CRC

Alright - finally a little time where I can actually sit at a table, have (spotty) internet access and have the energy to write. I just arrived in Kuwait - awaiting confirmation of where in A'stand I'll be headed to and getting the final processing from my company. For now, I'll describe the "CRC" phase of the whole civilian I.T. contractor experience.

CRC stands for Conus (meaning Continental US) Replacement Center. The way I understand it - it is the process that the following groups must go through prior to shipping out to their respective overseas combat zone units: Active Duty Army personnel meeting stragglers, DoD civilians (federal employees), Civilian contractors (me), Interpreters.

It reminded me much of my training days (A & C schools) after Navy boot camp. You're not completely treated like a child - but there are moments. I won't get into the details of everything (you can google "CRC ft benning to find some decent write-ups), but just highlight a few things. I'll also focus only on the contractor experience & skip other three groups. While there were some evolutions we did as a single unit - most of the time, units were processed with their respective units only.

Most of the folks who I met in the contractors group are former miliary. Some were even retirees as recent as the first of the month after 22 years of service! But most of us had done our 4 and got out - and felt this was something we both wanted to handle & could handle. There were only a handful of folks who had never served - and its these folks that the training aspect of CRC is mostly geared towards.

Which leads me to what all goes down in CRC. The first day starts on Saturday - and the last day is the following Friday - where, if you have successfully passed each evolution, you will fly out & head to wherever you're being assigned to. Each day is broken down into different events. There is a medical & dental day, where your physical, shot records, & other pertinent info are screened for completeness & to ensure you don't have any disqualifying factors. Some people do in fact receive "no-go" status if things aren't in order.

There is a day of IED & combat first aid training. They DO go hand in hand after all. And they are a stark reminder that you are definitely heading to a war zone. Good info is provided - and while it is not in depth training, I feel comfortable in my awareness - and my ability to act should the shit hit the fan. Oh - and this day was described in our itinerary as "death by powerpoint day" - but it really wasn't that bad. We had a great group of instructors and they did a great job keeping you on your toes. Powerpoints were actually not present in every class either.

Another day is spent receiving your government ID card (CAC card as it's called), and military provided gear (TA-50 gear). Our time spent getting gear was quick & easy; the active duty folks had just the opposite experience. Our ID card issue on the other hand, felt like one of slowest days of my life. About the gear - civilian contractors will receive the bare necessity (as of this writing) to include: protective vest, helmet, first aid pouch (minus a decent kit to put in it!), a sleeping bag (if heading to Afghanistan or a cold weather climate), a gas mask & two standard green duffle bags. We're told ahead of time that this bag is full - so don't plan on using it. And, for the most part - they're right. I was able to fit only a small handful of items into my TA-50 gear bag.

Those are the evolutions worth mentioning. There are several other formations that take place, where you'll meet your company liason, or go over this or that paperwork, etc. Nothing exciting takes place for the whole week to be honest. If you attend CRC, plan on a screwy sleep schedule, lots of down time & waiting and pretty good food.

The last day - without getting into too much detail is your departure day. Items of note: your carry on bag must meet certain requirements in size. To make things "easy", CRC provides a couple of boxes for you to test fit your bag into. The rule is, if it doesn't fit - you won't be able to bring it. You will be able to remove your laptop from the bag before testing - so this will save you an inch or so - but that's not much. You will have to prove your bag can fit into the box twice on departure day - once at the morning's formation, and again just prior to boarding your aircraft. I will say this: I stressed about my bag - a standard size bag pack filled to the gills. I passed each time & was waived past the actual inserting of my bag into the box when it was my turn to drop it in to test it. If your bag is obviously too large to be a carry on - you may get stopped & have to deal with it. So try to pack as light as possible & only bring "mission essential" gear.

I think I'll wrap up this post. There are more items I could get into & information I could provide, but to be honest, I'm pretty tired, and CRC really was such a boring process, I don't want to relive another minute of it. Feel free to ask questions though & I'll do my best to answer them. Also - I'm pretty sure future posts will be both tiny & include more pictures as my time & internet access become more limited. I think I'll go dust off my rack & lay down for a few!