NIACT - Week One - Ft. Jackson, SC

Our Navy C-40A touched down at Columbia, SC airport on 14 OCT. Several chartered buses were waiting for us directly on the tarmac. We unloaded the plane and loaded our personal luggage, plus that newly issued seabag, into the buses and drove to Fort Jackson. This army post has been training Army personnel since 1917. The Navy occupies a small portion of the base known as McCrady Training Center, which trains the South Carolina National Guard. There is a small Naval Liaison Office which coordinates the hundreds of Navy personnel who attend Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training (NIACT) program.

Our class has over two hundred and fifty navy professionals from all over the country. We range in rank from E-4 (Petty Officer Third Class) to O-6 (Captain). As a class, we are here to learn how to integrate and fight with the Army. That means we are here to learn how to be infantry; that is, how to wear interceptor body armor, advanced combat helmet, elbow/knee pads, carry/fire/clean an M16A2 rifle and M9 pistol, work a radio, drive a HUMVEE, administer combat first aid and a host of other tasks.

Upon arrival, we were divided into two companies -- A and C -- each with four platoons of around 40 personnel each. I am assigned to A Company, 2nd Platoon. We are led by an Army E-7 (Sergeant First Class). We address him simply as "Drill Sergeant." Our Company is led, day to day, by an Army E-8 (First Sergeant)

Our first week was very busy and included lots of new gear issued to us (the aforementioned body armor, helmet, socks, another pair of boots, packs, cold/hot weather gear, holsters, camelbak, gloves. etc., etc.) Altogether, it was another three full seabags worth of gear. We jumped (literally) into Army Physical Training (PT), marching to and from everywhere, basic rifle and pistol marksmanship, and more medical training. We have put in an average of 12 to 13 hour days. At week's end, we have qualified on the M9 pistol and practice qualified on the M16 rifle.