By Spc. Courtney E. Marulli
2nd Brigade Combat Team
2nd Infantry Division Public Affairs
CAMP CORREGIDOR, AR RAMADI, Iraq — Despite carrying out numerous combat missions, guarding the camp and maintaining physical readiness, Soldiers in Company D, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, also conduct routine training to ensure they stay on top of their game.
Cpl. Josh N. Brown, a team leader from Centerville, Iowa, said ensuring Soldiers train continuously is a way to keep their minds off having their tour extended to 15 months.
Brown also works closely with his fellow team leader, Spc. Kristopher M. Timms. Timms is in charge of Bravo Team and is a native of Lubbock, Texas.
Timms said their Soldiers have been reading through training manuals and handbooks the entire time they have been in combat and easily do so during their down time.
Brown said each Soldier is fully aware of the standards and is capable of performing, but the extra training is to keep them physically sharp on proper procedures for such things as entering and clearing a room. Regular attendance at ranges also helps ensure that weapons stay zeroed and fire accurately.
"No matter where you're at, combat or garrison environment, wherever, you have to train," Brown said. "You always have to train. Yeah, I'll admit in a combat environment you have a lot going on. You have to train because you'll never get it perfect, never get it exactly how it's done."
Brown said the Soldiers who have been with the unit since Fort Carson, received a lot of training prior to deploying. But, during combat, teams change and Soldiers change, so continuous training ensures each Soldier knows what to do.
"We have been here long enough that each guy knows what the other will do," Brown said. "You have to anticipate each other. There is no such thing as enough training."
Timms said he recently received a new Soldier who underwent training prior to deploying, but continual training will allow that Soldier to understand the unit's standards.
"There are things they absolutely have to know when going into a house and be proficient on," he said.
Brown said the three-hour training session could easily have turned into an all day event.
"You can never be too good at clearing a house," he said. "It's impossible."
Brown added that when Soldiers enter a house, it is always a situation of controlled chaos and mistakes that can be deadly.
"It's the small, tiny, little mess-ups that cause the biggest problems," he said.
Going into a house slowly is important because the movement is then smooth, according to Brown.
"Slow is smooth and smooth is fast," he said. "We make it look like we control it but there are so many moving parts, chaos, a lot to it, we have to make sure because rounds are flying."
Timms said the little mistakes are the ones that cause training to be conducted over and over again that day until the standard is met.
"You have to know you can go in and do live fires and trust the guy next to you not to shoot you," he said.
Training is important not only for individual Soldiers and teams, but for the Army overall, Brown said.
"The Army is one of the greatest forces in the world," he said. "Training to me is to try and achieve perfection. It's impossible. We train to keep people alive, but sometimes things just happen. No training sets you up for failure."
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