Battalion Exercise

In an attempt to remain prepared for a battle on any front our battalion took part in an exercise in Ramat Hagolan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights).  The premise is to simulate what a possible war with Lebanon, Syria, or both might be like.  While under normal circumstances this drill would not have been considered one of the more fun ways to spend the week, it was made all the more difficult by the torrential down pour that had drenched the entire country for the better part of the previous week.

Our company took a rather small role in the drill since we still have another two months of training, compared to the rest of the battalion who have already finished.  This meant that the majority of our time was spent carrying 50 and 60 pound rucksacks.  While normally this would seem a rather normal task for us by this point in our training it turned out to be anything but.  To start the drill we were flown in on Black Hawks (the drill wasn't entirely dull) to the location from which we were supposed to hike about 10 miles before setting up a perimeter around a village we would then attempt to storm.  I say "supposed to hike" because in actuality my company was flown to within about 2 - 3 miles of the village.  It took about 5 seconds after jumping out of the helicopter to realize just what we had gotten ourselves into.  As I attempted to make my way from the landing zone to meet up with my team I found myself sinking into mud that at points made its way up to my knees!

I hoped that the conditions would improve, but as we continued to march I found that the only path I could make through the mud was along the footprints left behind by those in front of me.  Over the next 6 hours we slipped and slid our way through the mud as our packs succeeded in making each step that much deeper and that much harder to remove from the Earth's muddy grasp.  I knew that the hike would be difficult but I never imagined it would take us 6 hours to advance 2.5 miles.  

Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun helped to dry up some of the mud, but at best the conditions the rest of the week could be described as "swampy."  Which, if you ask one of my friends (pictured above), is an improvement from literally swimming in mud.  After the first night, the drill itself went rather well.  We were flown farther north to simulate the Syrian mountainous terrain.  This culminated in a 2 hour hike straight up a mountain (which actually had a pretty amazing view when we got a second to rest at the top).  At one point in the scaling of this mountain, one of the kids behind me jokingly asked whether or not we were climbing Everest.  While it wasn't quite Everest, after the week we had, and the snow covered peaks in the distance - it kinda felt like it.