o0 SABRE 0o Taking Fire!

A few weeks ago I posted that I was back to Achievement Hunting. In my last post I stated that finding time to play was a concern for me and boy was I right.

I have been extremely busy with work running Close Combat Attack (CCA) Ranges for the last two weeks and have this final week to go. In a CCA range we try to re-create a scenario where a ground unit has to call for air support from an AH-64D Apache Longbow. The scenario we have been using for the last week: a convoy of five vehicles traveling on the outskirts of town hits an IED, disabling one vehicle, and starts taking small arms fire from the enemy.

The soldiers in the vehicles start engaging the targets with their M249s and M4s. The leader of the convoy calls in a team of Apaches (a team consists of two Apaches) and passes the location of the enemies. The Apaches then come in and start their strafing runs, engaging the targets with their 30MM Cannon and 2.75 Rockets. Needless to say the sight of it all is pretty badass. The training we are doing now will hopefully lead to lives being saved on the battlefield.

With all that going on my Xbox Live time has been non-existent to say the least. Gaming with a 6 year old for a Co-op partner has also proven to be a real challenge. I can honestly say that my son is one stubborn kid and it’s clear he gets it from his Mother! We finished the story mode of Toy Story 3 and we are now working on the Toy Box missions. Some of the harder achievements I will have to go back and unlock when he is asleep though. We also started or should I say continued an old save of Marvel Ultimate Alliance campaign. The save date on Marvel:UA dated all the way back to 2007! I never finished the game obviously but I kept it around because my son is big in to super-heroes. We are running with the four man team of Captain America (me of course), Deadpool (my son), Spider-Man, and Wolverine. If that is not a dream team of super-heroes then I don’t know what is. I have no intent of trying to 1k this game. There are far too many collectible for my 6 year old to patiently sit through while I look at guides to ensure I get them all. Instead we will just demolish all the foes standing in our way and complete the story.

For my solo play I was trying to work on the campaign of COD:Black Ops. I have hit a wall of frustration playing on veteran mode so I decided to put the game back down before breaking my controller. Maybe the long layoff has deteriorated my skills but I don’t remember the last few COD titles being this tough on veteran. Or maybe this old Sergeant just needs to spend some more time on the rifle ranges.

Soldier's Creed

I apologize for the double post the first one was a failed attempt from my Droid phone.

I thought today I would post a bit about the Man behind the tag. When I first started this blog I posted how Sabre Oscar was my call sign during my first tour in Iraq and was my original Gamertag. During my achievement journey it has changed to Sabre x360a and will be changing again soon.

As most of you know I am a Military man. I am a Sergeant First Class in the Greatest Army this world has ever known. The rank of Sergeant First Class was not given to me easily nor was it unlocked after completing certain 'achievements' in the Army. Rather it was earned through 10 years of Hard Work, Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

I joined the Army at the age of 17 and shipped out when I was 18. Seven days after I graduated High School I was staring a Drill Sergeant in the face. I have only known two things in my life, the first being a knuckle head son in my parents house and the Duty of being a Soldier.

We have a saying in the Army that we call the Soldier's Creed that is drilled into our heads from day one of boot camp, and I can honestly say that this is the easiest way to explain the way I live my life.

I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the People of the United States and live the Army Values.
I WILL ALWAYS PLACE THE MISSION FIRST.
I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT.
I WILL NEVER QUIT.
I WILL NEVER LEAVE A FALLEN COMRADE.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment, and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.

My life as a soldier has been very rewarding. I have traveled the world and seen everything from the beautiful city of Barcelona to Saddam's Palaces in Tikrit. I met my Wife while serving in Germany ( she was in the Army too and can beat your ass!) and together we fought in Iraq.

I know that the Army or the Military in general is not for everyone, But know this. There are many more men and women just like me that will gladly pick up our rifles, our rucksacks, and kiss our families good-bye to go kick some ass so that you dont have to.

Texas

After being MIA for the last month I am finally back on Xbox Live. My move from Cali to Texas is complete. I was able to take a month off between my move and during that time I did not touch my Xbox. It was kind of refreshing to step away from the gamerscore grind.

However, all good things must come to an end. Im re-focused (okay not really) and will be hitting my back log hard. During my time off I decided I wanted to save a bit of money so I will not be buying as many retail games as I normally do, but instead will be working on my completion percentage. My 1 game plan with Gamefly should be enough to keep me satisfied until all the new major releases come out during the holiday season.

Ive already reached my goal for 2009 but with the games I already have I should be able to bang out another 10k before the end of the year without too much trouble.

As for the Army side of things...Im now stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. My new position is sick and it will allow me to do some traveling, and not the middle east type of vacations. It also comes with greater responsibility but the best part is that I will have more time off to do shit that is important to me like chill with the family, advancing my education, and game.

One last thing....GO COWBOYS!

History of my Gamer Tag

Upon the initial setup of my first 360 in late 2006 I was presented a screen to enter my Gamer Tag name. A name that would represent me across the vast network of Xbox Live. At first this little task of picking a name seemed like a daunting one.

For many years I was known by Vindi in the game World of Warcraft but I did not want to continue that name on my 360. I struggled to come up with a creative name to represent my mad gaming skills. However I did not want my name to be like every other 12 year olds name so I decided to go with something a bit more personal, a name I had been known as before. A name that I had been called by on a battlefield and Im not talking Call of Duty.

The name I chose was SabreOscar. Sabre Oscar was my call-sign during my first combat tour in Iraq. During that tour my responsibility was to move forward with the ground forces and provide operational updates to my Attack Helicopter Unit, a Squadron of AH-64A Apaches. Many nights my team and I found ourselves in the middle of no where in Iraq with our sole purpose of calling in air strikes and making sure that the Infantry had the air support that they needed from the Apaches. The men and women that I served with in that unit, 2-6 Cav, still refer to me by Sabre Oscar to this day.

I felt SabreOscar would be a fitting tag as it had a meaning behind it. I kept the tag for two years before recently changing it earlier this year to Sabre x360a.

My reason for the switch was for gamerscore purposes. It was this year that I began taking gamerscore seriously and actively getting involved on the x360a.org forums. I switched my tag but my forum name on the site still remains SabreOscar. Sabre x360a allows me to represent the Army and x360a community.

For those interested here is a little article that was done on my unit. I was quoted in it and for the record the writer of the article miss-quoted me but Im not surprised lol.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=14468

Sergeant First Class Selection

Most of my gaming friends know that I am a Soldier in the US Army. With this being my Military Gamer Blog I thought I would share the news that today I was selected for promotion by the Army to the rank of Sergeant First Class (E-7). Obviously this is a huge "Achievement" in my military career. Now what does any of this have to do with Gaming? Well more rank means more money which means more retail games!