So the first thing I see when settling in one of the classrooms for my "Foreign Affairs Counter Threat" (FACT) training is a guy on the floor in front of me with his leg blown off and bone protruding. Needless to say, I was a bit, er, "taken aback." Until I realized it was, of course, a dummy--albeit a very realistic one. Looking around, I saw 3-4 others scattered around the room; all in various stages of injury with a variety of missing limbs. Great start to the course.
As many of you know, I was not happy with having to be here in the first place. The Peace Corps Director tried to get a waiver from the State Dept. for us "peaceniks" but no dice. So there I was in West Virginia with about 60 other "diplomats" for a weeklong training which is now mandatory for any embassy/mission employees going overseas (there is not enough space here for me to explain the complicated relationship PC has as a part of/not a part of the embassies/missions overseas).
One of the first things we discovered was that - outside of the training facility itself, and our rooms at the hotel we were staying at in nearby Winchester, VA - we would all be under surveillance during the training. This was so we could learn how to "spot and report." They made it somewhat obvious (somewhat, that is, depending on your powers of observation/"situational awareness") so we could learn how to effectively report once we're at post (along with another PC staff - from Madagascar - I was the only one who'd already been living in country). I made sure to pay attention the first time I went out after that so I could do my report and be done with it, so I could then focus on the more important things - like finding the Taco Bell and movie theater.
It turns out Winchester actually has a disproportionately high crime rate due to being situated along a drug trafficking corridor (hey, it's the border of W. Va - their biggest industry after coal is meth). We learned that, on average, during each week's training, 1-3 crimes are reported by trainees thinking it's suspicious looking surveillance, when it's actually a drug deal going down. Nice, free policing for the community!
Unsurprisingly, a good chunk of the trainers are former military. A LOT of beards. In fact, not one of them did not have SOME kind of facial hair. Not sure what that's about, but have a feeling Freud would have something to say about it. One weird one, though, was this good-sized former Marine, who did the "Personnel Recovery" training and he looked like a huge Kewpie Doll! It was kind of disconcerting.
The biggest chunk of our training time (about one-fourth) was spent on medical - and I feel that part was helpful for all. The idea is having you prepared in case a colleague or solider goes down defending the embassy and you're the only one around to help. But what we learned would be helpful in any scenario where you found yourself confronted with someone who'd been severely wounded. So I definitely appreciated this part - although was a little less thrilled with the ultra-graphic pics that were often shown to help "educate" us (including one dude who'd had a rod flung into his eye). At the end of the day, I realized yet again that the human body is an amazingly complicated, delicate thing and I thank my lucky stars (knock on wood) I haven't had to experience a traumatic (exterior) injury.
In addition to medical training we learned all about responding to "threats." How to drive "defensively" and get away during a car chase; how to identify and mitigate the effects of a bomb/IED (improvised explosive device); basic hand-to-hand self defense; how to shoot a Glock and an AK-47; dealing with/defending yourself from fire as a weapon.
A lot of stuff was couched in "well, post-Benghazi, we need to..." It was hard not to roll my eyes at this. "Post-Benghazi" has replaced "Post-9/11" as the rationale now for extreme paranoia. Forget, AGAIN, that there were more serious attacks on embassies during Dubya's tenure. We need to use BENGHAZI as a benchmark to always remind you that it was the black guy who fucked up. Whatever.
ANYWAY, outside of the squeamish medical stuff, the training exercise(s) that were most annoying were the driving ones. Another good chunk of time on this (about one-fifth). Sure, there were some fun parts (I got to ram a vehicle--twice--with an old beater to escape it's "blockade"), but a lot of it was motion-sickness-inducing turns and screeching and backing, with an instructor who races cars in his off hours and naturally couldn't resist "showing off" a little in between exercises. I mean, I'm not the kind who normally gets car sick, but I was feeling it more than once. The student paired with me had 10 years in the military, is an excellent driver, and at one point SHE got so queasy she had to stand outside and observe one of the exercises. This is why they "encouraged" folks to take Dramamine or ginger tablets ahead of time.
Then, there were the guns. I was a bit worried that I was going to have some nutso reaction to having a real gun in my hand for the first time - that I'd get all googly-eyed and think, "Ooooh, I feel so powerful!" and immediately want to buy/own one. Or, alternately, I'd be totally traumatized. I did actually consider "opting out" - which they allow - but went ahead with the "familiarization" part and then when we were told we would just shoot a Glock 5 times and then an AK-47 5 times, I figured, "What the hell?" and at least I'd be prepared just in case some bizarre scenario came up where I'd have the need (and opportunity) to defend myself. Shooting the Glock was kind of a "Meh" moment - I didn't have a problem hitting the target, and the kickback was pretty mild, so at the end of the day I didn't feel much of anything either way about it. But after the AK-47, I admit to feeling just a wee bit traumatized. It's a heavy gun first of all; and the kickback was a bit much (my shoulder was sore the next day just from firing 5 shots). But I think the whole "psychological" aspect of it - knowing the history of the weapon, who all uses it (and makes it!) now, and for what purpose, it just felt icky. Now, if someone was shooting at me, and an AK was handy, would I pick it up? Sure, but I'd probably focus more on running/getting away first. However, during the exercise where we learned how to dodge/get away from shooters & use cover, I actually fell down at one point (although thankfully, I was not the only one), so I'd probably be dead in that scenario anyway! :)
