Victory Forge

The last FTX (named Victory Forge) is a four-day, three-night culmination of all the skills taught at BCT. They bussed us out to a remote location on the base that was set up like a FOB (Forward Operating Base) just like the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan (except we didn’t get internet or Xbox). During the day we’d go outside the wire (leave the base) and conduct patrols. Inevitably we’d run into enemy contact and we’d respond appropriately. The down time was really boring but when we were actually conducting missions it was really fun. Some of the missions involved searching for enemy mortar teams, using land nav to meet up with other coalition forces, searching an entire village for enemy combatants, searching for IED’s, and reacting to an ambush. At night we ran some night ops and got to use the NOD’s to go on patrol and react to enemy contact.

We slept in big military tents that could hold about 20 of us on cots (much nicer than the one-man tents we used on the last FTX).  There were wild rumors that we’d be hit with mortar or grenade attacks in the middle of the night if the DS’s got overzealous but nothing ever happened. The weather couldn’t have been better for that time of the year. When the sun went down it got pretty cold- cold enough that your hands hurt and you didn’t want to touch the metal on your rifle, but the day warmed up to the mid 70’s which is an ideal temperature to be running around in body armor.

The very last training event was a “10 mile” batallion ruck march (the Army requirement is 16k/10 mi but we ended up doing 12.3 miles- that's just how Fox Company rolls) from the FOB back to our company area. We started off at 1700 and marched exactly 4 hours back to our barracks. The pace was pretty quick and we were under a full load. Every hour to hour and a half we’d stop and take a rest. On the first break we pulled out our MRE and got to eat the main course and whatever else we could cram down in five minutes. They found the most uphill portions of the base and then laid down loose sand and that was the course we took. In the dark. Not exactly the family hikes you take on vacation. Surprisingly, by this stage of the game no one from our company fell out of the march. Just a few short weeks ago we had people that couldn't hack a 2 mile march. 

When we got back to the base the battalion gathered together for the Rites of Passage Ceremony that marked the end of our training. We were finally able to don our beret and take off the protective eyewear that we’d all been made to wear the last 10 weeks (yeah, everybody wore eye pro not just the people who needed BCG’s). It was a special moment to know that we had completed all the training required to graduate. By about 0100 we got to put our sore feet in bed and they let us sleep until about 0600. We’re still six days away from getting out of here but it’s good to know we’re done with the worst of it.