Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Zane Craig | Staff Sgt. Troy Anderson, noncommissioned officer in charge of opposing forces and a...... read more read more
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RAPID CITY, S.D. – Soldiers of the 128th Chemical Company, 213th Regional Support Group, trained to spot and react to improvised explosive devices while conducting convoy operations June 10 in the Black Hills of Custer State Park, S.D.
Soldiers of the 128th Chemical Company, 213th Regional Support Group, trained to spot and react to improvised explosive devices while conducting convoy operations June 10 in the Black Hills of Custer State Park, S.D.
The mountainous terrain, covered in pine forest and open pasture, is comparable to what the soldiers would encounter when deployed to Afghanistan or Kosovo.
“My job as the [noncommissioned officer in charge] of the [opposing] forces here for this mounted lane is two parts: the first is to give the soldiers a realistic training environment, and the second is to allow them to train themselves,” said Staff Sgt. Troy Anderson, noncommissioned officer in charge of Opposing Forces with the Utah Army National Guard and a Price, Utah, native.
Anderson conducted IED route clearance missions in Iraq during his deployment from 2003 through 2004. His team simulated that on the lane by setting up three roadside bombs, one of which exploded with talcum powder. The opposing forces, or Op For, then, engaged the convoy with small arms fire.
“Anytime you’re on a daytime lane looking for IEDs, you’re looking for a threat in your immediate area; look for wires, they’re a key indicator; anything that might blow up on you and look for aiming points,” said Sgt. 1st Class Dusty Kiner, IED lane noncommissioned officer in charge with Joint Forces Headquarters, South Dakota National Guard, and a Rapid City, S.D., native.
Kiner briefed the 128th soldiers, before the convoy rolled out, the training would be conducted at their pace because his goal as facilitator of the lane was simply to have them leave with more knowledge and awareness than they had prior to the lane.
“We have a lot of new soldiers here, and for me, this is my first time being a convoy commander, so we’re here to learn, we’re here to train,” said Staff Sgt. Ernest Hilburt, 1st Decontamination Platoon Sgt. with the 128th Chemical Company.
Some of the young drivers, with no overseas experience, might need to stop and reevaluate midway to learn what to look for, said the Philadelphia native.
Many members of the 128th Chemical Company are part of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, High-Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package, or CERF-P. CERF-P teams are used for state missions and CERF-P soldiers train for extensively with the teams throughout the year. Annual training at Golden Coyote gives these soldiers an opportunity to focus on honing the warrior skills they may use during an overseas deployment.
“I saw the contact, reacted, tried to take him out but got hit. It kind of stinks to be the first casualty but it happens, it comes with the territory,” said Spc. George Aaroe, chemical specialist with the 128th Chemical Company, and a Philadelphia native.
Kiner said soldiers should remember going forward not to exit an up-armored vehicle, it’s the safest place to be in an attack.
“We’ll never leave a scenario without stopping to talk about it and make sure everyone understands what’s going on before we move forward,” he said.
When the head truck in the convoy noticed the next roadside bomb and halted, it turned out the one they noticed was a decoy and the main IED was hidden in a woodpile close to the middle of the convoy. It sent up a billow of white smoke while Op For engaged with small arms fire.
In this part of the simulation, two soldiers were killed and one severely injured. Kiner advised Hilburt of the correct steps to respond to the attack while Hilburt directed his soldiers. The goal was to call for a medical evacuation, treat the wounded, and secure the area for the helicopter to land.
“The casualty’s left leg was blown off in an IED explosion, so we brought him into the Humvee to provide extra security for him and placed a tourniquet three-to-four inches above where the leg was blown off so we could stop the bleeding,” said Spc. Devon Deputy, chemical specialist with the 128th Chemical Company, and a Philadelphia native.
The casualty, once again Aaroe, was moved to the casualty collection point, and Hilburt directed the vehicle to form a perimeter in the open meadow to provide security for the medevac to take place.
“While we waited for the bird to get here, we set up teams to secure the area, and we sent up a SALUTE report,” said Hilburt, who was able to exit the vehicle and consult with Kiner to gain a greater perspective on the situation.
The 128th’s response to the second attack improved noticeably from the first, said Kiner. The cooperation between Kiner, the lane noncommissioned officer-in-charge, and the Op For ensured the unit could test its standard operating procedures and learn at its own pace.
“This is good stuff, you guys do concentrate a lot on [homeland emergency readiness response force] and [chemical enhanced response force packages] and it’s been a little while since you’ve been able to come out and do this stuff in the woods,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Matt Hensinger of the 213th RSG and a Mertztown, Pa. native, who observed the training.
More than 600 soldiers from the 213th RSG and its subordinate units and nearly 3,500 soldiers from across the United States and around the world participated in a wide variety of military training during Golden Coyote 2013.
| Date Taken: | 06.14.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 06.16.2013 15:49 |
| Story ID: | 108739 |
| Location: | RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, US |
| Hometown: | MERTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | PRICE, UTAH, US |
| Hometown: | RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 322 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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