Photo By Sgt. Ryan Hallock | A gun team with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, (Stryker) reloads their 240B...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - It’s a new year at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and the Army is changing. From budget cuts to the new opportunity for women to serve in combat positions, the Army as we know is entering into a new era. One thing that won’t be changing within our ranks is the way we train.
The soldiers of the Raider Ready Reserve (R3), 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division proved that during a team live-fire exercise at Range 60 Jan. 29 and Jan. 30. R3 is organized, equipped, and trained to execute rear detachment operations focused on maintaining soldier, family, training and equipment readiness that instills confidence in forward deployed commanders.
Range 60 is in the wilderness. It’s mother nature. There’s no exchange to shop at, no Burger King - there’s just evergreens, Meals Ready-to-Eat and live ammunition.
The training exercise involved the same drills the Infantry has used for decades: reacting to enemy contact, bounding and assaulting through the enemy.
“A fire team moving under direct fire has been the same since World War II,” said 1st Sgt. Shayne L. Charlesworth, R3 first sergeant. “Cover me while I move! Then you move while your buddies fire.”
The exercise afforded new leaders to step up in to the team leader and squad leader positions. The fire teams warmed up with iterations without ammunition where they got a feel for the combat simulated scenario. Once the leaders and their teams worked out the kinks, they moved into blank-round iterations.
“This is basically for the team leader to learn how to control his guys and for his guys to be able to listen to him and react with him under fire and distress,” said Sgt. Brandon Driscoll, team leader, R3.
This is Driscoll’s first time leading soldiers in the team leader position. Magazine changes, staying on line and being vocal with each other are all fundamentals his team practiced going into the live-round iterations.
“It’s definitely a lot harder,” said Driscoll of his new position. “I’ve never done it in a team leader position before, so having to run back and forth to my Joes and moving them is a lot harder work than just having to bound up once and listen to my team leader.”
“It’s a very hard transition to move from riflemen or saw gunner up to that team leader position,” said Charlesworth. “I really think that some of these young soldiers will make outstanding team leaders, squad leaders and platoon sergeants in the near future.”
Some soldiers from R3 have already deployed to Afghanistan and the rest are preparing out in the Washington elements to join them if called upon.
“My expectations are pretty high,” said Charlesworth of his soldiers. “I know that because of the caliber of soldier we have, they are capable of doing so much more than the average Joe around the world.”
The second day of training brought rain. It provided soft ground for the soldiers to dive into the prone position during their bounding movements. Think of diving into the prone position like running full speed and laying out to make a diving catch for a football. It’s not going to feel pleasant but the reward is high in both cases.
By midday during the live-fire exercise, the teams were running through the course smoothly. Newly appointed team leaders and squad leaders transitioned into the role of giving orders during stressful situations.
“I’ve learned a lot and I feel like I’m a lot better team leader then when I got out here,” said Driscoll. “It helped me progress as a soldier by guiding a team and feeling confident in that in a combat situation.”
| Date Taken: | 01.31.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 01.31.2013 19:33 |
| Story ID: | 101310 |
| Location: | JBLM, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 291 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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