Photo By Staff Sgt. Ian Kummer | California Army National Guard Soldiers from 340th Brigade Support Battalion, based in...... read more read more
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CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. – Soldiers in full firefighting gear bustled across an exposed hilltop under the scorching California sun. Despite the blistering heat, they were hard at work carving trenches across the terrain, cutting through brush and shouting out commands. These men and women were Soldiers of the California Army National Guard, citizen-Soldiers entrusted with the job of protecting the state from the latest threat—numerous wildfires burning across the vulnerable drought-ridden landscape.
Working side-by-side with mentors from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), members of the 340th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB), based out of Seaside, California, and the 224th Sustainment Brigade, based out of Long Beach, California, learned how to work as firefighter hand crews Aug. 4-7 at Camp Roberts, California.
After two days of instruction, the Soldiers went out into the field on Aug. 7 to practice what they learned.
Soldiers of the 113th Transportation Company, 340th BSB, earlier this year returned from a combat deployment to Afghanistan. Now these veterans are preparing for a very different but equally important mission—deploying on the front lines of wildfire season—battling encroaching firestorms before they can endanger lives and destroy property.
“I guess you could say I volunteered [for this] when I enlisted,” said Staff Sgt. Allen Gubba, with the 113th Transportation Company, 340th Brigade Sustainment Battalion, who recently returned from the mission in Afghanistan. "I've deployed with many of [these Soldiers], and they did very well in country. I think they'll do fine here."
The new hand crew team, designated as Task Force 340th, was comprised entirely of volunteers who knew what they were signing up for.
“I volunteered to come on this mission because I felt it was really important to give back to my state and my community," said Spc. Joseph Morning Jr., a Soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 340th BSB, currently living in Monterey, California, with his wife and two children. "My family is supportive of everything I do … they support me, and are excited that I am here."
The Task Force had spent the two previous days in classroom training with Cal Fire instructors, and today had the chance to apply what they had learned in real life. The Soldiers were equipped with boots, flame-retardant clothing, helmets and perhaps importantly, a backpack with a meal, water and tools needed to maintain the gear they would be using in the field. After splitting up into their assigned crews, hand tools were assigned to each group. After the gear issue was complete, the Soldiers-turned-firefighters marched out to a nearby training area to begin the day's work.
After arriving at the training area the Task Force began cutting lines—trenches designed to slow down or stop an approaching blaze—chopping through wood and brush and setting up fire shelters. All of this was completely different than the work most of the Soldiers were accustomed to, but they adapted just as they would to any other job.
“I think this is all about the versatility of a Soldier, and specifically the versatility of a Guardsman because we bring more to the table than just our military job skill," said Command Sgt. Major William Clark Jr., a senior enlisted adviser for the California Army National Guard. "We can be firemen, we can be policemen. All of those things allow us to be versatile and adaptable to change."
Like any other job war fighters may do, working in a hand crew requires special attention to Soldier care and the maintenance and safe use of their equipment. Every crew regularly stopped working to drink water, check for heat casualties and sharpen their hand tools. Though working as a hand crew was new to many of the Soldiers, they found themselves doing familiar tasks.
"My original MOS [military occupational specialty] was combat engineer," Morning said. "As an engineer equipment maintenance is really important, and out here we are learning to maintain our equipment, which is now tools - axes and shovels."
Just as a Soldier needs to be alert and attentive to his environment in a combat zone, the Soldiers were taught how to approach a hazardous wildfire with a similar mindset.
“I think one of the most useful things I've learned out here is the ability to stay aware of everything going on around you, always staying on the alert and not getting to focused on the immediate task at hand," Gubba said.
The training event did not happen by accident—years of coordination and planning enabled the day's training to go smoothly for everyone involved. Cal Fire provided a cadre of experienced mentors to instruct the Soldiers during the day’s events.
“We've got seasoned firefighters out here training the troops, and the troops are watching, they're learning, they're doing hands-on work," said Lynne Tolmachoff, a Cal Fire spokesperson based in Sacramento. “They're giving us extra personnel to get the job done.”
By the end of the day's training, every Soldier was enabled to face the real thing—possible deployment within the next 48 hours to a real fire.
“I'm just excited to get out here and put these fires out for the state of California," Morning said.
| Date Taken: | 08.07.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.08.2014 18:31 |
| Story ID: | 138766 |
| Location: | CAMP ROBERTS, CA, US |
| Hometown: | MONTEREY, CA, US |
| Hometown: | SACRAMENTO, CA, US |
| Hometown: | SEASIDE, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 251 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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