I hope all this code works :p Or our Lord of the Pile Of Crap adds an edit feature.

Some of my summer was spent in the swamps of Gagetown, NB. Other parts were in the barracks. I realise you missed out on the 4 gigs of video and pictures that I came home with so I'm posting some of the more relevant ones. Figured you'd get a kick out of them, or at least ask yourself again "He volunteered to go through this?!"

I'll open up with a video I'm in. It's a 4-man entry team. The beginning sentence which is cut-off is initated by the man at the front. He's called out "Doorway front", to let the 3 soldiers behind him know what's in front. When you're stacked up against each other, weapon ready to whip out and track foe from friendly, you don't want to be doing it blind, nor do you want it to point at the back or leg of the guy in front or behind you, depending on where you're standing. After the lead man's called out, the man behind him echos it. And so on down the line. When the last man is 100% ready to engage the room, with the free hand not holding onto the weapon he squeezes the tricep of the man in front, and returns the free hand to his weapon. This happens until the man in front gets the squeeze. He'll wait a short moment for the man behind him to put get his weapon ready to whip up, and then move foward.

Depending on where the threat is in the room, and the shape of the room, the first guy could go left or right, no one behind him knows. We really didn't know which way the first guy was going to go. In reality, he's probably going to go down. So will the second, but the pace at which you're entering and the chances of getting some well placed shots off are pretty good so that the 3rd and 4th have a good chance of making it in, taking out the threats and holding the room. That's why the 3rd guy in the chain is actually the commander. Lucky me, I got to be the third guy in this clip. And my team did things right. Immediately after the first guy in breaks left, the weapon behind him snaps up. You don't ever want your weapon to "laser" (aka "Laze") a friendly, but you need to have it up and front, fast, and moving in the right direction -- the opposite way the guy in front of you moved. Adapting to the unknown, quickly, in the proper stance, not lazing buddy, well, it's harder than it looks. You watch and be the judge. The Warrant evaluating us had zero corrections to dispense. This prompts of friendly cameraman to tell us we suck, but hey ;-) You'll have to click on the image below to be taken to the download page and probably forced to wait 30 seconds. When the link to the file is generated it'll be near the bottom center of the page. Any probs just complain in a babble.

4-man Entry Team link

The pictures that follow have been reduced, sometimes drastically, in size and although I have thumbnails available to me, I'm not using them. Get a bigger monitor and/or get a cable-modem or DSL.

4-man Entry Team link

This is me with my war face on

This is your feet in swamp and after heavy usage.

Most of the members of my section. I'm far left.

This is the nicest terrain we ever slept on.
You can tell, we're living it up!

It's uphill.
It's super-rocky.
It hurts.

An Urban Op training house.
There was a whole village of this.

I'm the section second in command.
I've setup a firebase with the light machine guns.
My section commander is flanking the enemy.
We won.

Some of my summer was spent being trained in Urban Operations, formerly referred to in Canada as FIBUA (Fighting In Built Up Areas), also known as MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain). At the bottom you'll find two pictures linked to video that was taken. Since it's obvious to me what the dialogue is, I'll briefly go over it first so you're familiar with it and can fully enjoy the ending (as it's cut short). It starts off in the highest state of readiness when dealing with an individual inside your containment area at a checkpoint who you are screening. They've not cooperated, they're aggressive but unarmed. The two instructors work as a team, the one in command calling out "Fight! Fight! Fight!" to let his teamate know that this is now what they're going in for. They both know exactly the series of steps that come, and the teamate acknowledges his understanding by echoing the same words. Then the commander decides which he's going for, "High" or "Low". They're both going to tackle their opponent, but not in a gaggle. They're targeting half the body and the teamate will call out that which the commander hasn't. In this case the commander calls out "Hight" and the teamate responds with "Low". Then they slow back to normal pace and you can hear everything. Their guns will have been tossed aside, as they'll have cover from other soldiers inside their safe zone, which is briefly and vaglue addressed to the class that is learning.

Video Part One

Video Part Two