Deploying troopers grow closer, stronger during culminating live-fire exercise

Photo By Sgt. Marcus Floyd | Soldiers with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment participate in a combined live-fire exercise July 21 on Fort hood, Texas. After assaulting a mock village, the Soldiers created a hasty defense. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Marcus Floyd, 13th Public Affairs Detachment)  

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

07.21.2016

Story by Sgt. Marcus Floyd 

13th Public Affairs Detachment

FORT HOOD, Texas —Troopers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment participated in a combined arms live-fire exercise July 21 here in preparation for the unit's upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.
The training involved Soldiers using Stryker armored vehicles and a Chinook helicopter to arrive at a village, conduct a rescue and form a hasty defense.
“When you're in the back of a Stryker, there are no windows, so when we come off the ramp, it's unexpected,” said Pvt. Brandon Hickle, an infantryman with 2nd Squadron “Sabre,” 3rd Cavalry Regiment. “You know what your mission is, but you don't know what lies ahead. It's an adrenaline rush.”
“This training is the culminating event for everything we've been working for over the past several months, and it’s the last training exercise we will conduct before we deploy to Afghanistan,” said 2nd Lt. Sam Scherer, a platoon leader with Sabre squadron. “[The training] gets Soldiers ready for deployment because it allows them to feel what it's like to move as a cohesive unit and actually fire their weapons at targets, and use the assets that are available to them.”
Arriving to the unit two months ago, Scherer said the majority of his time with the unit has been spent in the field training with his Soldiers.
Although training in the field is a common occurrence in the military, units tend to increase the amount of training they conduct the closer they get to a deployment, said Scherer.
“It's been pretty hard on us, but we've been pushing through and getting it done,” said Hickle.
Scherer said the increase in training is valuable not only to help familiarize Soldiers with their weapons systems, it helps to build camaraderie within the unit as well.
“I think the time in the field helps us learn more about each other, especially as an officer,” said Scherer. “This is the time where I get to spend the most amount of time with the individual Soldiers that I may not get to spend a whole lot of time with when we're back in garrison, or back doing our normal day-to-day activities.”
Hickle added, “We're out here communicating and talking it up, so it's a pretty big bond we build.”
Although this will be Hickle's first deployment, he said he wasn't nervous, because his leadership has prepared him for it.
“With the leadership, I feel like I can connect and learn a lot more from them,” said Hickle. “They make me feel prepared, almost like I've done it before.”
Not only was training important to familiarize the Troopers on formations and techniques, the training helped build bonds between the leaders and their Soldiers.
“It's important for us to understand our Soldiers so that we know what they're feeling and what they’re thinking,” said Scherer. “That enables us to properly care for our Soldiers when they are away from their families, and the people who know them best.”

• Date Taken: 07.21.2016
• Date Posted: 07.26.2016 14:25
• Story ID: 205109
• Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US