Hey readers,
The end of the summer is here, and along with that is my final blog. I literally spent my last two days in Hawaii in the field for training. Although it made the plans for leaving difficult, I still wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way. We were in the same place as the week prior – McTab Training in Kaneohe Bay (which is the Marine Corps base).

I didn’t explain the training area we were at in the previous blog. The training area is called Marine Corps Training Area Bellows (MCTAB). Bellows is a beautiful beach that has a historic past dating back to WWII, when it was an airfield that was attacked along with other military installations on December 7th. I heard that the village came about after a rumored $400 million in renovations that consisted of more than 70 buildings (which are mostly container units that have been altered to resemble buildings), small generators, and market simulations with fake fruit, fish and clothes! When I was there, the men that had already been deployed said that it was extremely similar to what they remember – which made it a priceless experience.

There were pretty much three types of missions we did while we were there. The main focus was conducting raids, which are fast-paced movements into a location to capture a high value target. The other missions consisted of participating in quick reaction forces and doing route clearances. Quick reaction missions are when there is an attack and another unit needs assistance, or when there is information on where mortar fire came from and a unit is dispatched to try and keep the enemy from getting away. Route clearances are basically missions that consist of you keeping your eyes peeled for IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices), which are popular in the Middle East.
During a route clearance I was the platoon leader and had to deploy on of my units to capture an enemy that had laid IEDs and was trying to escape the area. That was awesome and  an eye opening experience, seeing similar things worked in the real army compared to what we are taught in ROTC. Acting on instincts and making decisions and sticking with them is one of the main things we are taught, and that is exactly how it needs to be. Another mission I was a part of, I was tasked at being a team leader in charge of two other men during our raid. I had to use obstacles to our advantage and take those men on room clearings with me.

One of the main things that I learned that day is that combat is SO fast-paced. I look back on it now and it seems like a blur even though we were on the objective for more than 20 minutes. There is so much that is going on in your head at those times and this is only training! Unbelievably, it’s going to be three times faster when there are live rounds flying around and people have to make decisions that could affect another. This has definitely opened my eyes.

Well, on the other side, I’m in High Point now after three days of traveling and less than 10 days of family time, my summer has come to an end. As ready as I am to be a commissioned officer in the United States Army, I think I’m going to bury that for a few more months and enjoy my senior year at High Point University! If anyone has any questions don’t be too shy to ask me, any other ROTC members, or the Admission Counselors!

Thanks for taking time to read my stuff!

Cadet James Garrity

Hey fans!

The past few days this week have been geared toward Preventative Maintenance Checks & Services (PMCS). This acronym basically means that you comb over the vehicles that you’re in charge of to make sure they are ready to roll. The vehicles deteriorate and breakdown while sitting in the motorpools (which is just a very large parking lot for a lot of different vehicles).

The Stryker can be modified for many different variations from mortar mounted to a medical vehicle. It is similar to an armored personnel carrier, moving soldiers to their destination in a vehicle that is uparmored and can withstand small arms fire. My company has around 12 Strykers with one MGS (although we’re supposed to have 3 total). An MGS is a Mobile Gun System. It is a Stryker with a big turret, it is the one pictured here. We also have support vehicles as well: trucks that haul around things we need for training.

Right now it’s 0430 and we’re on our way to a field training exercise with another company. Every company is run differently and Bravo is no exception. This time we will be doing urban operations so it’s going to be pretty sweet working around simulated villages. Maneuvering units and vehicles through the villages is going to be a challenge, but it’ll be a great learning experience. I hope I get to kick down some doors!

Anyway there will be another post soon, so stay tuned!

What’s up viewers,

The past few days have been pretty much a blur! On Monday my unit was scheduled for a Field Training Exercise in the Kahukus Training Area. At first we were scheduled to be in one area, but then we got moved to a secondary site in Kahukus three days before we were scheduled to be there. It took some last minute planning in order to pull off the successful training. To give a little bit of a foreshadow, I realized how important it was to do reconnaissance on the area you will be working in before getting to the area – although it didn’t affect training as much as it sounds. The smoother the training, the more soldiers can get out of it.

Once we got to the training area, we set up our command point (CP) and began assigning areas for the platoons to sleep in. Patrol bases are where platoons can rest for a period of time (usually over one night) in order to prepare for future operations. After we ate, the platoons headed to the patrol base and began their priorities of work (securing the lines, working on cover and concealment, eating, etc.). I didn’t go with a platoon to their patrol base, instead I stayed at the CP. That night, other lieutenants and I walked around to evaluate the patrol base’s reaction to the attack from teams that played as the enemy (OPFOR – Opposing Force). It was fun because the evaluators walked around with radios to the OPFOR, and we had night vision capabilities. I can’t lie, I felt pretty cool walking around with the ability to see at night!

After the few “attacks” that night, we bedded down and prepared for the next day. We woke up to a five minute downpour, nothing like that to get the blood going in the morning for ya. We gave the platoon leaders their operation orders and told them they had to be on the move by noon and at their final objective by four in the afternoon. There were two objectives per lane. I was amazed at how identical the process for the active duty operation orders and mission planning are compared to how ROTC does it. While they were planning their mission, we ran into our snag of having our area of operation changed last minute. *Prior to the change, there was a plan of a verified location of where OPFOR would be; but after the change the only verification leaders can do on such short notice is using map and satellite recon – well these aren’t always the best because things are easily missed.*

When we set out to place the OPFOR, one of the platoon evaluators ran into impassable terrain – practically a cliff. This meant that we had to change some things around for their lane and caused some turbulence in the operation, but as United States Army Officers we adapted and overcame! The platoons ran through their missions and that night we got back into the patrol bases. We did the same thing we did the night before but on an easier scale. We “probed” their lines instead of attacking, so it was more low key. When we woke up, we came back to civilization and finished administrative actions needed to keep the military rolling.

That was pretty much the condensed version of our three day exercise. I hope that this has sufficed your longing to hear about my awesome experience here in Hawaii!

Until next time!

Hey guys, I know I’m a late start in the summer, but I appreciate you reading about my awesome experience. My name is James Garrity, from Fayetteville, N.C., and I’ll be a senior in the fall. I’m a criminal justice major with a political science minor. Throughout my years at HPU, I’ve become known as the “ROTC guy” and am approachable with any questions from faculty or families about the program.

If anyone is interested in ROTC, this will be some insight into the kind of opportunities you are afforded. Here is a little bit about my military background as follows:

– grew up in a military family with both my parents serving at different times:

 – received a 4 year ROTC scholarship and chose HPU as my school to attend (second to none after visiting it!)

– received an Air Assault slot as a freshman from my Battalion and went on to West Point to earn my wings

– afforded an Airborne slot my sophomore year which I knocked out that summer

– attended LDAC (mandatory for all aspiring officers to complete before commissioning, I’ll post the link to it next time if you want to explore it) in 5th Regiment. BOBCATS!

– immediately following LDAC, flew out to Hawaii for CTLT

Cadet Troop Leader Training is the Army’s way of providing an internship. Just as any private sector internships, the positions aren’t given to anyone, so it’s something you have to compete for. My CTLT slot is with 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, of the 25 Infantry Division. That’s all of the unit tree that you won’t understand, but you could research if you want!

Since I’m a little behind in blogging, this is going to be a semi-lengthy blog entry with an overview of the first few days. I came into Hawaii around 103:0 p.m. on July 17 and was in my room around midnight. Woke up the next morning to meet the people I’d be working with for the next few weeks. It has been a slow couple of days filled with rehearsals and ceremonies for the new leadership that is coming in at the higher headquarter levels.

This is one of the ceremonies we've had in the last few days.

Other than that I’ve been seeing how a Lieutenant gets stuff done. It’s completely different than you would think. A lot of stuff is put up to the platoon sergeant who takes care of the soldiers. The platoon sergeant is the platoon leader (lieutenant’s) best friend and right hand man. Although technically outranked, the platoon sergeant is the most experienced person in the platoon and provides all of the insight. The lieutenant is the planner while the platoon sergeant is the facilitator.

Other than having conversations with all of the LTs and seeing first hand the jobs done by LTs, I’ve been at the parade field for the ceremonies. Starting next week, we will be in the field so I can see how an LT operates “on the battlefield” – which is obviously different than in garrison. After that, there will be more planning of activities and training!

Stay tuned for my awesome experiences in the U.S. Army Infantry!