Photo By Staff Sgt. Melissa Parrish | A Hungarian soldier waits for cavalry scouts with the 1st Squadron (Airborne), 40th...... read more read more
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CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - In the dead of night, 15 cavalry scouts boarded Light Medium Tactical Vehicles (LMTV) and headed up a mountain for a raid training mission near Mitrovica, Kosovo, May 21.
Paratroopers with 1st Squadron (Airborne), 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, currently stationed at Camp Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny (CMLT), Kosovo, performed the raid as part of an ongoing series of Situational Training Exercise (STX) lanes that began several weeks ago.
The STX lanes conducted during the previous weeks have tested the scouts’ reconnaissance skills, but this mission tested their ability to properly execute a raid.
U.S. Army 1st Lt. Christopher Mittuch, a platoon leader with 1-40th Cavalry and a native of Tullahoma, Tennessee, led his 15-man team on the raid.
“The purpose of a raid is to destroy everything on the objective,” said Mittuch. “The mission was to destroy a radio tower that was being taken over by the enemy. We moved at night and climbed through thick woods up the mountain to reach the objective.”
The climb took several hours and the team had to overcome limited visibility and navigate densely wooded terrain. “I think the hardest part was climbing everything in the dark,” said Mittuch.
Once the sun began to rise the scouts got into place and set up suppressive fire just before they advanced onto the objective. In their way, however, were Hungarian soldiers who acted as an opposing force element and guarded the radio tower.
“The Hungarians had MTM rounds, which are like having a paintball inside of a bullet,” said Mittuch. “A few of the guys got hit with them and it was good to have that effect. They did a good job playing the enemy because [we] didn’t see them initially when we came up.”
The scouts defeated the mock enemy force and captured the tower where they proceeded to ‘destroy it.’
“I think overall it was excellent,” added Mittuch. “We accomplished the mission and the attack went smoothly.”
The squadron conducts this type of training to ensure they will be ready for any mission that comes their way.
“This is not the last deployment we are going to be on,” said Mittuch. “We have to stay ready for anything that may happen. We will be going to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) [at Fort Polk, Louisiana] next year and this will help us be prepared when we get there.”
| Date Taken: | 05.21.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2015 12:18 |
| Story ID: | 164259 |
| Location: | MITROVICA, ZZ |
| Web Views: | 170 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Denali Scouts train for future missions, by SSG Melissa Parrish, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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