3rd ID soldiers certify to combat radio controlled explosive devices

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Elvis Umanzor | Staff Sgt. Isabel Ruiz, right, the electronic warfare specialist for 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and a Yauco, Puerto Rico, native, shows 3rd ID soldiers how to operate and troubleshoot the Duke V3, a counter-radio controlled improvised explosive device electronic warfare system, July 9, 2014, on Fort Stewart, Ga. Soldiers completed certification on the Duke V3 system to enhance their abilities to defeat radio controlled devices during mounted operations in hostile environments. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Elvis Umanzor, 4th IBCT, 3rd ID, Public Affairs)  

FORT STEWART, GA, UNITED STATES

07.11.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Elvis Umanzor 

4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs

FORT STEWART, Ga. – Soldiers from the Marne Division enhanced their capabilities to combat radio controlled explosive device threats used by enemies of the U.S. who use technology to harm service members serving across the world.
Ten soldiers from 3rd Infantry Division completed the division’s Counter-Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare Specialist Certification, or CREW course, July 11, on Fort Stewart. The newly certified soldiers work at the company and platoon levels where there is no electronic warfare specialist assigned.

Four electronic warfare noncommissioned officers from 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, or the Vanguard Brigade, of 3rd ID led the 40-hour course which included training on the Thor III, Duke V3 and the Baldr, CREW systems currently used in Afghanistan to help keep service members safe during convoys and security patrols.

“The instructors have been awesome.” Sgt. Justin McEwen, a cavalry scout with Troop B, 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th IBCT. “Any questions, they’ve been able to answer right on the spot and if they didn’t know the answer … they had the material here [available].”

The course covered how to operate, troubleshoot and maintain the three systems.

“They are the main systems that we use when we touch down in theater,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Fernandez, one of the instructors and the electronic warfare specialist for 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th IBCT. “We always have to have these systems in play when we are outside the wire.”

“Electronic warfare is so demanding, and it changes every day,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Bennett, the electronic warfare noncommissioned officer for the Vanguard Brigade.

Bennett, a Rome, Georgia, native emphasized the importance of the training and the electronic warfare mission. “We need the battalion electronic warfare NCOs to push harder to their commanders the need for these CREW specialists.”

“These are the guys who are going to be doing the majority of the work down range and keeping their guys safe when they are doing missions,” he added.

McEwen from Yadkinville, North Carolina, said “It’s going to give us the capability within the platoon and company level to be able to trouble shoot and help fix our own CREW systems.”
The electronic warfare systems use electronic frequencies to defeat radio controlled IEDs.

McEwen, who’s used the system before in Afghanistan, said he looks forward to training his soldiers to trouble shoot and maintain the system because the training he received during the course would help them in combat. “It’s one of those systems that you don’t really know it’s effectiveness until you come to this class,” he added.

Electronic warfare is a big part of the mission in Afghanistan said Fernandez, a San Antonio native.

“What we are doing now as a brigade, we are actually trying to get ahead,” he added. “I think 4th Brigade is definitely on top of it.”

• Date Taken: 07.11.2014
• Date Posted: 07.14.2014 16:31
• Story ID: 136072
• Location: FORT STEWART, GA, US
• Hometown: YAUCO, PR
• Hometown: ELIZABETHTON, TN, US
• Hometown: ROME, GA, US
• Hometown: SAN ANTONIO, TX, US
• Hometown: YADKINVILLE, NC, US