NH Guard Mountain Infantry unit completes major exercise

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Hughes | Capt. Allen Corey II of Lyman, N.H., the Commander of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), looks at a map while planning a deliberate attack during a decisive action exercise June 21, 2014.  

FORT POLK, LA, UNITED STATES

06.27.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Whitney Hughes 

114th Public Affairs Detachment

FORT POLK, La. - Rifleman Pvt. Sergii Tcharkovski's hazel eyes darted from the scope of his rifle to 1st Sgt. Shannon Kulakowski, who had come sprinting through the center of the village bellowing, “Stop the vehicle! Stop right there!” As Kulakowski took cover behind an abandoned van, he continuing to bark orders as the SUV rolled to a stop. His soldiers, rushing from the woods and from out of buildings, silently flanked him, and like Tcharkovski peered down their rifles awaiting the next move of the bearded men who exited the truck.

Although this scene could have easily been unfolding in Afghanistan, it actually took place on the streets of Janan, Atropia a fictional villiage and country at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. This is where Tcharkovski, Kulakowski and about 100 soldiers from the C Company 3rd Battalion of the 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain) joined their parent unit, the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team to complete a three-week training exercise involving 4,150 soldiers from 21 different states. The New Hampshire National Guard unit is part of the only National Guard brigade that will complete this kind of force on force war fare, or Decisive Action Training Environment, exercise this year.

“This is a phenomenal opportunity for the Guard to come here,” said Gen. Frank Grass, Chief of the National Guard Bureau. “When they walk away from here they are going to take back lessons, from this brigade combat operation here at JRTC that will pay them benefits for years to come. This will craft where they need to take their training.”

For the members of C Company the training provided the opportunity for a shift to conventional warfare tactics, which pitted them against a 700-member enemy opposition. They faced an enemy with helicopters, tanks, similar weapons, communication, and technology.

The conventional warfare training differed from the company’s last rotation at JRTC before their 2010 deployment to Afghanistan, which was also the last time they trained with their entire brigade. That rotation focused more on counter-insurgency operations than fighting a conventional force.

“This time we did not have any particular edge as far as equipment. It was all about unit leadership, tactics and violence of action,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Marsella, a weapons squad leader and a veteran of the 2010 deployment. “It refocused me on traditional warfare, as opposed to the unconventional warfare of Afghanistan. The tactics that worked there would not work against a similarly matched opponent.”

In addition to refocusing their tactical mindset, they also had acclimate to the challenges of the training environment. The company’s veterans had to teach the new soldiers, who made up about 70 percent of the company, how to deal with life in the field.

“Out here you’re experience pretty close to what it is in theater (a combat zone), said Sgt. Dustin Rogers a Rifle Squad Leader and also a veteran of the Afghanistan deployment. “We have a lot of new guys that came into the unit recently so we’re working a lot of basics, like building endurance; how to endure sleep deprivation, and food deprivation, things that guys are really not used to.”

The Louisiana field environment offered plenty of challenges to the New Hampshire unit, including 90-degree temperatures, poison ivy, chiggers (small mites that burrow in the skin), snake and scorpion bites.

“I’m becoming much more of a soldier before I couldn’t really say that, I was kind of clueless,” said Tcharkovski who had only done two drills with the unit prior to the exercise. “It sounds really weird because I haven’t showered in seven or eight days, but it’s actually been a really great time.”

Rogers agreed that their immersion into the field environment proved invaluable to the growth of his new soldiers.

“They have come leaps and bounds in the last week,” he said about halfway through the exercise. “From movements through the woods, to noise and light discipline, to being able to maintain themselves without being told what to do, and being more proactive versus reactive. These guys have really stepped it up a notch.”

As evidence of their progress, C Company was selected to be the main effort of the brigade’s infantry battalion for their largest offensive movement, a deliberate attack on a village that was the culmination of the exercise.

“It’s not an easy thing to go through a JRTC rotation. It just emphasizes again in my mind how strong our soldiers are,” said Lt. Col. Erik Fessenden, the Battalion Commander of the 54th Troop Command, which C Company falls under in the New Hampshire National Guard. “It surprised me how young they were when I shook their hands two weeks ago, and now just seeing the change in their eyes, it’s been a tough ordeal for them.”

Soldiers from C Company spent the days after the exercise ended packing equipment, weapons and supplies, and will return home to New Hampshire June 28.

• Date Taken: 06.27.2014
• Date Posted: 06.27.2014 13:07
• Story ID: 134695
• Location: FORT POLK, LA, US
• Hometown: CONCORD, NH, US
• Hometown: MANCHESTER, NH, US
• Hometown: MILFORD, NH, US