Spur Ride: The Ruck March

Before I get into the Ruck March, a few of you have asked what the Spur Ride is. So I took a few paragraphs from our history study guide that explain it fairly well.


The Order of the Spur is a Cavalry tradition in the United States Army. For a cavalry Trooper (the cavalry equivalent of the word "Soldier") to join the order of the spur, they must pass a series of tests set by their command--the spur ride. Once accomplished, the Trooper is awarded spurs to be worn with his or her military uniform. However, a Trooper may forgo the tests in joining the order of the spur if they see combat with their cavalry unit. In some units, gold spurs are awarded for combat inductions while silver spurs represent having completed a spur ride. Therefore, silver spurs and gold spurs hold a relationship in the cavalry as the Expert Infantryman Badge and the Combat Infantryman Badge holds in the infantry.
Induction into the Order of the Spur is for life, and the status travels with the Soldier from unit to unit. There is no Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) requirement for the order of the spur, and the order is open to members of foreign military serving with U.S. cavalry units. As a member of the order, a cavalry Trooper also acquires the last benefit of stopping for a drink at the mythical canteen Fiddler's Green on their descent into Hell.
The tradition of having to "earn your spurs" reaches back to the beginning of the cavalry. When green Troopers first arrived at their new cavalry assignments they were assigned a horse with a shaved tail. This led to the nickname "Shave Tail" for newly assigned, spurless Soldiers. These new Troopers were in need of extensive training, especially in the area of swordsmanship from atop a horse. The horse with a shaved tail was given extra space in which to operate since its rider was marked as an amateur. During this phase of training the Troopers were not allowed to wear spurs because this would only serve to compound their problems. Only when they were able to prove their ability to perform with their horse and saber were they awarded spurs.

The first event of the Spur Ride was the ruck march. The team had to finish a 2.2 mile march wearing body armor along with a full combat load of ammunition, a ruck filled with numerous items, and our M-16/ M-4. In order to be awarded the full 10 points at the station, the team had to finish in under 35 minutes. We had a practice ruck march prior to the Spur Ride and we finished in 35:09. It proved to be a helpful preparation as we finished somewhere around the 33:00- 34:00 mark. Unfortunately, we didn't snap any pictures, but those who did were kind enough to share them. The ruck march was followed by the tire change station, which I will put up a post in a few days for that. For now, I have a few photos of the first event to share with you. Enjoy. Soldiers crossing the start line, beginning their 2.2 mile march.
Soldiers pushing it hard in the final 300 meters.
CPT Lunsford carrying double the weight. HOOAH!

Team America rests before heading out to their first station.

Spur Ride

Here are a few pictures I have of the Spur Ride. I'll dedicate a post to each event with more pictures in the future. Gearing up and getting ready to start the ruck march.
Trying to get ahead of the team for a video opportunity.

Teams making their way around the course.
The weapons station.
Ready to capture the days events.
The grenade station.
TEAM AMERICA

Appeal For Courage

I read about this in the Army Times a few weeks ago. It is for service-members only and is authorized under DoD Directive 1325.6 and DoD Directive 7050.6. The appeal reads:
"As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack."
If you agree, visit the website and let your voice be heard.

A Lucky Day

For some odd reason the internet in my hooch is working extremely well today, so I thought I'd take advantage and do a quick post. Maybe even live on the edge a little and try to post a picture or two. The weather has been awesome lately, with highs in the upper 60's. Today looks to be another beautiful day and just in time for the softball tournament. We are sitting at 2nd in our league, but have a good shot of taking it all. We will will play at 1300, and if we win then we will have another game at 1500. Should we win that game, we will play one final game at 1600 for a trip to the championship. The championship will be next weekend, a best of three game series. I feel that the basketball team is falling apart. No-one really gets along and there is always an argument win or lose. One guy has quit 3 times already and will get an earful from me if he decides to come back for a fourth. We recently had a basketball tournament for Black History Month. We won our first round game, but were eliminated two nights later.
Jamie Kennedy is making a stop in these parts sometime next week along with Paul Wall. Really looking forward to that. Hopefully I can make it in as I am sure the theater will be packed.

A New Office

Recently we moved our mail operations from a "hole" to a "can". I would load some pictures for your viewing pleasure, but the internet in my room isn't what it used to be, and blogger has been blocked on our government computers, so maybe someday I'll make it down to the MWR center and use their internet. Mail has picked up since word got out about our extension, so it's back to the headaches of several pallets a day. The new mailroom is a little bigger than our old one, but we are still trying to get it up to par. I moved all the shelving units and desk over from previous mailroom, now I'm working on getting the AC unit repaired. I just took it in today to the civilians, and we should get it back in a few days. For now, we have a big hole in our mailroom. The weather has been excellent. Still a little cool at night, but I'll take it over the weather we had been having a few weeks ago. Burnometer and I have been hitting the weights hard and heavy. We wake up at 0530 4 days a week to throw the weights around. Last summer we had started what is called the "T-Shirt program" and it worked out pretty well. So we decided we would do it again since we hadn't lifted all winter. I have been taking a protein supplement after workouts, but I just ran out the other day. One of my other buddies has been using this weight gainer for about 6 months and gained 30 pounds so far, so I decided to switch from the protein, to the weight gainer. Burnometer and I are in the middle of our 4th week, and next week we will be starting the first week of phase 2, a much more rigorous phase than the 1st. Out of the 4 weeks we have been working out, I have gained 5-6 pounds, so I'm looking to, as they say in the gym, "take it to the next level". No basketball games lately, besides the one last Friday which was cancelled due to the referee's not showing up. We took the top seed in our league in softball recently, but the most recent game was a win by forfeit. Next week we will face off with C 2-123 Armor, our "in Squadron rivals". They are already talking a lot of smack, but it will be no contest if you ask me.

Stuk Hear In Irak

I always complain about not having anything exciting to write about. Well, this morning we had a little dilemma that I thought was pretty "out of the norm", so I thought I'd share it with all of you. I guess I should start off by letting you know that we are currently in the rainy season here in Iraq (September-March). We have had a few rain-showers already, and it shows. Everywhere you go, there are huge puddles of water. It is hard to avoid these puddles on our daily travels to the JMMT, chow hall, post office, laundry facility or wherever it is that we usually travel on a daily basis. Sometimes, it's a little tempting to drive through the water. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's the joy of splashing the water as high as you can, or testing the limits of your vehicle to see if there is anything that could possibly stand in it's way.

Well, that's how this story could be started. After chow, we were driving towards the main road here on base when we found ourselves headed towards a huge water puddle. I think that is where I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

As we approached the puddle, we decided we should get back on the path which wasn't as muddy. As the driver turned back towards the path, our front left tired dropped as if we were driving off the edge of a cliff. As our vehicle sunk in the soft sand pocket, it felt as if the vehicle was going to roll over. If you look at the third picture, the grille armor rested on the ground and kept us from rolling over. The vehicle's weight from the armor pushed us deep into the sand pocket, leaving us unable to back out of it. If you look closely at the 4th picture, the front axle is actually submerged in the mud as well, deterring us from moving anywhere.

I hauled butt back to the AO (Area of Operations), and asked one of my go-to guys, SSG Campbell, if he could help get us out. SSG Campbell and I used to be in the same platoon back home, so we have always been working together. He drove me back to our LMTV in the PLS (Palletized Loading System) where we were able to hook up to the LMTV with a chain. As we pulled the LMTV out, we were able to see just how deep the mud was. You can't really get a good idea from this picture, but I would say it was about 2 feet deep.

I think we will use paved roads from now on. Especially since I don't have very good luck with LMTVs in the first place. If you don't know what I am talking about, I am referring to the time I was performing PMCS (Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services) on the LMTV. I used the cab lift to lower the cab, when all of a sudden, the hydraulic arm snapped in half and the cab came crashing down, right next to where I had been standing.

Back to Church

With the holidays in our rear-view mirror, the mail loads have dwindled down to nearly 1-2 pallets per day. With all the hustle and bustle of our holiday mail, I found myself working through church on Sundays. Now those days are a thing of the past and I finally made it back to church today. Usually I am up at the altar serving as the acolyte, but since I hadn't been there in a while, I figured I'd just sit where everyone else does. They had found a replacement anyway, since I had been gone for about 1 1/2 months. I noticed a few newer faces among the church-goers. A lot of them wore the "Corn-cob Patch". As I was walking out, I ran into 2LT Kane, with the 734th Trans. I about addressed him as Chaplain, but noticed he wasn't wearing the Chaplain's Cross on his uniform. The last time I saw him, he was an E-5 chaplain's assistant. He said he had gone to OCS a couple years ago and is now a transportation officer for the 734th. So we had a chance to catch up, and along came CPT Benak. CPT Benak served with my dad back in '04-'05. I guess it's a small world, especially in the military.
I know I haven't posted in a while, but as usual, there is a lack of exciting things going on. The weather is still pretty cool. Hopefully it won't last too much longer. As hot as it gets in the summer, you'd think it would be warming up by now. I'd much rather be out in the 118 degree heat than the 20-30 degree lows we have been having. The only good I see in the cool weather is the decrease of indirect fire attacks. I think the insurgents are too lazy to attack us when it's cold out. Well, college football is almost over and that means basketball season is upon us. The men's Husker basketball team got off to a good start. I think they are around 11-4 right now, plus they beat 20th ranked Creighton, which is always good. Right now our team is 8-3. We had a game on Friday against one of the toughest teams we've seen so far. We were down by 2 at the half. During the second half, we looked like we were scared to be out there. We finished the game losing by 20 or so.
The softball team, on the other hand, is looking really good. After the first inning, we found ourselves down 12-2, but we fought back and beat our opponents 15-13. It was a good game, but we need to get more players to show up. Right now we are 8-1. We hope to be playing for the Mayor's Championship sometime in the next 3-4 weeks.