A few of the World War 2 Guys put on a display at the Papillion, Nebraska Chick-fil-A on Saturday, March 19.  The event was organized by Eli in conjunction with Chick-fil-A's Veterans Appreciation Day.  Eli, Jon, Eric and Jeff manned a small display table from 11:00AM to 2:00PM.  We got to meet a few folks and talk about some World War II equipment and personal items.  The highlight of the day was definitely high-fiving the Chick-fil-A cow and snapping a quick photo of Eli with the cow.  It was a nice little event and a chance to get in front of the public for a few hours.

The boys of B Company, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment kicked off the month of March with an exciting and educational training day on Sunday, March 6.  Our training was intended to simulate the 507th's arrival in Alliance, Nebraska in March 1943.  The weather was unseasonably warm and sunny with temperatures pushing into the 70s by the afternoon.  Our uniform of the day consisted of HBT Coveralls with basic paratrooper field gear including the Service Gas Mask in the MIVA1Bag.  SSgt. Krelle led the training with Sgt. Green, Pfc. Hazard, Pfc. Williams, Pvt. Hinz and Pvt. Paul forming up the squad.  The day started out with some basic drill with and without arms.  We pulled out some old cadence calls as we marched along dusty gravel roads.  We had classroom instruction time on the mission of parachute troops, hand signals, knowing our enemy, and Sgt. Green demonstrated the use of the Service Gas Mask.  We performed a road march all the way to the Missouri River where we took a break over some K-Rations, canned peaches and chocolate bars.  Afterwards, we brushed up on squad formations in the field as well as dropping to a prone position from a run.  We finished our instruction by simulating the attack of an enemy position and clearing a linear obstacle.  When all was said and done we had marched over 3.5 miles throughout the day.  It was a top notch training event and a great way to kick off 2016 in the field.  This was merely one step on the 507th's way to the eventual invasion of Europe!