There are several weeks of training required by State to ensure we know what we are getting ourselves into, and to prepare us to function well in the environment of Iraq that can be, at the least, unpredictable.
One class is called the FACT course, but we call it Crash Bang because it is full immersion (in the field) training with fast cars and guns. I am a registered gun owner so I'm not unfamiliar with weapons, though some of my colleagues have never held or fired a weapon. Shooting an AK47 was certainly a treat.
Another intensive training session was battlefield first aid where your first concern is to ensure open airways and prevention of bleeding out in a matter of minutes. Our instructor had to repeatedly remind us that our goal was not to care for the wounded but simply to get them stable enough that they could wait for a medic. His oft repeated phrase was that there were just some things that are so devastating to the human body that even if it happened next to "bright lights and cold steel" there would be nothing to be done for them. This training came complete with a battleground simulation with bombs exploding and hysterical wounded (my debut acting, lol).
We were sent out into the community while being surveilled by an unknown group targeting us for attack. Our job was to spot the people and see the attack coming. Our group was "blown up." When our attackers blocked us in a narrow alleyway, a civilian completely unaware of the exercise got caught up in our convoy and stopped. She was raging about being stuck, having no idea that everyone in the cars surrounding her were all in on the joke.
But THE most fun I had all week was driving on the race track in Crown Victorias taking curves without touching the brakes, sliding the car sideways and keeping it under control in extreme conditions. We took the cars at a high rate of speed weaving between cones, avoiding imaginary IED's and stopping in the shortest distance possible without skidding or locking up the brakes. We learned to spot dangerous situations and to make the decision to either ram the vehicle blocking your path or "reverse out," meaning to drive in reverse for as long as it takes to "get off the X" (remove yourself from the danger zone). One exercise was simply to drive in reverse for over a half a mile, weave through a serpentine and turn the car around a quickly as possible to drive away. The turn we practiced was a Y-turn, but my instructor said I was very close to making it a J-turn. That is the one that you see on the movies where the vehicle is turned around without hitting the brakes or stopping, you simply sling it around and stay on the gas pedal.
That kept my adrenaline running for a long time, but it got EVEN better...I got to do the same stuff in an MRAP, a fully armored Humvee!
My final exam was to drive the track and go past several possible dangers and to respond quickly and appropriately. I was shot at (not really) and bombed (not really) and I even got to ram a car - twice! I had so very much fun that I would LOVE to spend more time racing around the track, sliding the car around curves and reversing out. If this line of work doesn't work out, I wanna be a race car driver!
One class is called the FACT course, but we call it Crash Bang because it is full immersion (in the field) training with fast cars and guns. I am a registered gun owner so I'm not unfamiliar with weapons, though some of my colleagues have never held or fired a weapon. Shooting an AK47 was certainly a treat.
Another intensive training session was battlefield first aid where your first concern is to ensure open airways and prevention of bleeding out in a matter of minutes. Our instructor had to repeatedly remind us that our goal was not to care for the wounded but simply to get them stable enough that they could wait for a medic. His oft repeated phrase was that there were just some things that are so devastating to the human body that even if it happened next to "bright lights and cold steel" there would be nothing to be done for them. This training came complete with a battleground simulation with bombs exploding and hysterical wounded (my debut acting, lol).
We were sent out into the community while being surveilled by an unknown group targeting us for attack. Our job was to spot the people and see the attack coming. Our group was "blown up." When our attackers blocked us in a narrow alleyway, a civilian completely unaware of the exercise got caught up in our convoy and stopped. She was raging about being stuck, having no idea that everyone in the cars surrounding her were all in on the joke.
But THE most fun I had all week was driving on the race track in Crown Victorias taking curves without touching the brakes, sliding the car sideways and keeping it under control in extreme conditions. We took the cars at a high rate of speed weaving between cones, avoiding imaginary IED's and stopping in the shortest distance possible without skidding or locking up the brakes. We learned to spot dangerous situations and to make the decision to either ram the vehicle blocking your path or "reverse out," meaning to drive in reverse for as long as it takes to "get off the X" (remove yourself from the danger zone). One exercise was simply to drive in reverse for over a half a mile, weave through a serpentine and turn the car around a quickly as possible to drive away. The turn we practiced was a Y-turn, but my instructor said I was very close to making it a J-turn. That is the one that you see on the movies where the vehicle is turned around without hitting the brakes or stopping, you simply sling it around and stay on the gas pedal.
That kept my adrenaline running for a long time, but it got EVEN better...I got to do the same stuff in an MRAP, a fully armored Humvee!
My final exam was to drive the track and go past several possible dangers and to respond quickly and appropriately. I was shot at (not really) and bombed (not really) and I even got to ram a car - twice! I had so very much fun that I would LOVE to spend more time racing around the track, sliding the car around curves and reversing out. If this line of work doesn't work out, I wanna be a race car driver!
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