Photo By Staff Sgt. Adam Keith | Soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, I Corps, conduct a squad attack...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - As a food service specialist, Spc. Cierra Hemphill’s daily duties usually revolve around a military dining facility, but during a field training exercise on JBLM, Jan. 21 she got a taste of something new.
The Army cook, part of I Corps’ Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, practiced basic skill level one infantry tasks during the four-day training event.
“It’s definitely something that I needed,” said Hemphill. “As a cook, we don’t really come out and do stuff like this a lot. Having the opportunity to get a refresher and actually doing it in the field is great.”
During a squad attack drill, Hemphill performed the duties of an infantry squad leader, a job usually held by noncommissioned officers two ranks above her own.
“As specialist trying to get promoted, I’m going to have to step up and lead,” said Hemphill. “One day I’m going to have to be in charge. Being in a leadership position here let's me know that I can be successful when that day comes.”
Sgt. 1st Class Richard Gatley, an infantryman with four combat deployments, said he instructed the class with junior soldiers in mind.
“Putting junior soldiers into those positions gives them the sense of what it’s like to be a leader, because your not going to know what it’s like unless you’ve been there,” said Gatley. “It broadens their horizons and gives them an idea of what is required a leader.”
Maneuvering soldiers, calling up reports, controlling fires, all while possibly in contact with an enemy are some of the challenges Gatley said leaders might face in a deployed environment.
He said recreating some of these challenges during the exercise was one of his main goals, because no matter what job a soldier has there is always a chance they will end up in combat.
“All of the units [I deployed with] took non-infantry soldiers on missions to augment Soldiers who went on leave,” said Gatley. “We also wanted to teach them our standard operating procedures and refresh their memories on what they learned in basic training.”
Gatley said the biggest thing he wanted the soldiers attending the training to walk away with was a foundation of basic skills.
“If you know the basics, you’ve established a foundation that you can build off of in the future,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 01.26.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.28.2015 16:31 |
| Story ID: | 152965 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 56 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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