Sapper School

[thebrad]

Here's my account of Sapper School... I wrote this amungst recovery (of equipment) from the school, a visit from my parents and a move from Ft Leonard Wood to Ft Benning for Airborne School... so it took a few extra days!

Sapper School

If life is measured in experiences and not in time? then in the last four weeks I have lived a lifetime.

I went to Sapper School full of expectations. Contradictory expectations. The best summation would be to say that I was expecting the school to be a gut-check with some learning involved but retention low due to intensity of the school?s training and lack of food and sleep.

The lessons all came hard and most outside the curriculum. If there?s any one thing that I will retain it is the knowledge that the best laid plans are filed under ?contingency? nothing ever happens as you expect? but if you plan for the unexpected sometimes you can find yourself ahead of the game.

Sapper School was by far the toughest thing I have ever done in my life. For four weeks I was constantly having to somehow convince myself that I could continue. In only a couple of days my body was in a fatigue that still has it?s grip on me four days after training ended! Each day I learned more and more about myself? most of it bad ? but with this knowledge I could go back and make changes. Each day I had to dig down even further to discover more places that I had reserves hidden ? I believe that I exhausted all of those? somehow I was able to continue ? where it came from I don?t know, sheer will-power, motivation from others or self, devine intervention through my own prayers or from others, words from the real world, or the knowledge that others have made it or others have seen worse times in situations our training only simulated? I have no idea ? but I hope in the future I can tap only half of what I was able to find.

The school itself has been the best thing I have seen in the Army thus far ? it is perfectly organized, ran by leadership that constantly demonstrates the qualities that all other school leadership pretend to exhibit. The cadre/instructors are all top-notch (save one), their dedication to the school and it?s students was never in question. One in particular has earned my highest regard and respect as an NCO even though he gave me all no-goes in the field! In the last three days of the course when all of my evaluated periods were over he gave me somewhere around four hours of individual counseling on how I could improve as a leader/soldier (I would like to think because he saw potential rather than deficiency).

It?s hard to recap the entire course? as there was so much to it all! All of the days blurred together so I?m sure to miss some major details or maybe entire sections of instruction.

The course started with an Army Physical Fitness test ? it was so cold outside that the running portion of the test was conducted on an indoor track. Not too much to mention about this ? a standard test. Afterward there was a weigh-in to assure we were all within Army standards for height and weight.

I swear I am already missing a major section of training? but I THINK we went straight into Mountain Operations training. During this time we were all trained to become complete knot-heads. We were taught several fistfuls of knots and their checks and purposes? eventually we would be tested to tie all of these perfectly? I faired pretty well on this test.. my only mistakes coming from tying the knot from left to right instead of right to left? a standard for testing that has no impact on knot function/strength? but a standard nonetheless.

We also were instructed on how to tie a one-rope bridge system for crossing streams, a frame system for hauling equipment up cliffs and how to tie a casualty into a litter system new to the Army so that we could later lower each other down a 90 foot cliff.

This section also consisted of rappelling. I really didn?t know how I would fare with these activities as cliffs and heights in general are pretty foreign to a Nebraskan. Turns out they really bothered me at first until I learned to trust my equipment, myself and the instructors. The first surprise was that on rappel day we would be climbing?

First my squad was instructed on falling? We were to climb halfway up the rappel tower with a belay man below keeping our safety tight. The belay man than stopped taking up slack as we climbed a bit higher and were instructed to let go and fall? letting only the belay system holding us up after a short free fall. I won?t even try to sound macho through this? my mind had a lot of trouble allowing my body to let loose the wall! The fall was short and the dynamic (stretching) rope absorbed the shock. I learned here that I had nothing to fear.

Next we were to conduct a Prusik climb. With a rope from the top of the tower we tied ourselves into it with a series of knots that we would be able to slide up the rope when pressure was off the knots? but could not slip when pressure applied. Climbing was no problem for me? I didn?t have to look down! I was able to complete the climb very quickly. Afterward another climb was conducted, the Jumar climb. Jumar is a company that manufactures a mechanical climbing system that can only go up a rope, not down. This climb was conducted away from a face? just a rope dangling into air. I was also able to complete this climb very quickly with no problems. With correct form both climbing techniques are lower body dominated.

Then came the rappelling. We conducted several rappels? I was visibly uncomfortable with all of them? and visibly terrified of one! The first was a rappel down the open side (no wall)? a regular rappel with back first and little need to look down. This was my first time off the tower. I learned here that the only part that bothered me was lowering down off the initial ledge ? once on the rope I had no problems.

Next I had to conduct two rappels with equipment? one on the open face and another down the wall. The ruck weighed somewhere around 40 lb and the M-16 tied with cord like a sling to self and by carabineer to equipment was uncomfortable and that was about the only difference from other Rappels? I though! On the wall I had no problems? On the open side the extra weight threw me off balance and I ended up flipping backward and had to correct myself. I didn?t drop any equipment.

The last rappel was nearly beyond what my mind would allow my body to do. But I did complete the rappel ? on the initial drop I did grab the rope with both hands which cost me the points for the event ? but those were the only points I lost in the day ? a pretty good accumulation compared to most. The rappel was an Australian Rappel? face first down an open face. It was only about 45 feet? but that was plenty high for me. After the Sapper Course I believe that I could now complete this rappel without any trouble as I have grown so much and developed a ?well I don?t want to say a disregard for my safety ? but it?s something similar to that!

I?ll skip a bit and go straight to the cliff day? our rappels and climbs performed on a 90-foot cliff. We conducted both climbs, the jumar up the 90 foot cliff and the prusik up about a 30? section. Both climbs no problem. A Captain in the course with us hooked up the Jumar wrong so that his lower body couldn?t help in the effort and he had to muscle it all the way up as the system wouldn?t let him go down. This put him in a situation of performing a sort of modified pull-up up a 90? cliff! It took a long time but he did make it. Since the system would not allow him to go down he was able to hang-out to take breaks.

After both climbs my squad was to perform the buddy rappel? a rappel with your battle-buddy strapped to your back as if he were a casualty. I hated the idea of this. A good friend of mine attended the course last November and was put out because when he was the casualty his buddy flipped over and rammed my friend into the cliff.

This is a great opportunity to throw in a note about my battle-buddy for the first phase of Sapper School. The highest ranking officer and eblisted man in our class assigned our organization. The Captain (mentioned above) was one of our trainers at Engineer Officer Basic Course and knew both myself and my buddy are best buddies and closer than most brothers. ?Random Pairing? somehow put us together. We are both planning long careers and strive to improve ourselves as much as possible? similar motivations and goals. I am to be a groomsman in his wedding late in the summer.

I was very fearful of hurting my battle-buddy on this last rappel (atleast I thought it was the last one!). His weight did flip me over, however we were able to get down the cliff without my buddy getting hurt. Only two groups didn?t flip over? supposedly our trip over the ledge actually looked half-way decent. I did pull my shoulder pretty good though ? but it was an injury kept in check the rest of the course with a regiment of Naprocin.

Next we conducted the One-Rope bridge across a very cold Roubidoux river, hauled our equipment up the cliff with a frame system and then lowered a casualty down the cliff on a litter escorted by two rappelers. I was the casualty. Feeling the ground slide out from under you as you are completely immobilized is pretty crazy experience. By now the cliff really didn?t bother me anymore? I was having fun!
The frame system calls for a bit of expansion. Not sure exactly what happened but somehow our entire squad messed up except for the ?mule team? at the bottom of the cliff. My buddy and I made a small error constructing the top of the frame which consisted of a very complicated knot. The two man team constructing the bottom of the frame messed their part up. And the team tying the anchor from the frame to a tree screwed their know up too! But the cake goes to the squad member who tied the haul ropes? I have no idea how he screwed up so bad since usually he did pretty good at most events. He had only two different knots to tie, twice each. Both knots were on the knot test meaning they have been tied by us so many times that we had rehearsed them so many times we could probably do them in the dark behind our backs. Then he was to put the ropes into a water-proof bag to be thrown over the cliff and not get stuck in the trees. Our system was ready ? we were well ahead on time? and the bag of rope was handed to me? we hooked up the proper knot to our frame and I threw it over? it fell a short distance and then caught on itself somehow? only about a quarter down the cliff. A few gentlemanly qualities had abandoned me for the duration of the course and I yelled some expletive. Quickly I hauled the ropes back up the cliff and pulled the ropes out of the bag. They didn?t come out like a rope packed with the intention of falling out should? it came out as a big ball of two 120? ropes tangled. I looked back at the squad member with so much anger as to hear about it later. With only a couple of minutes of our time hack remaining my buddy and I began untangling the ropes. My buddy finished first and dropped his end over the cliff. Problem was? it should have been a loop, with no ends! Only two of the four knots were tied! There was no time to fix it? I dropped my now untangled end over the cliff. The mule team at the bottom quickly tied a figure of eight loop, hooked in the required gear and hauled the required gear up in 30 seconds? about half the time it usually takes? They were the only ones to not mess up the event. Oh, I suppose the soldier from the Jamaican Defense Force didn?t mess up either as his job was to stay out of the way.

To finish up the day we conducted a rappel I didn?t know we were doing- a mass night rappel, one man after another off the same cliff with equipment into blackness broken only by a blue chem.-light at the bottom. As stated the cliff didn?t bother me anymore? and I performed a perfect rappel in form and sped down with a great speed slowing down only at the bottom? but of course it was dark and I could say anything ? you?ll just have to take my word for it!

Between the rappel tower and the cliff day we went to Lake of the Ozarks for Water Operations. In the initial phase this was both my and my battle-buddy?s day to shine. Several of the training events were cancelled to do extreme conditions? we came up with a story that we had to hack through the ice with axes before getting in the water to make us sound completely hard-core? but I?ll skip that and fall back on honesty: The water was 34 degrees F! The helocast and boat drills were not conducted. We were also told that we would not be swimming with poncho rafts. We were instructed to make a poncho raft and then tested on tying it. The poncho raft floats your rucksacks only ? not the person. After tying it we were sent to the water?s edge. Once there we were forced into the water to do flutter-kicks? soaking our wet-suits. A wet-suit works by saturating with water? which forms a seal ? then your body warms the water keeping the wearer warm (supposedly). The suit covered our head, except for the face, our feet and our torsos. Hands arms and legs were left exposed. Once hitting the water nothing could stop me? the only way out and to the fire was to swim out the 100 M or so and back. I am a very strong swimmer and gave it everything I had? the rope from me to the raft was tight the whole time and my buddy was able to keep up although his rope wasn?t taunt. He helped out a lot by escorting the raft to the side and behind to keep my legs unrestricted so I could most efficiently swim. We were the first group in, by a pretty good distance. Once by the fire our hands started to thaw out ? a very painful experience. After all were in there were four of our group who were in the water too long huddled in the van with heaters blasting trying to fight off hypothermia. One man next to me by the fire would have collapsed if we didn?t catch him after his legs seized up on him.

Also at the lake we conducted boat operations, on shore. Nothing needing note there. In the morning we had a Physical Training session of Boat PT? the toughest PT I had ever done. This consisted of about a two mile run with each squad carrying a Zodiac boat. We had to stop several times on the way out and back to do bench-presses or military presses with the boat. Nobody faired well through this event.

In addition to all of this in the first two weeks we also covered several other areas. Such as foreign weapons and mines (featuring a very nice collection of rifles, sidearms and machine guns and the opportunity to fire an AK-47. We also hit on a medical class? the first half specific to Ft Leonard Wood and it?s venomous plants, insects and snakes, common injuries and heat/cold risks. The second half of this section was after our 12 mile/3 hour road march, we had to stick each other with IV lines because in the summer usually everyone needs it after this grueling march? not as needed for our winter class however it was still part of the training. I don?t think I made my buddy loose too much blood! We also were trained on marking Landing/Drop zones, breaching wire obstacles and mine fields, emplacing and removing booby traps? both of my traps successful ? but than again, someone else?s killed me. But the training that was the best was the random events/lectures/lessons from the Cadre as they seemed appropriate.

After all of that and with Physical Training every morning we were already pushed to our perceived limits? our brains and our bodies pushed into fatigue ? and now it was time to go into patrol phase ? which would turn out to be much more intense than general studies phase.

The first few days were spent back at Garrison with instruction in Troop Leading Procedures, Operations Orders, Fragmentary Orders, Warning Orders, Order Annexes, Patrolling tactics, movements, haults, raids, recon, assaults and much more. Everyday was about four-five hours longer than what we had in General Studies Phase.

Once out in the field one big long day began. In Nine days we slept twice in our Fire Base in a small building with a stove? for four and six hours. Except for that we would sleep each night after setting up a patrol base. Once night we slept 3 hours and one morning before a rappel and river crossing we were given an extra hour and a half for the sake of safety. On the rest of the nights we slept less than an hour. One three night stretch sleep came in at a half hour, 45 minutes and 30 minutes for the entire time. One morning we had a four mile movement by road to a patrol base - since we were on a road all of our minds drifted away from task since we no longer had to concentrate on not breaking or twisting an ankle on the rocky terrain hidden under inches of leaves. Two of our stronger marchers fell asleep and fell down while marching. One was right in front of me ? he fell sideways with his shoulder and neck hitting the edge of the road? he was alright, fall broken by his rucksack. As for me ? I was having a hell of a time with a radio and M-240B ammo in addition to the standard load? that kept me awake no problem.

That night an idiot from our platoon size patrol was caught smoking in the patrol base. Myself and my buddy mentioned above (we had different battle-buddies for patrol phase but somehow we still managed to be on the same details) were on the Listening Point/Observation Point near the cadre?s fire (close enough to see, not feel that is). We were able to watch as they put the smoker through corrective training for well over an hour. By the end he was crying and asked to leave the course only a few days from the end. Normally he would be allowed to quit but our class had an entire unit cancel and we were already at half capacity ? everyone was needed. Two left for medical and that was it. Neither of us felt much sympathy for our ?buddy? receiving extra attention as he was one of our weakest links ? mostly because of a complacent attitude.

My worst day came early in patrol phase. I let my mind play games on me and convince myself that I could not go on. The thought of quitting was on everyone?s mind at some point or another and most of us had to spend a good amount of thought convincing ourselves to go on. I wasn?t about to quit ? but walking through the woods with a M240B machine gun instead of a nice light weight M-16 and a couple hundred extra blank rounds for it my eyes went to each rock and log and I fantasized about twisting an ankle or even breaking it. My awareness of the terrain only increased and I rolled my ankles less time that day than any other. The day itself was gorgeous ? not a cloud in the sky? it felt like 70, but was probably more like 45 ? balmy on a heavy loaded ruck at about 55 lbs with a machine gun slung over shoulders. By the time we stopped for an objective rally point while appropriate personnel went forward to recon a bridge I was covered with sweat? I had to lay down on the ground behind my machine gun and the ground down near the river was wet and muddy ? the lack of clouds turned a nice day into a very cold night quickly. Since at hault I put on a heavy poly-pro shirt underneath my BDU top and T-shirt (poly-pro works best against skin). Cold and miserable at night was the standard operating procedure for Sapper School in a Missouri Winter? so I didn?t give it any thought when the typical ?I?m freezing to death? feeling started to seep in. I don?t know exactly when it started to turn worse? but it did. Despite ?spooning? with my assistant gunner and wearing a little bit of warm gear (which was now wet with sweat and moisture from the ground ? my body started to shut down. I wasn?t cold anymore but my body was still shivering out of control in near convulsions? I couldn?t move? couldn?t talk and couldn?t even think right ? I was afraid that the cadre would see me as I was definitely at cold-weather casualty levels? the last thing I wanted was to be removed from the course now even thought earlier in the day I wanted to! I would rather have continued to freeze. I literally was unable to ask my buddy for help ? all I could do was mumble and shiver ? but my assistant gunner? buddy for the mission noticed that something was wrong and that I was beyond the typical shivering and misery common to all nights and all men. I don?t even remember it happening but at some point I was covered with a poncho liner and he laid on top of me rubbing my arms with another Sapper rubbing my legs? In any other case this would have been a very strange arrangement? but in the field you do what you have to. I have no idea how long we were there ? probably a couple of hours as typical to most stays in an objective rally point ? I don?t remember it all even though they said I was awake the whole time. I told myself that after swimming in the Lake of the Ozarks I had passed to coldest experience of my entire life? I didn?t think I would pass it up a week later! Afterward we were brought up to the road for an After Action Review? where I was yelled at for having a poncho liner around my shoulders? we didn?t have to remain tactical during this time so I was able to warm up by jogging in place. Then came the NEXT disaster of the day. The same weapon that ?accidentally? discharged on three others discharged with me. All I did was open the feed tray on the M240B and it fired a single blank round ? the exact same thing that happened several days earlier to the same Sapper that warmed me up a few hours earlier? weapon on safe and everything! A deluge of yelling was followed by an explanation by myself of what happened and a denial of the possibility from the Cadre until one of the cadre explained how this could happen.

Food was also a precious commodity in the field. Generally we were allowed two MRE?s/day? but on several days this was cut down to one. On one day our resupply truck ?hit a landmine? and we received no more MRE?s? this resulted in most of us eating nothing for two days. At the end of this surprise starvation we arrived back at base camp to find crates of rabbits and chickens. There were a few soldiers bothered by the idea of killing and eating dinner? however empty stomachs and exhaustion won out and everyone ate as much as their stomachs could handle? there was even one chicken and one rabbit left over- they were released to the field ? I?m sure a coyote must have picked them up.

In a typical day we would receive a mission in the morning and a mission following the previous mission?s completion. Leadership positions were rotated for each mission? one group plans another executes and the same for the second mission. Two of my leadership positions were in the planning phase ? one for a raid on urban terrain (something completely new to me) and the other a raid into a trench/bunker system (also something new to me). The operations order for Sapper School was the toughest part of the entire school for me? and I did not get ?goes? on either planning mission. This resulted in me achieving completion status of the course rather than graduation. I performed either to standard or excelled in all other events.

The status of completion vs. graduation really represents very little difference? I am still called a ?Sapper? by the Sapper School and the Army. If a Sapper Tab is ever approved for wear on the uniform I would not be permitted to wear it though. I should have the opportunity to attend the school again? and this time I will have more experience with the Army technically/tactically and with the operations order itself so I can count on that not holding me up again!

Sapper school has been the toughest and most rewarding experience of my life. I was miserable and happy the entire time! Every engineer soldier must attend this training and as the course becomes available to more branches all soldiers should especially combat arms.

[DMZ-LT]

Keep movin Brad, your doing good !! When can you branch transfer to the Cavalry ? Hang together or you hang alone.