MacGregor Range, NM - Home of the Alamo, tumbleweeds and LTC "Dr Phil"

"Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to
do less." - Robert E. Lee, General, CSA

History tells us that the Alamo is in San Antonio, TX. Yet, my Soldiers and I were about to find out that it is actually in MacGregor Range, NM. We even lived in the place for a month. Is it possible that I slept in the same room that was once occupied by Jim Bowie or, perhaps, Davy Crockett? I wasn't able to confirm but there was no evidence PeeWee Herman's bicycle had ever been stored in the basement. How could this be you ask? Well our next pre-deployment training requirement began in February and involved a month of collective training and validation at MacGregor Range. The range is an isolated outpost that is a subsidiary camp to Fort Bliss, TX in nearby El Paso. Believe me, the place is perfectly suited to train Soldiers for Iraq. It is nothing but sand, dirt devils, dust storms and tumbleweeds that seem to be straight out of an old western movie. This is the place where my Battalion would mobilize for war.

Upon our return to Fort Lee from Hunter Liggett most of our Soldiers went home for a couple of weeks. Around the middle of February we all reported back to our HQ at Fort Lee. After a couple of days packing up our gear, we held a "farewell ceremony" and said goodbye to family and friends. Then we loaded up on a bus, headed to the airport to a chartered flight and flew straight to Fort Bliss. This is where we would be in-processed for our deployment. For the next three days we attended a series of briefings and went through a series of stations that checked us off for medical, personnel, legal and finance. Once we'd all been through all of this the battalion moved from Fort Bliss to MacGregor Range for our training. The billets we moved into were aptly named "The Alamo" for a reason. Apparently, they were designed by the same folks that put up the fort for Colonel Travis and his Texans. It was actually a pretty nice place in a very dreary location. MacGregor Range is completely dry and barren. The wind blows constantly, dust devils swirl all around the place, and tumbleweeds are constantly rolling around looking for someone to bump into. I was personally assaulted by one on my way to the mess hall. General Order #1 finally reared its ugly head too - no alcohol authorized under penalty of UCMJ punishment. Farewell to my friends Yuengling and Shiner Bock.

Our training picked up almost where we left off at Hunter Liggett. At this point, we were moving into collective task training. For the next several weeks we conducted convoy operations, counter IED, TOC operations, and many other events. Much of the training was redundant and, in many cases, it involved skills that our battalion would never utilize once we deployed. Yet, it was good training that was always good to have in the Soldier kit bag for future reference. As expected, there was a lot of "hurry up and wait." The uniform drill occurred frequently too, as the training schedule often failed to match training with the correct uniform. Everything was externally driven by the training brigade that was in charge of us for the duration. With that in mind, everyone kept a good attitude and always brought their A-game to the training. I continued to beam with pride for my Soldiers.

The big event for MacGregor Range was called the CTE, which stands for Culminating Training Exercise. It was a seven-day event that put our Battalion in a scenario that simulated what we would be doing once we were on the ground in Iraq. It was a 24/7 training event that tested my staff on their ability to produce the planning and decision-making products necessary for us to accomplish our mission. How did we do? We kicked ass and did it with wit, grace and style that made me proud. Here it was, my newly formed staff working together in a stressful environment and running like a fine-tuned machine. I knew, at last, that we were ready. We were validated by our trainers to be prepared for deployment. The green light was on over the drop zone.

However, our validation didn't come without having to endure the pain or the worst After Action Reviews (AAR) I have ever had to sit through. It wasn't bad because we'd done anything wrong. It was the conduct of the AAR. Perhaps I'm "old school Army" with regards to this stuff. I like having to members of the staff backbrief their mission and develop the timeline from their perspective. Then we discuss the "sustains" and the "improves" before wrapping up the AAR. Well, it must be a new Army that loves touchy-feely, politically correct AAR formats. Instead of us doing most of the talking, we had to listen to the teachings of Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) "Dr. Phil" and his sidekick. He spent at least thirty minutes building his happy place puzzle for us. Then he went off on some tangent about Soldiers using spice (which had absolutely nothing to do with our CTE). Next he was back in his trust tree and asking my staff members how they felt when different things happened during the course of the CTE. In the meantime, I was making notes that literally said, "blah, blah, blah, blah...." The whole weird scene culminated when another LTC came forward at the end and blurted out, "I just wanted to say that this is the best AAR I HAVE EVER sat in on!" CSM and I looked at each other with that "who the hell are you?" look. When it was our turn to talk - finally - neither of us said anything except to thank the trainers. What has the Army come to? Where were my sustains and improves? We never got them. I don't think the trainers remembered to note those critical components of our AAR. I'm still waiting for the written AAR comments I was promised. I'll probably still be waiting a year from now. I don't care. My Battalion kicked CTE in the ass. I knew they would.

With our training complete we were allowed to take a four-day pass. My biggest concern here was that everyone stayed safe and returned on time when it was over. No worries. They all came back with no issues. I got to taste Shiner Bock again one more time. All that was left now was the clock ticking down the hours until time to load up on the plane for our trip to Kuwait and then on to Iraq.