MCGREGOR RANGE, N.M. - Tennessee Army National Guard soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 230th Sustainment Brigade, were trained here on close-quarters combat and urban operations by the observer controller/trainers from the 1st Battalion, 360th Infantry Regiment, “Warhawg,” 5th Armored Brigade, Feb. 8.
Employing the most current tactics, techniques and procedures, this training will better prepare these personnel security detachment team soldiers for deployment to Kuwait.
“… the team will take from this and build on it,” said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Weeden, HHC, 230th Sustainment Bde. and Athens, Tenn., native. “A lot of them haven’t seen this type of training before and with us being a PSD team we’ll be with a lot of dignitaries and sheiks, so hopefully they’ll take from that and build on it and have a better concept once we get over there in theater.”
The war fighters moved tactically between buildings, entering and clearing rooms safely. Whether the scenario presented a meeting with the local sheik, an urban patrol or a search for a high-value target, local civilians and surprise attacks from insurgents played a part in the scenario.
“When we did clearing buildings and patrolling, it’s similar to my job back home, because I am a police officer, but doing it from a military aspect it completely takes you off a little bit,” said Sgt. Patricia Justice, HHC, 230th Sustainment Bde., from Brighton, Tenn. “I learned a lot from it, because I never think about my [civilian] job in the military aspect, just doing it on the streets. Actually learned a lot when it comes to security and 'pulling 360' and looking for different things room clearing…”
The mobilized National Guard soldiers said the integration of the Iraqi cultural role players into the urban-ops training is more noticeable for those who have experienced previous deployments.
“The [civilians on the battlefield] were very good, because you know that’s how it is, you never know how they’re going to react or how they are going to respond,” said Weeden, “The COBs they had out here for the training was realistic, and it really set a lot of hectic moments, I guess [the] 'fog of war,' for my soldiers.”
The close quarters combat training runs for two days. On day one, they run through the “glass houses” and then, on day two, they run through the hard structures and through the lanes with the civilians and insurgents on the battlefield and are validated on their ability to enter and clear a room.
“Before they came to this range, they did two days of going over entering and clearing rooms,” said Staff Sgt. Ronald M. Ross, observer controller/trainer, 1st Bn., 360th Inf. Regt., 'Warhawg.' So they were more prepared than most soldiers that come and expect us to go ahead and teach them everything they need to know.”
In a continuing effort to make training more realistic and tougher, the “Warhawg” Battalion recently made marked improvements to the close quarters combat training area, and renamed it “Al-Matar Village” from “Al-Hadiz Village.”
These improvements paid off, as the 230th soldiers felt the realistic setting and improvements made in the training facility gives them an advantage heading overseas.
“I feel real comfortable; you have to understand these soldiers have different backgrounds and MOSs - they don’t come from police backgrounds,” said Justice. “They don’t come from infantry, or MP or artillery, or any kind of grouping to that nature of the military. It brought us together and made everybody knowledgeable on what to do. When you have five people that have never done a room clearing before and you can go out here and do it over and over again and you get precise at it I trust in my team a lot.”
| Date Taken: | 02.08.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.15.2011 10:13 |
| Story ID: | 65467 |
| Location: | MCGREGOR RANGE, NEW MEXICO, US |
| Web Views: | 88 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, 'Warhawg’ trainers prepare 230th PSD for deployment, by SFC Brian Scott, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
