Photo By Spc. Andrew Orillion | Sgt. Joseph Martino, petroleum supply specialist with the 389th Engineering Battalion...... read more read more
FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, Calif. - Elements of the 993rd Transportation Company roll over a small bridge and pass by a series of small structures. BOOM! A mock improvised explosive device takes out the rear vehicle. Insurgents converge from all sides as the training lane lights up with blank rifle and RPG fire. A “local national” is taken in to custody as his “wife” pleads for his release. It’s a bit of controlled chaos designed to simulate a real-world engagement, courtesy of the inject Observer Controller/Trainers, here at Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif. during Combat Support Training Exercise 91.
The inject OCTs are specially-trained NCOs who run the training lanes here. They are chosen and lead by Sgt First Class Robert Rodriguez, a combat engineer with 10th Battalion, 91st Training Division (Operations).
They are picked for their deployment experience and passion for training soldiers, said Rodriguez, a native of San Jose, Calif.
“They have to have the drive I have to train these units. Not just to go out there and go through the motions. They actually take the time to train them and it shows,” said Rodriguez. “This is probably one of my best teams in four years.”
There are a number of OC/T schools across the country, including Fort McCoy, Wis., Fort Dix, N.J. and here. In addition to the training provided by the school, Rodriguez has own method of choosing only the best OT/Cs.
“I give each one an eight-digit grid square for the lane, make them find the lane, make them set it up and I evaluate it. If I think they would do better on another lane, I’ll switch them,” said Rodriguez. “They have to show me they are knowledgeable on that lane and they have a passion to train these guys.”
One of the inject OC/Ts who met Rodriguez’s standard is Sgt. Joseph Martino, petroleum supply specialist with the 389th Engineering Battalion out of Davenport, Iowa.
Martino, a native of Chicago deployed to Afghanistan in the Kandahar and Helmand areas from August 2010 to August 2011. His unit ran close to 200 missions and did route clearance, said Martino.
Martino’s unit also had to provide its own security, so he got to see every aspect of successful convoy operations. Like many of the other inject OC/Ts, Martino incorporates his own combat and deployment experience into his training.
“With the convoys that we ran all the time, the experience comes in on all the routes I’ve driven, just seeing the things I’ve seen. Seeing how the enemy plants IEDs, what they look for,” said Martino.
The scenarios the inject OC/Ts run are set up prior to the training. They are allowed to improvise to a degree by adding civilians, suicide bombers or IEDs.
The improvisation keeps the teams on their toes and keeps the training fresh. This is an essential part of any good training lane, said Sgt. Tokeeyo Harmon, a chemical specialist with the 320th Chemical Company from Queens, N.Y.
“If you have a squad that’s extremely motivated and extremely sharp, you don’t want to keep giving them the same baby steps, because as time goes by, it just wears them down. What you want to do is match the training to the level of the soldier,” said Harmon.
Like Martino, Harmon has a lot of deployment experience. The Manhattan, N.Y., native deployed twice to Iraq, including Camp Liberty and the Green Zone. Like Martino, he applies his knowledge to the training he provides.
“For example, when you’re doing route clearance, besides moving 5 mph for 19 hours-per-day, you have to be extremely aware of your surroundings. You have to able to spot what is and isn’t supposed to be in that location. Just because you see trash doesn’t mean that trash is not an IED. At the same time, whenever you see trash doesn’t mean there’s an IED”, said Harmon. “So, that’s what I do -- I revert back to my previous experience.”
Harmon gets excited when the units coming through the lane performs well. He said it’s a sign the unit’s command are running strong battle drills and helping their soldiers.
“It also shows you have soldiers who are motivated enough to step up, take leadership positions in the mission and run with the ball,” said Harmon. “To me, that’s the best thing in the world. I know this is just training but I could just imagine them in the same situations over there. I believe they’ll be successful -- they will prevail.”
For Harmon, being a part of the inject team is his way of paying back everyone who trained him to be the soldier he is now.
“I look at those drill sergeants and everybody that actually got up and separated themselves from their families, the long hard hours and this is my way of paying them back,” said Harmon. “It’s also my way to look out for the future soldiers like my previous drill sergeants and senior NCOs did for me.”
Safety is always a major consideration during any training, said Martino. With the number of units and variety of lanes, Combat Support Training Exercise 91 is no exception.
“We need to make sure they are not going to go crazy and start driving off the road and colliding with each other,” said Martino. “That’s why we hit them where we do, so they’re spaced out far enough to avoid any accidents, or, God forbid, someone getting hit by a vehicle when they’re on foot.”
It isn’t just the units who come through the lanes that learn to be better soldiers. The OC/Ts take lessons from the training, too.
“It’s not only the player units that are learning stuff, we’re actually learning stuff, too,” said Sgt. Amy Rasmus, a supply specialist with the 441st Seaport Transportation Company out of New Orleans. “I’m learning stuff I’ve never had to deal with, because of what my MOS [Military Occupational Specialty] was when I was deployed. So, I’m learning a different angle.”
The lanes run by the inject OC/Ts is an essential part of the training deploying units need. For Rodriguez and his team, it’s all about training the soldiers so they can come home to their families.
“I want them to get their battle legs under them. A lot of them get here and they don’t have any real idea of what to do. But, here, they get to make their mistakes. They get to grow up, they get to learn. They get that confidence they can actually do it and it brings them together,” said Rodriguez.
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.21.2012 13:44 |
| Story ID: | 91953 |
| Location: | CA, US |
| Hometown: | CHICAGO, IL, US |
| Hometown: | DAVENPORT, IA, US |
| Hometown: | MANHATTAN, NY, US |
| Hometown: | NEW ORLEANS, LA, US |
| Hometown: | QUEENS, NY, US |
| Hometown: | SAN JOSE, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 187 |
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