The Udari Range Experience

To get the full training experience, I just got back from 3 days, and 2 lovely nights, in the desert just a few miles south of the Iraqi border. We were organized into groups of about 35 people and we slept & had classes in the same room. There were no showers, no running water, and meals consisted of MREs (meals ready to eat). Of course, as my brother, Jim, says, the term "meals ready to eat" consists of three lies. They are neither meals, nor are they ready, nor should they be eaten.

The training consisted of more classes on convoy operations, more classes and experience in close-quarters marksmanship (think shooting while walking in a line just past the shoulder of the person in front of you), and more Humvee convoy training with explosions and people shooting tracers around us.

The training was good, but I'm not sure I needed to be sequestered in the desert to get the experience. The most important learning points were situational awareness and good communications, points that apply in every aspect of life.

Here's what else we learned: take a group of people that you've never met (OK, I do know a couple of them from med school, prior training) and put them into close quarters for a period of time and you really learn about personalities. You quickly

learn who is reliable, selfish, selfless, insecure, obnoxious, etc. This is not an officer/enlisted or male/female issue. This is an issue that crosses those lines and I think that much of it comes from how they were raised. I remember my Dad saying that the most important thing in marriage is that the two people are courteous to each other. That also applies in close quarter living. I never cease to be amazed at how self-centered people can be. Sigh.