I'm reading the book "Red Platoon" by Clinton Romesha - a former cav scout who was awarded the Medal of Honor at COP Keating and something just IS NOT right with this book. Here, I'll post some excerpts:
First one:
Talking about someone showing up late to formation, being given a heavy stick to carry
> ""from now on, you will carry this stick with you everywhere you go." With that, we all headed off on a fifteen mile training run"
(P.44 para. 3)
Okay here's number 2
While talking about a morning PT session, after proclaiming that the E-5 running PT the next morning drank 15 beers the night prior -
>"...then he'd reappear at 6 a.m. And announce that even though we'd won our last football game against blue platoon, we hadn't won by enough points, do everyone was going to do a twenty-mile warm up run and spend the rest of the morning doing uphill wind sprints until at least half of us puked"
(p.47, para. 4)
>twenty mile warm up run
>twenty mile
>warm up
This is talking about a fucking regular army platoon of Cav scouts. The first time I figured - hey, the guys been out of the military a little bit, maybe he forgot some things - maybe it was really a ruck march. But there no excuse for this flat out bullshit. A 20 mile run is almost a marathon.
Are you fucking kidding me? Let me guess, his dick is 10 inches too.
It nvalidates the entire book for me. It's similar to before I went to basic when I met a basic drop out in the recruiters office claiming he had THREE HUNDRED pounds in his ruck.
Then I look at some statistics - initial claims of 400 fighters. Then dumbed down to 300. I'm willing to bet there were ~75 of them. They were too busy running 20 miles for a warm up to notice them sneaking into the COP.
Sorry for the grammar mistakes. I typed this in a fit of rage.
I might as well burn the shit. I don't even feel like reading it anymore.
>>30428782
the fuck does it matter how much they ran?
>>30428805
Because it's a blatant lie. It destroys his credibility.
>>30428805
How am I supposed to believe 300 insurgents overran his position of 50 guys when he says they ran "20 miles" when they realistically did not run more than 5.
Sometimes mean sons of bitches like the aforementioned sergeant can say shit like "twenty mile warm up" or "I will PT you until you fucking die" without meaning it literally. It's called hyperbole, I know autists have trouble grasping the concept, but Jesus OP get a grip.
>>30428782
That sounds 100% legit for an Airborne Infantry platoon. Perhaps his leaders came from the 82nd. Really. We used to suffer that shit everyday in the deuce.
Not difficult to believe at all.
>>30429025
....20 mile warmup? Was your unit made up exclusively of marathon runners?
>>30429039
Not that guy....but no....we get to Pt formation and the Platoon Sergeant sayswe are running 20 miles today....we run for a fucking long time. Feels like 20 miles....but later when we map it out its like 5. We once actually did ten, but we knew ahead of time.
Lots of fuck fuck games....and yes, often times the Sergeant woukd be an alcoholic
>>30429039
you seem to be really hung up on that
like you can't let it go because of some Neurodevelopmental disorder
He is not saying he did that in courtry. Right?
We, on our run day, did several miles. 20 for a ruck isn't That unheard if in cav world. I remember being the only troop running as far as we did around the ?-327th battion.
300lbs? Nope. Outright lie.
Now...on to KOP. I was at Little King/Bari Ali, so the KOP thing was more than 'close to home'.
A couple hundred (absolute max) to 100 probably closer to the numbers of enemy fighters. When they Want to take over a base they do use those numbers, they have to.
Regular fights are 30-40. Heavy ones, involving long convoyes, need x2-3 as many....so...exaggerated that fight or not, it's hard to tell given that eye witnesses are a bit "engaged".
>>30429091
> Pirtle King not Little King
>>30429074
Autism? On my /k/?
>>30429039
20 miles isn't a warm-up but we ran 15-20 miles on battalion runs.
>>30429098
>>30429091
your wrx is slow.
>mine is too
>>30429105
I'm a serious runner and if I had to run 20 miles I'd probably be confined to light exercise for a month after.
>>30428782
We used make guys in our platoon that fucked up carry around Pvt Rock for a week. You were his battle buddy and accountable for him 24/7. He even had to be in the correct duty uniform for the day.
Shit like that must be a Cav Scout thing.
>>30429324
You're not that serious of a runner. My entire battalion minus the few drop outs made the runs.
LTC Vines led the run. He later became the General in charge of the entire 82nd Airborne.
>>30429305
/o/ break? /o/ break.
Mods? Stage 1+ suspension/braking type mods. Was fast when I got it...now it's slow as dirt, except 0-60/60ft. What's the fastest you've got it up to?
140mph here...bought it in '11, selling in the fall...if not I would swap the tranny for an STi one and mod to infinity...but...divorce, so I'm leaving country.
>>30429091
mortar cans are best cans
>>30429324
>I'm a serious runner
Yeah but you probably also don't ruck as well. Conditioning in basic is a little more intense than just a morning and afternoon jog.
>>30429025
>>30429105
>>30429370
What Battalion and Brigade please?
>>30428782
Yep, that's total bullshit.
>>30429305
>>30429376
>/o/ break? /o/ break.
guise, I'm picking up a 2010 challenger RT today.
I'm /hype/
>>30429324
.mil guys are expert bullshitters
>>30429791
Thank you for your service
>>30429816
M60 gunner, Weapons Squad, 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. 88-92
>>30430159
Another anon, but genuinely thank you for your service
That's some cool shit
OP has a point. 10 milers are common but a 20 mile would take all morning. It would be unusual PT anyway.
>>30430159
I believe you, 82nd marches all night from a drop zone in training all of the time.
>>30430159
you are too old to post here
>20 mile run
That'd take hours. I'm calling bullshit.
>>30430211
And just where should I be posting - AARP discussion boards about proper Geritol dosage?
>>30429324
then youre really not a serious runner. i would be rekt from one but would be back within a week because thats how running recovery works.
>>30430310
That's a good start. Maybe you can start your own board full of geriatric, liver spotted old fucks wearing bifocals who think it was so much hardcore during desert storm.
>>30430295
I recall a SGM telling a buck sergeant at the repo depot, "Motherfucker, you ain't in the Army no more - you in the got damn 82nd Airborne!"
We did a couple 20 milers. Believe me you.
>>30430328
Sure thing buddy. Tell me what jumping into panama was like.
>>30430317
how about I cheeki breeki your shit
>>30429370
For what purpose?
"Let's hammer the guys and piss them off for a week"
The Brits used to do unit runs in respirators if they fucked up. I didn't see the point in them vomiting all over the place. I never got what the obsession was with some Infantry units in doing stupid, harmful PT en masse.
20 miler for PT is bullshit.
>>30430317
I have fessed up time and again that airborne and ranger troops are better trained than we were. It is a fat of life in the military. A decade from now, troops will be better equipped and better trained than today's soldiers.
But I do know the type you're talking about. I heard a joke in Ranger school - How many Rangers does it take to change a light bulb? 4. One to change it and three to stand around and talk about how hard it was to change it back in their day.
>>30428837
>>30429025
>>30428837
When I first arrived to Bragg, they put a bunch of us in Echo Company (support) for a while. Their CO was getting ready to go to a school or something high speed, so we all ran 10 miles every singly fucking day. We always got back late. When I finally made it to Bravo (line) we actually ran less. It's all up to the leadership. We did some hardcore PT in B Co., but not running, not like that anyway. He's just embellishing the PT I think. Not outright lies, just bullshit, like other anons are saying.
The drinking sounds believable. Lots of guys would be sweating alcohol in the morning.
>>30430341
Uh... well, if you really want to know... I landed near the oil tanks on Omar Torrijos Airport / Tocumen Military Airfield.
I guess you caught the right guy to talk to this morning.
>>30430371
Perhaps you are correct. But at least everyone in the battalion knew they could run 20 miles. A mental thing maybe.
>>30430317
>reduce salt inatke
>>30429324
There's runners, and then there's runners, mate. I'd need a day off AT MOST. Then it's once more unto the breach. Gotta work for that sweet runner's high.
>>30430385
Did you ever meet the Brit warrant officer who was about 40 (but ran, marched, shot, drank and brawled like he was 20) and had the physique of an African tribesman? Tall, razor thin and had meth teeth. I couldn't understand what he was talking about most of the time but everyone liked him.
No idea what he was doing there and no one else seemed to know either. PT fiend and very, very close with some of the more secretive types around.
>>30430509
edit: this would have been 2009, early 2010.
>>30430509
Holy shit - were 4/325? We had a monster Brit attached to us. We did our best to get him on chalk to jump into the invasion. His embassy no-go'd it. We felt like shit leaving him behind.
>>30429039
Can you NOT run 20 miles? It's not like running a marathon takes much more than being in reasonable shape. I've done a marathon and then pitched a competitive baseball game later that afternoon, it's hardly some devastating physical accomplishment.
>>30430390
Kekkkkk. That's great man.
>>30430373
I am the original troll that jabbed you.
I have been in off and on since 2000. Training hit a high point about 2011 and has rapidly declined since.Now I am not talking the usual "do more with less" thatwe had pre-9/11 I am talking we are getting bogged down with SHARP, EO, Suicide prevention, Risk management, mandatory online training and a ton kf other shit that isnt about killing the enemy or keeping your buddy alive. I have to teach Privates fresh from OSUT or AIT (depending on what MOS I am being made to work as) which end of their rifle the bullets come out of and why eating nothing but tomatos wont build muscle....and I have to do this between classes about why I should be using "I messages" to be a better communicator.
>>30430509
I ETS'd in '09, no idea what you're talking about, sorry
>>30430656
I joined in 08. This is very true. I just had to push out extraneous "cyber awareness training" that nearly the same shit as the annual IA training. It's fucking ridiculous. There was a good article written by a major I believe that proved that the army mandates all this bullshit training but doesn't give us enough actual training days to complete it yearly. So what suffers is you basic soldier tasks and MOS skills. I've been saying it for years, my primary MOS has never been my actual MOS, instead I'm stuck doing all this extra busywork.
I don't believe a single person that says they have ran twenty miles while in the army
You probably ran at most 5-7. Battalion and brigade runs seem long because there are so many people.
Running twenty miles isn't a small feat. Considering people are sore after a two mile PT test or a 5k. Most soldiers cannot even run a 10k.
Do not believe this bullshit one bit.
I would expect more from a MOH recipient
Yea that's bullshit. I was in semi-swoopy unit and we were all moderately /fit/ and the longest we ever ran was like 12 miles and that was once for some charity event and we had a few days to prepare for it
gtfo with your 20mile warmup run
Never believe anything a man with a beard says
Also US infantry is total shit, they don't teach any real fighting, its all "hunker down and wait for air support"
So it was probably just a dozen talibads
>>30428782
This happens all the time.
You never actually go that far, it's just so they can make you want to die for having fun, and then you stop.
>>30428782
Personal experience says the drinking is about right. I've sweated out plenty at PT. When i was I Germany, top used to determine the length of the Monday morning PT run by the amount of alcohol that rose off morning formation.
PT numbers sounds a little whack but again hyperbole. Of course, I was a pogue ass 95B so even at Bragg, the most we ran was 6 miles on friday.
>>30429039
It's called "runner's rhythm"
Everyone wants to vomit after mile 2.
After mile 4 you can run all day so long as you have a loaded camelbak and some crackers.
>>30432152
Bullshit
>>30432226
How do you think marathon runners do it?
Just fucking Google "runner's rhythm"
If you do any kind of distance running you'd know what I'm talking about.
I'm not that right build for full marathons, but I do the half marathon every April. No
>>30432269
Marathon runners. Not a bunch of new Cav Scouts. No one in an army unit is leading a 20 mile run.
>>30431199
That is true for MI and other POGs, combat arms are a little more fit.
>>30432307
You're right.
But you implied that running extreme distances is some sort of voodoo, when really all it takes is mental willpower and lucky genetics.
Pretty much anyone can run 10 miles of they really put their mind to it.
If you can run 2, you can run 10.
But yeah, this guy was full of shit probably.
Kinda like Chris "Superdome Sniper" Kyle.
>>30432325
Combat arms isn't even more fit than the rest of the military
A lot of them are skinny fat smokers
I've known people from the 82nd and assorted infantry divisions that couldn't run to save their lives
>>30432343
Nah, Combat arms is still more fit than the rest of the Army
