Photo By Staff Sgt. Ian Kummer | California Army National Guard Soldiers from the Fresno-based 40th Combat Aviation...... read more read more
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CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. – The California Army National Guard boasts hard-working men and women from many walks of life serving in roles ranging from infantrymen and truck drivers to aviation crew members and administrative clerks. But regardless of job, every Soldier who deploys overseas needs to be trained and prepared for combat.
With this principle in mind, Soldiers from the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade trained at Camp Roberts April 13-17 in preparation for their scheduled deployment to Kuwait later this year.
“The training was really fun, and the instructors knew what they were talking about,” said Specialist Natalia Sanchez, a Fresno native working as a supply specialist at the 40th CAB. “Thumbs up to all of them.”
The five days of training encompassed a variety of skills needed in a combat environment ranging from land navigation to convoy operations and vehicle rollover training. None of these Soldiers are infantrymen, but they still must be prepared for the uncertainties that accompany any mission overseas.
“Due to mission requirements on the units, infantry skills often get pushed to the back burner – it’s no fault of their own, just the nature of the beast,” said Staff Sergeant Jason Marshall, a former Marine marksmanship instructor currently with the Los Alamitos training detachment.
“That is where we, the trainers and instructors, step in.”
New Soldiers who haven’t deployed before enjoyed the experience, but Marshall and the other instructors strived to make the daily exercises valuable for their more experienced students too.
“Does the training help Soldiers who have deployed before – the short answer is yes,” Marshall said. “The trick is to present material that is not only fresh, but relevant to their mission.
These Soldiers, regardless of previous experience, were presented with a fresh perspective on basic Soldiering skills – the foundation of every warfighter’s deployment preparation regardless of the exact mission they believe they will be performing.
“Some of these units get reassigned to do missions they were not expecting,” Marshall said. “For instance a recent unit swore that they wouldn’t be doing convoy operations. “Well guess what: they are.”
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.07.2015 02:57 |
| Story ID: | 165767 |
| Location: | PASO ROBLES, CA, US |
| Hometown: | FRESNO, CA, US |
| Hometown: | LOS ALAMITOS, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 157 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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