FORT SURASEE, Thailand — Cobra Gold 2010 has been a rewarding exercise with both American and Thai Soldiers getting to teach and learn. Over the final four days of the exercise the two groups came together for a large-scale assault. The Battalion Live Fire exercise culminated at the Bo Phloi range, Feb. 8, after three days of practice.
Cobra Gold is a joint-training exercise between U.S., Thai, Japanese, Singaporean and Republic of Korea forces, as an opportunity to cross-train and share past lessons learned. The 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment, S.C. National Guard, is training with U.S. Marines and Thai soldiers during the operation.
On the first day, Soldiers from the 4-118th practiced a company size movement and live fire before joining up with the Thai soldiers.
"The battalion exercise is set up with a Thai battalion and an America battalion put together under a Thai regiment," said Maj. Edward Cloyd, executive officer for the 4-118th Infantry. "The companies alternate between Thai and U.S. It has been challenging but very rewarding because you learn a lot from a company who does stuff completely differently. It allows both sides to ask why and you learn a lot."
The third and final practice day involved one final run through with some live rounds to let everyone get a feel for the big event.
"The Soldiers have practiced the exercise nine times over the past few days," said Cloyd. "The rehearsals have been very good. It is very difficult to keep a regiment on line with mortars when you don't speak the same language. There has been a very steep learning curve."
The Medical Aid Station was set up at the rear of the exercise for emergencies. The Aid Station had knowledgable and ready medics from the 251st Area Medical Support Company on hand. Their ambulance was able to follow behind the troops in the event of an injury. Dehydration has been a serious concern throughout the whole training event.
"We conducted a critical training exercise for this in early January in S.C. and the average temperature was 19 degrees," Cloyd said. "Trying to acclimatize from the teens to 100 degrees in two weeks is very hard and they have been doing it in full body armor."
For the full exercise, the Thai Army provided an air assault of UH-1 Iriquois Helicopter delivering ground troops at the beginning of the exercise. From there, Thai and American soldiers moved through fields, crops, brush and open terrain. As they advanced, various types of enemy targets were presented and neutralized before moving on. Mortars set up on the edges of the range were used to assault the main objective throughout the movement.
"I think the exercise was great. The rehearsals have been so extensive," said Cloyd. "The guys were excited; this is what they train for."
| Date Taken: |
02.26.2010 |
| Date Posted: |
02.26.2010 11:01 |
| Story ID: |
45887 |
| Location: |
FORT SURASEE, TH |
| Web Views: |
175 |
| Downloads: |
154 |
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This work, S.C. National Guard Soldiers combine forces with Thai soldiers for massive exercise, by SFC Erica Jaros, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
