PHASE 3 - BLUE

In Blue phase, the drill sergeants actually let us as Soldiers begin to work and take care of things on our own.

The Blue Phase is pretty much where we're doing more with the weapons, the other day we did U.S. Weapons.

Take the M-16 magazine and insert it into the magazine well at an upward 45 degree angle until it locks, now we're going to use the cheek to knuckle method. I am going to turn my head slightly sideways at a 45 degree angle, take my fine eye and line it up down the barrel, and aim my sights up on my target.

U.S. weapons is where the privates learn their automatic weapons. The 50 cal machine gun, the M 240 Bravo, the M-249, the Mark 19, the AT4, and the M203.

It was really cool to see everyone fire down at once, and how much firepower the Army actually has.

Today we got to experience a little bit of riding and seeing how it would be like if we were actually on a convoy in Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever we would be.

Whenever they do get over to Iraq or Afghanistan, they need to be situationally aware.

They'll go through urban operations where they'll learn how to do actual missions. And, attack a village.

Our mission was to recover a hostage that was taken by hostile enemies. We encountered some friendly civilians, and a lot of insurgents.

And we do it by squad and clear each building so that we know where the hostage is being held.

There was a big explosion, and that was kind of a shock to get the insurgents to kind of lose their battle ground, so that we could move in and get our hostage back. And I was part of the squad that did get the hostage out safely. It was a lot of fun, things that I would have never experienced in the civilian world.