Capstone - pt. 1

I know it has been a long time since I posted. I know I said I was going to try to do it a little more regularly, but when most of the day consists of classroom instruction staring at PowerPoint, there is not much to write about.

This past week, however, we were at Capstone. Capstone is the final field exercise we have at CH-BOLC. We go to the field for four days at a FOB they have set up here at Ft. Jackson for the purpose of training. It was a very busy four days, but I really loved it.

We endured blistering heat (two or three of the days the temps were over 100). However, it was a time when a lot of the training I have had over the last three months has finally started to come together. Many of the exercises we did required bringing several of the skills together that we have been learning. It was a period of time where things finally started to "click" for me.

The picture above is our dining facility. We got a hot breakfast and supper here each day, and we were handed MREs here at lunch time.


This picture was taken from inside one of the bunkers set up on the FOB. Over the time at Capstone, there were several simulated artillery attacks. These simulations were actually very cool. They had the high pitched whistle you would hear with an incoming round and then a thunderous boom simulating impact and detonation. They were very loud and from what I hear, the real thing is even louder.

Each night a couple of hours after we went to bed (usually enough time for all of us to have fallen asleep), they set off a volley of these attacks. Nothing gets you wide awake in a hurry like an explosion a few yards away from you.

When the attack started, you would have to jump out of bed, stuff your feet in your boots, grab your battle rattle and make it out to the bunkers. The picture above was obviously taken during the day when we had an attack. You can look and see the next bunker in the distance.


We also had training on a sand table briefing. This is where you mark out a battle plan on the ground so everyone can get an understanding of the flow of the mission.

Here is a closer look at the sand table.

It is only one more week now until I graduate and become a full fledged Army chaplain. God has taken me and my family on such an incredible journey over the last several months. All I can say is that whoever can say that the Christian walk is dull has obviously never become a Christian, and I can say that my God is an incredibly faithful and wise God!

I have more pictures from Capstone in the post under this one so be sure to look at those, too. I had several so I decided to put them in two posts instead of just one.

I am not going to make promises about how often I will post since I obviously fell on my face on that the last time, but I do plan to keep posting in the future so you can keep up with where God is leading me and my family on this little mission adventure so keep checking back.