Alex Frank - Army Strong Stories

Airborne!

Alex Frank — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:31:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
Finished airborne school. Learning to jump out a plane deep in enemy territory and cause lots of mischief in the enemy's rear is pretty freaking cool, even if it's unlikely we will do it again. We stood around a lot and did some pretty stupid stuff but I had a great time in the end. Jumping was of course the coolest thing. I was the chalk leader for the first chalk to jump the new T-11 parachute. I also got to jump first one time which was awesome. When you get the equipment check passed...read more

leading some mech

Alex Frank — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:39:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
After Ranger school I did mechanized leader's course. I was assigned to a mech unit but found out last week I am being diverted to a stryker unit, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment in Vilseck Germany. Mechanized means it sports the M2 Bradley armored personnel carrier. At Mech Leader's we gained some basic familiarization with it. We learned basic maintenance, how to assemble and disassemble the 25 mm main gun, some basic tactics and gunnery. The coolest thing we did was this simulator where we...read more

Ranger Memorial

Alex Frank — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I went to the Ranger memorial today and I could really feel it. It was my first time going there. When I walked up to it my mind went still. I looked at the ranger creed engraved in the solid granite and the names of the men who died and distinguished themselves as Rangers. Energy washed over my body and I could feel a deeper part of myself. I could feel the energy, the strength of all Rangers past present and future, supporting me, giving me the confidence and energy I need to bear the...read more

ranger school in restrospect

Alex Frank — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:23:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I've had a lot of time to reflect on ranger school lately. I certainly didn't appreciate the full value of the experience while I was in it which is very understandable--while you are there all you want to do is get out of there. Getting the tab is important for career reasons because it's considered very important in the infantry. People judge you for it. That's not the important part though. There are some great people that don't have the tab and some terrible...read more

Done with ranger school

Alex Frank — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:26:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
Graduated Ranger school last week! It sucked, but it taught me more about being a soldier than any army school could have. It's definitely the hardest thing I have done yet, and it helped prepare me for the even harder things that lie ahead in Afghanistan. I learned a lot about how I react in stressful circumstances and how to lead in those environments. Mountain phase was definitely the hardest. We only got 1-2 hours of sleep a night in mountains. In the other phases it was about 3. ...read more

Ranger starts tomorrow

Alex Frank — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:12:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
Ranger school starts tomorrow! I am giddy with anticipation. Definitely nervous, but it gives me so much energy and excitement. It's going to suck more than anything ever has for me but you learn a lot about yourself, accomplish something great, and you just get an experience that is so different than anything we are used to in our normal lives. Plus, some civilians will think you are a ninja who can jump 40 feet in the air and kill a man every way possible, which is only slight...read more

End of IBOLC

Alex Frank — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:05:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I have now graduated Infantry BOLC. We got out of the field and snapped this picture: Then we spend the next few days cleaning weapons: Overall IBOLC ended up being a good course. The physical fitness we did was not great but I learned a lot of technical things and got a better understanding of leadership from it. My peers were for the most part solid. There were some people that got weeded out, mostly for not having the basic toughness you need. Pretty much everyone else has a base...read more

Lots of training

Alex Frank — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:49:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
The last few weeks we have mostly been in the field so I have not had a whole lot of time to make posts unfortunately. I've enjoyed a lot of the training we have done. We did one week of Situation Training Exersizes (STX, pronounce sticks, the army is the best organization ever at coming up with acronyms) lanes. Those were some great training, especially if you were in leadership positions. You are given a mission and then you run it using blanks. You get evaluated and given feedback on how...read more

More Infantry BOLC fun

Alex Frank — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:22:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
So far we have been training mostly on individual soldier skills and it's been a nice life. We did a Land Navigation course a few weeks ago which was one of the hardest I've done. You had to cover a long distances in a short time and if I didn't run the course I would have been a no go. There was also a lot of thick brush which also made it difficult. Since we have done a lot of shooting. We started off just shooting M4s. I got good training shooting moving targets...read more

Infantry BOLC

Alex Frank — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:20:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I have started IBOLC and like it so far. The first week was inprocessing. That means going to some place, waiting a while in line, and then getting a shot or filling out a piece of paper. It's easy to get frustrated with those kinds of things, but I have started always carrying a book on me so I don't mind it at all. We took a PT test too and got back up to my usual standards from before I was injured despite my run time not being back where it used to be. We have...read more

BOLC II is over!

Alex Frank — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:53:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I got carried away with BOLC II and got really busy. On the whole, it ended up being not worth the investment in time. Taking people away from their families for that long, investing that many Staff Sergeants and Captains as cadre, and spending all that money didn’t seem worth it. I got better training than most people because I ran a range, which was a good experience. Despite that, the last week was fun. I’ve attached a picture of me at the top of Mount Scott, the highest...read more

More BOLC II training and having fun

Alex Frank — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:52:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
The last week and a half at BOLC II has been mixed. There were some good parts like US weapons. You’ll see a picture of me about to shoot a 50 caliber machine gun. We also shot a Mark 19 grenade launcher and a few other smaller weapon systems. That whole week we lived on a Forward Operating Base, which was meant to duplicate the kinds of conditions we would operate under in Iraq. There was not much training value to it. We did not learn how to run a FOB. I suspect the reason we were...read more

Shooting

Alex Frank — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:51:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
We did shooting all of last week which was pretty fun. I ran a range on Thursday which was a good experience. The cadre handled some of the stuff but I had a lot do work on and to do. I also taught a class on counter-insurgency which came off well. Those things have kept me busier than most people which is nice. I feel very comfortable in the positions of responsibility I had. We haven't had too much funny stuff happen. The range that I ran was a pop up target range and before your...read more

BOLC II and Awesome book discussion

Alex Frank — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:50:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I am currently at Fort Sill Oklahoma attending a course called BOLC (Basic Officer Leadership) II. Before I get into that, I wanted to mention an awesome book discussion I went to a week and a half ago. It was on the book Accidental Guerilla, written by David Kilcullen. Dr. Kilcullen was GEN Petraeus’ senior counter-insurgency (COIN) advisor during the surge and is widely regarded as the leading and most influential COIN expert. His book accidental guerilla basically argues...read more

Westpoint?

Alex Frank — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I recently read In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of the Westpoint class of 2002. It was excellent. It gave me a great sense for what my life will be like for the next few years and the kinds of challenges I will be facing. There was one quote in particular I really like: “’Duty, Honor, Country’ was the academy’s motto, and everyone talked constantly about honor and commitment, loyalty and patriotism. All that was true and good, gut striped of...read more

It’s about your subordinates and keeping your individuality

Alex Frank — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I recently listened to an interview with Jack Welch that I found fascinating. He is widely regarded as one of corporate America’s best. One thing stuck out in particular was when asked about the importance of developing your subordinates, he said “it’s what I believe to my toes, it’s really about them. The radiation of their success flows onto you and you glow.” He then went on to discuss how junior managers have no conception of this. Our schooling system all...read more

Who Joins the Army?

Alex Frank — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:49:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I recently came across a Heritage foundation study discussing the background of the people that both enlist and become commissioned officers. The conclusions of the study were interesting. Despite popular perceptions, both new officers and enlisted come from higher income and higher education backgrounds compared to the general population. Racially, representation is mostly even, although there are some big disproportions in some smaller groups. The biggest difference comes in...read more

The Army versus Marines

Alex Frank — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:47:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I have been reading a lot lately and doing Rosetta Stone Arabic to pass the time. I just finished reading The Making of a Marine Corps Officer by Nathaniel Fick. I was very interesting to get some perspective on how the Marine Corps did things versus the Army. I considered doing a Marine Corps officer program right after high school. Reading Fick’s book made me wish I had, but only for a few minutes. The Army and the Marines have their advantages and disadvantages. One thing...read more

Reflections on Army ROTC

Alex Frank — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
Since graduating from Duke, I have had a lot of time to reflect on my time at Duke Army ROTC before reporting to BOLC in early November. Sometimes I talk to friends who have found comfortable desk jobs and I wonder what on earth am I doing. My experience will be so different from theirs. It will include danger, challenge, and not much in the way of salary or perks. Then I remember what a great experience I had in Army ROTC, how much I grew as a person and a cadet and how excited I am...read more

Cool Training

Alex Frank — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:43:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
Finally I have something good to write about. This last week I went down to Duke to help out with new cadet orientation. Also, I went to a cool training course put on by Delta guys that exposed me to the way they do things. It was great going down to new cadet orientation and seeing the current seniors I trained last year put on a good show. It was the first time I really did anything after being commissioned and things weren’t really that different. One of our new cadre...read more

Mentorship

Alex Frank — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
We have started to get results from our juniors attending Leadership Development and Assessment Course (LDAC). So far, they have done very well, many of them earning the coveted E (for Excellent) which few earn. LDAC is important because it affects how much choice you have in branch. Seeing them succeed gave me a huge amount of personal satisfaction. Myself and the other seniors spent a lot of time training them, counseling them, and mentoring them. Looking back at my time at Duke and ROTC,...read more

Junior and Senior Years in ROTC

Alex Frank — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
Lately, I have been reflecting on my Junior and Senior years of ROTC and how much I learned during them. Junior year, ROTC becomes a little more serious. In addition to what I discussed in my last post, the class will take up more time and you are rotated in and out of leadership positions. After each cycle, you are counseled and evaluated. The standards you are expected to reach are higher and there is extra training if you do not meet those standards. The goal is to prepare you for...read more

Life as an ROTC Cadet

Alex Frank — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:41:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
For my next few posts, I thought I would reflect some on my experiences in ROTC to give you a sense for what ROTC is like. ROTC was without a doubt the best part of my college experience. The classes I took at Duke gave me a great academic background but in ROTC you learn common sense and how to get things done in the real world. I grew tremendously as a person. For this entry, I’ll look at the first two years in ROTC. For most cadets, ROTC is like any extracurricular. The...read more

Traveling to Europe & Israel

Alex Frank — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
Lately I have been traveling. First I was in Israel, then Barcelona and France. I have definitely liked being abroad and had a good time. It also helped put my ROTC experience in perspective. Israelis like to think their military is better than the American. I was tempted to believe it at first, but now I am not as sure. Many of the soldiers I talked to didn't have a great attitude, probably because they were drafted but didn't really want to do it. Also, they don't put nearly as big an...read more

I am now an Officer

Alex Frank — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I have been commissioned. I am now an officer in the Army of the United States of America. The ceremony was very well put together. There were talks by LTC Tribus, our battalion commander who has been an excellent mentor to me, and COL Joe LeBeouf, our guest speaker. Then, MG William Garrison read me my oath, my parents pinned on my bars, and CSM Richard Davis gave me my first salute. And just like that with my mom crying, I was a commissioned officer. My first reaction to being...read more

Learning to Lead

Alex Frank — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
I just got back from the Marshall conference. Each program sends one cadet to it. We discussed various issue such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and officer NCO relationships. We also listened to talks from General Casey, Senator Webb and the Secretary of the Army among others. Overall it ended up being a great experience. The thing that made it great was getting a chance to meat some great cadets from other programs and talk with them. There was a huge range of people. One person I...read more

Development

Alex Frank — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
We just did our Cluster FTX where we join other schools in the area for a field training exercise. The goal was to help prepare our Juniors for Leadership Development and Assessment Course (LDAC) this weekend by throwing them into a squad with people they don’t know and then making them lead. The FTX was not that well run. We spent a lot of time standing in formation waiting around for someone to make a decision and it rained the entire time. There were also some things that were not...read more

Meet Alex Frank

Alex Frank — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:38:00 GMT

By: Alex Frank
For my first blog entry, I thought it would fitting to introduce myself and then talk a little bit about why I joined ROTC. I have lived in the same house inside of Washington DC since I was born. Both my parents are lawyers. My dad finished his career working in a not for profit that did AIDS and other disease prevention in developing countries. My mom is currently working in corporate legal for SAIC, a major defense contractor. I attended Washington International School (WIS) since...read more