Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jason Hudson | HEAT OC/T Staff Sgt. Mark Harris, 90th Sustainment Brigade, Little Rock, Ark.... read more read more
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FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, Calif. - Thousands of soldiers at this year’s Warrior Exercise were able to have a little bit of fun and gain valuable experience with the Humvee Egress Assistance Trainer at Forward Operating Base 8J.
“The purpose of the HEAT trainer is to equip the Soldiers to egress out of a Humvee after a critical rollover on land or in water,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Harris, one of the Observer Controller/Trainers assigned to ensure soldiers got maximum benefit from the training.
The training is also designed to give soldiers a chance, under controlled conditions, to experience the way it feels when a vehicle is about to roll over. This will give them the knowledge they need to react quickly and more effectively in an uncontrolled rollover situation.
Another consideration soldiers experiencing this training get to think about is the way they store and secure equipment in their vehicles, military and civilian. During a rollover, anything not secured can keep moving and cause multiple injuries.
After going through the training, Staff Sgt. Dustin Fulton of the 476th Chemical Battalion said, “The thing I noticed about the HEAT training is that one, it makes you re-evaluate how you store your stuff while riding in a Humvee because stuff’s flying all over the place. The second part is the opportunity of things getting really dark, really fast. If you’re upside down, let’s say in a lake, it’s going to be really dark and you can’t see anything. These are things most people don’t usually think about.”
From the outside, the HEAT doesn’t look that impressive, basically a heavy-duty recreation of an up-armored Humvee, without the wheels or engine compartment, that rotates. Once a soldier experiences it, they leave with a greater understanding of its importance and it is somehow more impressive.
“I wasn’t expecting much, it looked pretty fun but until I got into it, it didn’t seem very great,” said Sgt. James Repasz. “It was really awesome, I’ve never been in a rollover so I didn’t know what it would be like upside down inside of an enclosed area; it was very disorientating.”
“Most of the soldiers are excited about it, they like it, it’s something that most don’t get to do at their homestations,” Harris said. “They take this training serious, so it has been good for them and we’ve received a lot of good feedback too.”
“It’ll have a great impact because it will give the soldier a feel, if they’ve never been in a rollover, never experienced one, it kind of gives them that real life feel of, ’okay, I’m upside down, now what do I need to do’. It helps the soldier understand how to egress out,” he said.
The training, while invaluable to the soldiers going through it, also has a powerful impact on those giving the training.
“I love it, it’s been good, we’ve met a lot of soldiers and it’s a really good impact when you can take your experience and pass it on to the next soldier that might be deploying,” said Harris.
| Date Taken: | 05.12.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 11.01.2010 14:34 |
| Story ID: | 59241 |
| Location: | FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 58 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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