So for those wondering if I fell off the face of the planet; from May 7th-May 22nd I was out on a field exercise known as a Pre-Ex Evaluation. Before we deploy to Iraq we have to be certified as a combat-ready Apache Longbow Battalion. From June 18th-28th we will have our Final External Evaluation so the Pre-Ex Evaluation is like a quiz before a big test. This is my awesome Army haircut prior to heading to the field. (Short hair = not worrying about bugs living in your unwashed hair).
Here I am getting ready for a mission in my full aviator battle rattle. If you think I look scary, just remember that a 30mm canon is just below me and it follows my head, so if you are a bad guy right now, you're pretty much toast, or as we say, "If you run, you'll only die tired."
The peaceful days of May 7th and 8th inside our air conditioned tents. The unit training us (21st Cavalry Brigade) set up a simulated FOB (Forward Operating Base) like the ones we will be operating out of in Iraq. This one is up by Brownwood, TX. Little did we realize at the time, that Brownwood is in Tornado Alley. (This is called foreshadowing). I took this picture sitting on my cot along the back side of the tent.
Being a Platoon Leader has its perks....my very own HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle). Please don't call it a Hummer, it just makes you sound like a civilian. This is my baby. As an aside, all our HMMWVs have a letter-number-letter identifier. As you see on my bumper, my identifier is Charlie One Alpha, or C1A. As I pulled into some civilian establishments I think the locals thought the CIA was in town.
At about 1830 local time (6:30 pm for you civilian types) on May 8th, very dark clouds appeared to the north of us and a ton of lighting. As I faced the north, I noticed the wind was blowing right in my face and that those clouds were coming our way. I was at the TOC (Tactical Operations Center), and headed immediately across the FOB to the sleeping tents, to help secure them and water proof them as much as possible. I grabbed a bunch of zip-ties and started zip-tying the various sections of the tent tighter to keep the heavy rain out. At this point the wind had really picked up and the rain was really coming down.
I was in the tent for about ten minutes when the whole back side blew out and it was at that point that everyone grabbed what they could and ran for the vehicles, as the tent came down behind us. As it was our second day at the FOB, I was one of the only people who knew how to get to the hangar, so I led a convoy down, so the soldiers could seek the realative safety of the hangar. This was one of the only pictures I got, as during the rest of the storm I was trying to round up as many soldiers as I could to get them into the hangar. Shortly after I took this picture dime sized hail started falling, and I saw about 4 different funnels forming in the clouds over our heads. The wind was screaming through the hangar as we couldn't get the door shut. I don't know what the stall speed of a cessna caravan is, but the one in the middle of the hangar was bouncing, trying to takeoff. It got very dark outside, and we eventually got the hangar doors closed and rode out the tornado. Having been in a few hurricanes while living in Alabama, I was used to the wind and rain, but the speed with which the storm overcame us was amazing.
Although the female's tent actually came down on several of the females as they were getting ready to evacuate (you know; make-up, hair, nails, etc...) miraculously nobody was seriously hurt. We did send a few soldiers to the hospital, but overall not too bad.
After the wind and rain subsided most of the Battalion was evacuated to Camp Bowie, which is a National Guard Post about 15 miles southwest from where we were. I volunteered to keep a few guys back with me to spend the night among the tents to secure all our gear until people could back the next day and collect it. These are a few of my super troopers from my platoon that stayed with me. As you can see we slept under the stars that night.
Now I may not have the sexy SAS background and TV survival show of Bear Grylls, but I have seen quite a bit in my day, and so far survived it all. If I did have a survival show this would be the advise I would give at this point in the show. Never go into the great outdoors with out at least a poncho and four zip-ties. This massive green blob in the picture above is my cot, with all my stuff thrown on top (2 sets of body armor, rucksack, sleeping bag, load bearing equipment, etc...). Right before I exited the tent during the storm I threw my poncho over all my stuff and zip-tied the four corners of the poncho to the corners of my cot. As the picture shows, out of 400 and something people I was the only one in the Battalion to not only not loose anything in the tornado, but my stuff was still dry. (All the other gear around my cot is other people's that blew over). The weight of all my stuff kept my cot from blowing over and the poncho kept it all dry. Now in the interest of full disclosure, my helmet did slip out and fall below my cot, but it dried quickly.
Had the tornado hit a few hours later, when people would have been sleeping this could have been tragic.
So yeah, it reminded me of Hurricane Katrina images. Maybe a little dramatic, but these were all big sturdy tents, and they got ripped to pieces.
For those still a little skeptical about my tornado, imagine how much force it takes to roll a 17,000 lb Apache onto its side. This was the most damaged aircraft of the night, but every single aircraft was damaged, and it took a mammoth effort to get these aircraft flying again. As the maintenace platoon Platoon Leader, that job fell on me and my soldiers. My next post will document that adventure.
