Gear and the barracks

It's a gorgeous Sunday, and the 354 is busy getting ready for deployment. A portion of the unit is on the weapons range, firing their M4s, and a portion of the unit is busy doing administrative actions, supply work and getting their gear packed for shipment. We are living in tight quarters- up to 12 people to a room-and it actually takes a great deal of time to maintain, track and store all our gear. The Army has issued us an amazing amount of high-quality gear. We have a terrific cold weather clothing system that involves high-tech layers of polypro, goretex and insulated outerwear. Our sleeping bag system is also really versatile and involves a couple of layers. Then there is the individual body armor and helmet, which are heavy and immensely bulky and take up gobs of space, but which are arguably the most critical pieces of equipment we have. There are weapons cleaning kits, camelback cleaning kits, and other miscellaneous little pieces of kit which are easy to lose or misplace. The American Army is probably the best-equipped military in history. And we are thankful for it. Here are some photos of our barracks rooms:

MAJ Jon Culberson

Outside view of barracks and chow hall