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Fort Riley Desert Training: Day 2

First look at Ft. Irwin's training facility

Story by Ben Bauman (Contact)

4:21 p.m. Monday, July 14, 2008

Day 2

Checked out at 7:45 and headed down "The Strip" and out of Vegas (after a drive-thru at McDonalds). Got on I-15 headed south, me driving and Justin recording portions of the scenery.

This is desert. Scrub brush dots the landscape. There are large, flat areas that go on for miles, but always mountains visible. At one point, we saw a sign that said "Baker 11 miles". Off in the distance, we could see what looked like a small town. It looked like it was just a mile or so ahead. Several minutes later, when we still hadn't gotten to the town, I realized it was Baker we had seen from 11 miles away.

Just outside Barstow, we found the turn-off for Fort Irwin. Only 31 miles to go.

Getting through the checkpoint at Fort Irwin was not as difficult as I expected. Our names were on the list, so a check of ID and the rental car papers and we were through.

After circling the post a couple of times, we finally found the Public Affairs Office. We got a briefing of about an hour, then loaded in a van and were driven out into the desert. We passed through a checkpoint, manned by a soldier in the "Iraqi army."

After several miles we arrived at FOB King, a tent city, surrounded by sand berms, razor wire and filled with military vehicles and activity. We were taken into the TOC (Tactical Operations Center), which is filled with computers, satellite communications gear etc. used to direct exercises. We got another briefing and brief outline of where we will spend our week.

We were handed helmets and loaded into Humvees for the trip to FOB (Forward Operating Base) Seattle. The helmets were useful in protecting our heads as they slammed against the roof on our way. It was roughest ride ever.

Arrived FOB Seattle, got a quick tour of the FOB, dumped our gear in a huge tent -- about 100x60 ft. -- filled with cots. We watched some soldier struggle to get cots set up for us and headed to chow.

Chow Hall is another huge tent, except with tables instead of cots. Dinner was chicken with rice, mixed veggies, supplemented with fruit cocktail, white bread and cookies. Drink choices are milk, chocolate milk, pink lemonade and water. I'm sure it wasn't that great, in fact, I heard few soldiers complain that it wasn't as good as the previous night. But to Justin and me, who skipped lunch, it was pretty good.

After dinner, we headed to our cots, but on the way, we were hailed down by a Topeka kid. Wes Wilson, graduate of Shawnee Heights. He said the tent his group was in only had eleven guys in it so there was plenty more room there. We accepted his offer and he and a few guys from his group helped move gear and cots.

Justin and I did some more work then, interviewed Wes, and a couple of other guys from his group, then went to the tent next door and found a couple more interviews.

Then, Justin saved what we shot to clear space for the next day, we found AC power to get gear and phones charging, and hit the cots.

An Army cot is aluminum frame with canvas stretched across. And the canvas is really stretched. So much so, that there is almost no give. I don't know about Justin, but I tossed and turned much of the night, in between stretches of sleep.

Our tent is climate-controlled though. Huge generators run huge heating and cooling units. AC runs during the day and heat at night. Even with the heat, it was hard to keep warm.

Read and watch the Day 1 report here.

See more photos below