breakfast and the 9.00 PM supper inside a dining facility and we had like 30 minutes to eat which is an eternity to a soldier who's having a field eating. Lunch and dinner were during the practicing and we also had 30 minutes to eat there, no hurries and a dining smoke guaranteed.
Attacking as a squad, Alpha 2, and defending as a platoon, Alpha (4 squads + the platoon leader) were the main themes of the camp. As for the attacking, we had three daylight takes (Tuesday and Wednesday) and one during the Wednesday-Thursday night. We got to use real bullets so every take was highly controlled by the liutenants who moved in the terrain like five meters behind us making sure no one gets shot and also controlling the rising target slabs that were there to simulate an enemy. Each take was about 20 minute long that included moving to the situation inside an MT-LB, stepping out after an enemy sight and then moving ahead for like 200 meters by swooping, not sure of the term there but it includes going to the ground, getting up to take three to four steps and then back to the ground again in order to be as small target as possible. A squad swoops as half squads controlled by the squad leader, meaning that the other half (4 soldiers, since the vehicle's leader and the driver stay inside the MT-LB and back up the infantry) moves on as the other half backs them up. Half squad moves for like 10 to 15 meters and then it's time for the other half to go past the other and so on, you get the idea.
The night take was extremely cool shit. It was identical to the daylight ones except the swoops were shorter since it's a lot more likely to break the scale line of a half squad and you can't obviously take the risk of ending up ahead of the other soldiers of your half squad and get shot. Anyway the atmosphere inside a dark MT-LB was a lot more warlike and going out there to see only the lights of a shot bullet and the lightning pellets shot by the squad leader was awesome. Felt so movie like, one of the very few situations at the army where you can kinda imagine a real war going on there.
Thursday we had the platoon defensing that took place in a trench which had an open area ahead where the target slabs were located for us to shoot as they rised. Pretty basic stuff, it was cool to get like 50 bullets to use instead of the usual 30 (one magazine of the RK 62 assault rifle we use). Besides getting almost two magazines there wasn't anything special there.
The days were mostly about waiting for the others to finish their takes. We got to the waiting area (picture included) at like 8 AM and then waited for a few hours since the company includes four platoons, meaning there were 16 squads to train and only three were trained simultaneously at different paths. A lot of eating, smoking, sleeping and shit chatting took place there. I'll include a panorama picture of the waiting area which should include most of the activities I mentioned. By 6 PM we got to the camping area so there were a lot of spare time before the supper and sleeping took place.
I'll include pictures of the following weapons:
1. PKM machine gun
2. RK 62 assault rifle
3. RK 95 assault rifle with an ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight) crosshair
4. Dragunov sniper rifle. The sniper guy of our platoon carries this and the RK 95 simultaneously and moves with the platoon leader and backs him up. I tried both of them and it was pretty fucking awesome to look through a crosshair.
5. FN pistol that the vehicle guys use as their main and only weapon
6. APILAS bazooka
7. 2x M72 LAW's (light anti-tank weapon)
Also there's a picture of Alpha's four MT-LB's, pictures from the tent area, some the meals, my basic gear and equipment including the camouflage flak jacket, the green combat vest, a back bag and an RK 62 assault rifle. In the plastic bag there are my personal supplies. I kept the pictures hi-res so make sure to open them up.
Overall a good experience, I enjoyed all the shootings takes and was glad to see the camping conditions weren't that warlike after all. Got to know the guys of the Alpha platoon a lot better because of the spare time.
Leaving to the barracks in an hour. Going to be a relaxed, mostly lesson-filled week of only four days so I probably won't be writing next weekend since there is nothing exciting to happen or take pictures of. 87 days left in the service, three months from now I'll be home! Hopefully getting back to stunting and gym training then.
See ya later mates, love you!
