Photo By Capt. Mark Miller | Sgt. Franklin Myers, a combat engineer from Columbia, S.C., assigned to 3rd Platoon,...... read more read more
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Capt. Mark Miller
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq – For the vast majority of coalition forces the last thing they want to find after leaving the forward operating base is an improvised explosive device. For route clearance teams, the exact opposite is true.
The Soldiers and leaders of Company E, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, attached to the 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, working with their Iraqi security forces counterparts, the 1st Mechanized Brigade of Iraqi national police, facilitated a route clearance course at Forward Operating Base Falcon, Baghdad to aid and assist Baghdad's first fully operational Iraqi route clearance team.
The Co. E "Beast" Soldiers passed their knowledge along to their Iraqi counterparts, the 1st Mechanized Brigade of the Iraqi national police, with their own Iron Claw Academy.
When arriving in Iraq, it is required for route clearance teams to go through a five-day training course called the Iron Claw Academy at Camp Liberty prior to engaging in any route clearance missions.
Co. E mimicked the training course, adding twice the number of days of training than the original.
"The extra days allow for equipment familiarization and time to respect the language and cultural barriers, explained Capt. Scott Swilley, the commander of Co. E. "It also gives commanders the time to determine the need for re-training."
The 10-day course encompasses classroom training, practical exercises and an exercise at the end. The specific training blocks teach the policemen about explosives identification and questioning.
"They learn individual tasks, such as IED identification, then move to collective tasks, which include investigating the possible explosives," said Swilley, who hails from Amite, La. "Finally, the police are trained on leadership tasks, where the Iraqi leadership receives the mission, issues an order and walks through the entire process on their own."
The course serves to not only teach the policemen the basics in how to accomplish the mission but also serves as a valuable tool in instilling self-confidence for those attending the course.
"We made the course challenging – but not too challenging," said 1st Sgt. Anthony Coker, the senior enlisted advisor for Beast Co., and a native of Kingsland, Ga. "We want to build their confidence but, at the same time, show them that nobody sees everything."
Staff Sgt. Wade Frehn, a combat engineer assigned to Co. E who served as one of the instructors, observed as the policemen executed the procedures on their own after providing them a block of instruction.
"These guys all seem motivated to learn," said Frehn, who hails from Huntington, Pa. "I'm impressed with how much they retained from the classroom portion of the training and are able to apply that to their hands-on training."
A graduation ceremony is tentatively scheduled in July, where each policeman will receive a badge, training certificate and a record of training for their personnel files.
| Date Taken: | 06.29.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 06.29.2008 13:36 |
| Story ID: | 20989 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 60 |
This work, MND-B's Beast Co. hosts route-clearance course for Iraqi national police, by CPT Mark Miller, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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