 Okay, move out. For the global defense of freedom, the United States Army depends upon many factors. Lightning like firepower and mobility. A flexible and unbreakable chain of supply and resupply. And above all, the Army depends upon men. Men trained to perform their assigned mission. In combat, no mission is greater than that of the infantry. And no man is more vital than the individual infantry soldier. This is the story of how infantrymen are trained, individually trained, to perform their mission. Well, Dad, with graduation only a few days away, I'll be getting my orders soon. Some of the guys I've been writing you about have already gotten theirs. Jim Stinson volunteered for jump school at Fort Benning. He'll be leaving any day now. And remember Lou Messig, the guy you and mom met when we graduated from basic training? He's going to officer's candidate school. Quite a few guys from my company are going. It's possible I could be going to OCS myself, but since I haven't heard anything official, it's more likely I'll be joining an infantry outfit. If so, I feel ready for any assignment the Army wants to give me. I've just finished the best advanced individual training an infantryman can get. I even look different. Here's a picture one of my buddies took a few days ago. You can see I've put on some weight. It's not fat either. I lost what little I had of that. But there's something else that you can't see in the picture. Something that's become part of me too. All the experience I've gained since we first reported in nearly eight weeks ago. Fort Ord isn't only a basic training center. It's also one of the largest centers in the world for advanced individual training in different Army specialties. One of these specialties is infantry, and the sign by the post entrance tells you so. There's the long rifle, the combat infantry badge worn by Army foot soldiers who've been in combat. We got used to seeing that badge because the men who give this advanced individual training are almost all combat veterans. Welcome to range 36, weapons demonstration. This morning you will see a demonstration of all the weapons of the infantry. Weapons which you yourself will learn to use during your next eight weeks of advanced individual training. That weapons demonstration was a surefire way to get our undivided attention right from the start of our training. It's quite an arsenal when you stop and think about it. The major introduced us to the various weapons individually, some we'd use, some we hadn't. They ranged from the light weapons carried by an infantry squad to the big recoilless rifle that rides a mount on a jeep and needs a four-man crew to serve it. It really packs a punch. After we got a look at what each of the weapons could do individually, the major showed us what the total firepower of an infantry company looks and sounds like when it all goes to work at once. They call this the mad minute. Everything cuts loose, rifles, grenades, machine guns, mortars, the works. The military name for it is PLF, Protective Line of Fire, and it's like a solid wall of flying steel. Any enemy advancing against it is bound to feel he's gotten into the wrong place at the wrong time. The mad minute ended the demonstration, but for us it was also the beginning of advanced individual training in infantry. During the next eight weeks, the red firing range flag became a familiar sight. One of the basic personal weapons is the .45 caliber pistol. Our instructor showed us how it was done, and they made a big point out of range safety. If a muzzle never points toward anyone, loaded or unloaded, there's no trouble. That's the rule, and you will obey it. After eight hours of instruction spread over the first couple of weeks, we got to know the .45. We got good enough to be dangerous with it in close combat, and that's all the .45 was designed for. Probably none of us would make expert at a pistol match. It takes a lot of practice to make a handgun marksman. But we learned how to take care of it, and use it to take care of ourselves at needy. Another basic weapon we worked with during the first week was the bayonet. This was really a refresher course, since every soldier gets bayonet training during basic. Another thing we sharpened up on was agility. The bayonet assault course is designed to make you use all of it you've got, and improve it as you go. As with all combat training, you learn that it's best to do it right the first time, every time. During the first few weeks of training, we got involved with a lot of subjects besides weapons and how to use them. In fact, the schedule was so heavy there was darn little time to lose getting from class to class. The platoon corporal was always on hand to provide a polite reminder that we were in a hurry. One important subject that we put a good deal of time into was field communications. The classes were big, but they made sure enough instructors were on hand to provide individual instruction for every man. This field radio was only one of many types of communications equipment we learned how to use. In this subject, as in all subjects, we learned some basic theory along with the practical operating instruction. We learned how to make a place of danger, of combat perimeter as safe as possible, how to use time in the field to dig in, and do it in ways that provide maximum protection as well as maximum fields of fire against attack. In each case, there was always the diagram, the printed text, the spoken word of the instructor, and the practical example. Along the way, we kept in touch with our firepower. For example, the 3.5-inch rocket launcher, another of the weapons available to the foot soldiers. The instructors showed us what they could do with a high explosive round. Then it was our turn to take the firing line and try it for ourselves using practice rounds. We already had several hours of classroom instruction in the rocket launcher, so it wasn't entirely new to us. It's a two-man weapon, and we learned to function in both crew positions as assistant gunner and as gunner. Again, safety was emphasized and re-emphasized. They showed us what could happen to anybody careless enough to stand in the way of the back blast. They didn't have to do it twice. Just the same, the instructors on this range, on every range, were constantly watching, checking, making sure that we not only handled our weapons effectively, but safely. Besides the formal instruction from the various training committees, we got a lot of personal, informal help from our own company cadre. Our platoon corporal put in a lot of time with us on his own, reviewing lessons we'd learned, quizzing us with off-the-cuff questions about the different weapons, and helping us to bone up for exams. One of these exams came at the end of our second week, a proficiency test in every subject we had studied so far. By this time, we'd really gotten into the swing of things as a military unit. Each outfit develops a pride of its own and tries to be the sharpest unit in the brigade. Ask any company, they'll say they're the best. I know we were. But when it came to the proficiency test, each man had to qualify in each subject on his own. We were tested in small groups as we moved from one test station to another. Things like land navigation, one of the things we studied during the first week of training. Each man had the same problem, but we weren't competing against each other. We were competing against a stopwatch. At another station, the subject was land mine warfare. We'd had eight hours of instruction in this, and most of us made a passing grade. With a real mine, you'd better make a passing grade, so nobody took this lightly, even with dummy mines. Maybe it's only practice, but you try to avoid the slightest mistake, no use forming bad habits. Another test nobody goofs off on is first aid. The skill you'd drill into your fingers working on a canvas dummy could turn out to be a lifesaver for a good friend someday. This, too, we'd had in basic, but we were glad to get a refresher. And it was good to know that the guy alongside you is as qualified to help you as you are to help him. The next two weeks marked a change in our weapons specialty. Some of the men in my platoon were assigned special instruction in the mortar. In that busy two weeks, they got about 70 hours of mortar training. Incidentally, our corporals own MOS. That's military occupational specialty was the mortar, so he made sure his guys paid close attention. Some of the other men were assigned two-week special training in the recoilless rifle. They got where they could maintain it in pitch darkness. The 106 fires such a large round that a .50 caliber spotting rifle is mounted on top of the main barrel. The gunner fires a tracer from the spotter rifle to get the range to the target before he fires the big one. In short, they learn to work with the gun and with each other, which is just as important. My own MOS is rifleman, just a plain old ground pounder with an M14. MOS's are assigned on the basis of what the army needs most at the moment, as well as on a man's own ability and interest. In our company, I guess about 75% have the rifleman MOS. During the third and fourth weeks, we rifleman got nearly 70 hours of special training, a lot in the classroom and the bleachers, and a lot more on the firing range. We spent a lot of time on the machine gun range with the M60. Some days, two or three companies would be using this range at the same time, which may indicate how important machine gun training is to the infantry. Still, the range was never too busy for individual instruction. That's the whole point of the program here, advanced training, individual training. Another busy range was the AR, automatic rifle. This is the weapon I especially like. It's not too heavy, it's accurate, and it can really put out some trouble when the need arises. And of course, by this time, the rifle has become almost a part of you. They say, take care of it and it'll take care of you. If it sounds corny, all right, but it also happens to be true. The guys who say it are the guys who ought to know. There's one more weapon I want to tell you about, Dad, the 50 caliber machine gun. On that range, you couldn't hear yourself think. But that gun's so important to an infantry company's total firepower that every one of us got eight hours of instruction on it, both as gunner and assistant gunner. Well, by now we've finished a month of training, mostly in the use of individual weapons and in basic field skills like land navigation and field first aid. But we weren't real infantrymen yet. We learned that for sure at the beginning of the fifth week. That was when the whole company began receiving instruction in what they call TFT, the technique of fire and tactics. From then on, for the next four weeks, the emphasis was on the practical application of the weapons and skills we've been learning. In the technique of fire course, for example, we got a good many hours of classroom instruction in how to use firepower under different tactical situations. And nearby was the range where we put theory into practice by firing at different groups of targets at varying ranges. Roots in shape to represent an attacking enemy force on natural terrain. After several hours of that first phase of TFT, we went on to the next phase, tactics. Part of that phase involved making an attack on a hill defended by aggressor troops. And in getting to the assault objective, we would gain some practical experience with the armored personnel carrier as a means of secure and rapid mobility across country. One thing about the exercise was fake. We used blank ammunition. Even so, if an observer figured you were hit by enemy fire, he declared you a casualty. That is, if he could see you at all in all that smoke. During the sixth week, we had another realistic training exercise. This began when we were marched into a stockade to learn about survival, escape, and evasion. The survival part of the instruction was especially interesting. You'd be amazed how many ways there are to get drinking water from plants. Then the instructor showed us something we could really get our teeth into if we ever got hungry enough. He had a long display table, a sort of swampland smorgasbord all laid out, and he made the point there was no need to starve in the woods since everything on the table could be eaten. Snakes, lizards, roots, all sorts of goodies. I can't say they looked too tempting at the time, but many a man has saved his life by knowing what to look for when survival depended on what he could find. We pay close attention because someday our survival might be at stake. The practical realism of the training was carried on into the final two weeks. In anti-tank warfare, for example, we got individual instruction in the recipe for Molotov cocktails and how to prepare them. We also learned how to serve them, piping hot and on the run. During the final week of training, we had individual combat actions. This started with a group of us going out on patrol. We'd already had about 30 hours of instruction on patrolling, but this time it was different. We were patrolling in territory that was held by a hidden enemy. We knew, of course, that the enemy was there someplace, but we didn't know just where until he opened fire. It was blank ammunition, of course, but everything else about this exercise was strong on realism. Our mission? Search and clear all enemy positions. The men taking the part of the enemy were actually combat veterans, and they knew how a real enemy would react. They knew how we would act, too, when we got to their village, and they made sure there were plenty of booby traps around to welcome us. By now, we had broken down into squad-sized groups. A rifle squad like ours is the basic unit of an infantry company. And every guy in the squad becomes a really important individual. There's a squad leader, of course, who plans the action, gives the commands, but from there on, every man functions on his own initiative. That's what they mean by individual combat actions. Here was our objective, to search and clear this village. It looked peaceful enough, deserted. We knew, of course, that it wasn't. We'd been taught how to approach, ready for whatever might happen. We did it by the book. We'd also been warned about booby traps, so that first one didn't take us completely by surprise. We were surprised to find a guy squatting quietly in front of a shrine. He wasn't armed, so we couldn't be sure he was an aggressor, but the squad leader kept a rifle muzzle on him just in case. The next thing we found was an enemy casualty. He played dead real well, and we went along with the realism. But that's when Stinson goofed. If that had been a real grenade, it would have chewed Stinson up good. I took no chances. Before I searched a hut, I fired into a chest high. Then I went in. It was empty. But the enemy had been there. Wise guy. Still, he made his point. Lou Metzig thought he heard a noise in another hut, and he took no chances either if he was all loaded for bear. But the enemy chickened out. But don't get the idea this search and clear mission was a waste of time. We figured the enemy had gone underground, and there was one sure way to smoke them out. Our overall mission had been accomplished, and by and large, we felt pretty good about it. The officer in charge pointed out some of the mistakes we had made, but he said we'd done pretty well for the first time around, and he ought to know he'd just recently come back from combat. As for me, I felt good, but I was glad to sit down. I was tired. It had been a long day, a long eight weeks, and now it was over. We'd learned a lot along the way, but one thing we'd learned to work together as a military unit the best in the brigade. Did you expect me to say any different? We had also learned to act as individuals, though, and that's important too, because in a few more days, we'll all have our orders, individual orders. So as I said earlier, Dad, I feel ready for whatever assignment comes. I've had the best training there is, so has Jen Stinson and Metzig, and so has every other guy in the platoon and in the company, and in every company that graduates from AIT infantry. Most of the training in AIT is designed to prepare the foot soldier for the challenges he will face on assignment to an active combat unit in Vietnam. But many AIT graduates are in fact assigned to other areas, such as Germany, where they're constantly maintained readiness bolsters the defensive strength of NATO. Still others are assigned to Korea, where they help to keep watch over the uneasy truth signed more than a decade ago. In Alaska, even more specialized skills are acquired, providing infantry forces which can operate in the sub-zero world of the Arctic. Some men go on to sharpen their infantry know-how in the jungles of Panama. And in the far Pacific, on Okinawa, frequent maneuvers keep the infantryman's readiness at the peak level, which today's world of rapidly changing global challenge demands. Still, as we said, most AIT graduates go to Vietnam, but before they go into combat, they receive the first aid kit and after they go into combat, they receive additional training. Specific pointers about this particular fight on this particular ground. More practice under the sharp eyes of men who have spent months right here where the fighting is and know what to look for in the way of mistakes. Mistakes the men they train are not going to make in combat if they can help it. In some ways, it's the same kind of training they've had before. The big difference is that this time, it's here. Each man learns from experts how to make himself as nearly invisible as possible in the jungle. A professional overlooks no possible advantage, and today's infantryman is a professional. If a scout dog increases the effectiveness of a patrolling unit, then he learns how to function on a dog-led patrol. If the terrain problems of a particular fighting zone call for special techniques to make movement possible, he gets the feel of those techniques at first hand. The result is that when he goes to work in earnest, he is ready. He knows what he's doing and how to do it. He knows the weapons and the equipment that he'll use to get the job done. And he knows that the men working with him are as well trained and capable as he is. Before he ever enters a potentially hostile village, he knows what it will be like, how it will look, what to expect, where to look for it. He knows because his training has taught him. No amount of training can eliminate the personal trial that comes to each man with his first combat. But training, individual training, can and does give him the knowledge of what he can do and the confidence that he can do. It's been said before, the eye in infantry stands for something else as well. The indispensable. The individual.