Photo By Staff Sgt. Coltin Heller | Soldiers with the 252nd Engineer Company, 103rd Engineer Battalion, 213th Regional...... read more read more
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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. - When hearing of soldiers readying for a scheduled deployment, many think of the near endless days and time spent in the field. However, more than field training goes into preparing soldiers for long months spread abroad.
For deploying National Guard soldiers, deploying means more than just that: it means leaving behind civilians jobs, family and an entire way of life.
To prepare for the transition and scheduled deployment, soldiers assigned to the 252nd Engineer Company, 103rd Engineer Battalion, 213th Regional Support Group, Pennsylvania Army National Guard conducted a myriad of training in support of their scheduled deployment.
Their time spent at Fort Indiantown Gap comprised of several types of field training, preparing them for contingencies the soldiers may face while in a deployed environment, in addition to several informative briefings designed to mentally prepare the soldiers for life overseas.
“It’s a wake-up call after you get into it,” said Sgt. Chad Monferdini, a heavy equipment operator with the 252nd Engineer Company who will be going on his fourth deployment.
The 252nd soldiers, supported by soldiers assigned to the 103rd Forward Support Company, 103rd Engineer Battalion, and other Pennsylvania Guard assets, conducted several training lanes providing training to first-time soldiers and refresher training to others.
Monferdini, who went through a “train the trainer” course offered by the Pre-mobilization Training Assistance Element, took the helm on the lanes, training the soldiers in their common tasks.
“They trained me on how to train my fellow soldiers,” said Monferdini, speaking about the PTAE. “Pretty much any of the classes we had that were mandatory, I was either the primary or secondary instructor for the lanes.”
For Monferdini, a native of Portage, Pa., and veteran on his fourth deployment, the training provided a refresher, while for Pfc. Bradley Armstrong, who just passed his one-year mark in the Army at the beginning of training, the two-week period gave a him a base of knowledge needed in a deployed environment.
“The training gave you the basic foundation of everything, to slowly stack and get your muscle memory for things, such as the IED training, how to determine what an IED is, your stand off distances and your perimeter,” said Armstrong, a heavy vehicle mechanic.
In addition to IED training, 252nd soldiers conducted various types of field training from land navigation, movement techniques, low-visiblity driving with night vision equipment to the standard weapon qualification training.
Instructors did their best to make the training as realistic as possible. During the Combat Lifesaver Course, the soldiers went through the Medical Battalion Training Site, where they first learned types of injuries and ways to treat them, before putting their knowledge to the test by evacuating two simulated casualties amid sight obscuring smoke and the sounds of gunfire and explosions.
The individual movement techniques and IED lanes also simulated battle, as the soldiers were fired upon by other soldiers posing as opposition forces, had simulated incoming fire and casualties, tying in previously learned training.
“Things got hectic when we did the training, and even more so when you have [opposition forces] shooting at you, but our training helped us stay focused and on track and enabled us to complete our missions while out on the lanes,” said Armstrong.
The training also acted as a team builder for all soldiers in the 252nd Engineer Company as not all the soldiers were organic to the unit.
“Seventy-five percent are engineers from Johnstown,” said Capt. Joshua Kupchella, commander for the 252nd Engineer Company. “We have backfills and supernumeraries from other companies throughout the state.”
Soldiers who act as backfill and supernumeraries fill the ranks of deploying units and train with them in the event of injuries, illness or other factors that would prevent soldiers from deploying, this way the unit remains at full strength. For units to be effective, these soldiers must integrate with unit and build strong bonds. Training is one way this is accomplished.
“We’re building that team together with these guys, some have been with working with us since the summer and others joined us here just last month. It’s been a lot of a team building aspect with this training,” said Kupchella, who hails from Strongstown, Pa.
Training in the field and out
In order to keep the National Guard on the cutting edge, training must evolve and adapt, with new training models and aides being required. The Pennsylvania Army National Guard, taking this concern in mind, as well as the concern of its citizen-soldiers not being away from their homes longer than need be and created the pre-mobilization training platform here.
Monferdini says the training is new compared to the training he received prior to his last deployment.
“It’s pretty different. The only other time I did something like this was in 2008. We came down to the Gap for a two-week operation. It was pretty much common task oriented.”
Monferdini went on to add, he only did training like this when at mobilization station, such as Fort Dix or Camp Shelby and the training is a valued refresher and looks forward to more specific training.
“If you already get some of the training out of the and you already got a little understanding on it, it helps you a lot when you get to a mob station and hopefully we can get a lot of job oriented [military occupational specialty] training when we get there," Monferdini said.
While Monferdini, who works full time for Fort Indiantown Gap, knew the training capabilities, Armstrong and other new soldiers got a glimpse into the up-to-date training facilities on post.
“I didn’t think they had all this judging by the look of the place,” said Armstrong speaking on the posts’ training areas. “But as you go from place to place, and room to room you see just how good it is. Everybody is knowledgeable, all the teachers are knowledgeable on what they are teaching you and the training areas are spot on.”
While most on the outside looking in at Army training see only the field craft, many more hours are spent in a classroom, first learning what must be done in the field in addition to knowledge soldiers must utilize at all times.
The 252nd were no exception to this rule, and endured daylong classes before movement into the field.
“Briefings? Oh, there were a bunch of them,” says Monferdini, laughing a bit.
“Of course we received briefings on all the lanes, IED awareness and counter-IED [operations], combat lifesaving, you know, pretty much everything we did had a classroom part first,” he added.
The briefings, however, did not just pertain to training in the field.
“We’ve done [judge advocate general] briefs, those were good as they informed us of our legal options we have when we’re overseas, like who we can put in charge of paying our bills while we’re gone,” said Armstrong.
For first time deploying soldiers, the briefings provide insight and options they didn’t know they had, as well as preparing them to interact with those from a vastly different culture.
“I only knew about their culture from what I saw on TV," said Armstrong. “I thought I knew enough about the people over there to get along. The cultural awareness training taught me more, really opened my eyes to the culture they have over there.”
Even still, for the individual soldier, more goes into the preparing for a deployment than training and briefings. Each soldier has to mentally prepare for the time away from friends and loved ones and prepare to have their interest at home seen to while they are gone.
“I work at a metal refinery, making forgings for steel and power plants,” said Armstrong, when asked about his civilian employment. “A lot of those guys are veterans, so when I go to them and say, ‘Hey, I’m getting deployed and would like your insight,’ they would tell me what they knew. A lot of them went through Iraqi Freedom, and they give me insights on what they went through and how I can mentally prepare for it.”
Deployments have become somewhat of a routine for Monferdini, who says while you can talk to people about it, being there is the only thing that can get you in the mindset of a deployment.
“I think its one of the most simplest forms of life, you just eat and do your job. I think you have to be a different person to be able to deploy,” he said. "Some days are bad. Some days are good. Everybody is your battle buddy and I think the closer you are with them the better.”
In order for soldiers to stay focused while in the field, they must know their affairs at home are taken care of, something both the veteran Monferdini and Armstrong have a handle on.
“When I was at basic, if I needed money, my parents would gladly lend me money, or put money in my account. My sister kept ahead of my bills and it was easy sailing from there. And since that method wasn’t broke, I’m going to go with that while I’m gone,” said Armstrong.
Monferdini also, until recently, employed his family to oversee his finances.
For the first three deployments it was pretty much my mother,” said Monferdini about who handled his finances. “But the online stuff is getting better now, so you can pay a good bit of your bills online, balance your check book, stuff like that.”
Not only do the soldier have prepare themselves and their assets, but also the families who will have the home fires burning and waiting for their return. For this, units have a Family Readiness Group which provides counseling to soldiers' families and a support network as well.
“We have a pretty well developed FRG at the company,” said Kupchella, who’s wife is the president of his unit's FRG. “We’ve been working on it for the past year with getting events together, such as family picnics, getting speakers to come in brief the families, to try and get the families ready.
With all the pieces coming together, the soldiers of the 252nd Engineer Company will be successful in their upcoming deployment, where they will assist in the removal of forward operating bases during their deployment early next year, thanks in part to their training, both indoors and out at Fort Indiantown Gap.
“The experience here has been great. I’m glad something like this was put into place so that way new guys like me, the future leaders have that good base that we can pass on to the next generation of soldiers,” said Monferdini.
| Date Taken: | 12.04.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 12.04.2013 18:54 |
| Story ID: | 117728 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | PORTAGE, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | STRONGSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 475 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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