[OFF] Re: Blanding, Palmettos, and the 53rd

You wrote: 

><< Ever since delightful Camp Blanding, FL, my definition of heavy 
> underbrush includes terrain MEN can't get in or out of. >>

>When were u at CBTS? I've spent many, many miserable nights there.
>
>and you're right..there are areas on the north post that are far worse 
than >jungle.

Summer of 1997, I got attached to 2/C/229 EN since 70% of my company 
was at various schools and they needed some warm bodies to fill it out. 
 So we got attached to support 2 BNs of MdARND infantry, which 
designations I cannot recall, and we played OPFOR for a bunch of 
third-rate pogues from the 53rd (minus a BN which was elsewhere).  
Those guys (no offense intended if you're one of 'em--the rot is, to my 
guess, at the higher levels than your average squaddie) were really, 
really bad.  For example, the first attack we went on, us Engineers 
went up to breach the wire that the Infantry had seen, and we sorta 
accidentally overran the company CP.  Complete with entire HQ section.	
This was the first warning this unit had that we were attacking.  The 
worst terrain was when I was on a recon patrol that  went around the 
53's positions, which were anchored on this big open area across which 
some heavy junk outfit was digging a massive AT ditch.	Why they were 
digging an AT ditch in a light infantry scenario I do not know.  Their 
security was so bad that when I wanted to know what kind of mines were 
in the boxes they were unloading, I just walked up and read the boxes.	
Anyway, we went all the way around behind the entire batallion, and hit 
some palmettos from HELL.  I mean we couldn't physically push through 
this stuff.

John M. Atkinson