"There's strong..."

******************************************************************

There's a wide field that stretches back to the trees. It's filled with barbed wire, trucks, fences, and ladders. Fire pits, sometimes in vehicles, light the way in the dark expanse of sand and metal.

Music is playing over the loud speakers. The gunners in the tower prepare the machine guns. Recruits, who are almost complete with their basic training, take their positions at one end of the field. The lights are off, but they can still see the target.

They know their objective, and they must complete it--this obstacle that's called the "night infiltration course."

It is something every Army soldier must overcome in order to graduate from basic training. And, they do it together.

With a loud battle cry, they take to the field. They crawl under the wires, and carefully protect their weapons from the sand.

Over their heads, gunners fire live rounds to intimidate them and simulate a real battle scene. Mortars and explosives go off, lighting up the field for a instant. Rocket flares shoot up into the sky, giving the grounds an orange glow.

After they make it past the guns, they take "the village," which are small sheds designed to simulate an infrastructure invasion. They overtake that, and then line up again.

They are ready for the next mission.

This evening, (in fact, just a few hours ago) we got the chance to witness this amazing rite-of-passage. It was an unforgettable experience--for the soldiers, and for us.

As they took to the field, we began taking pictures or recording the sounds of guns and mortars going off.

The soldiers began advancing, and the light from the glares helped me to take the pictures I needed. Fortunately, once they assembled on the first line, the drill sergeants allowed us to get up close (and personal).

After the soldiers had completed the course, overflowing with adrenaline and "hoo-ah," we got the chance to talk to some of the privates. They were very gracious and polite, and I could tell that they had a lot of pride and trust in one another. Every other word they said was something that better-recommended their platoon or squad.

Without a doubt, it was the best part of the MilJo program so far. If anything tomorrow or Friday is more amazing than tonight's activities, it has to be something spectacular.

Because, really, being able to witness the course, and interact and talk to the soldiers afterward was unbelievable.

There were several other great things we did today:

• PT (physical training) with the recruits
• talking to the MPs
• observing training on a firing range
• testing out driving simulators
• watching soldiers going through a different obstacle course. 

The activities never seemed to end. However, like this blog, they did end... and all too soon.
Since we're getting up early again tomorrow, I won't be able to write everything on this blog that I want to tonight. I will update it more tomorrow, in addition to writing a blog for tomorrow's activities as well.

We will be driving back to Ft. Leavenworth, but we have other activities scheduled between now and then. (Sleep being one of them.)

So, good night, and as the privates taught me tonight--"Hoo-Ah!"