Photo By Staff Sgt. Bradley Cooney | Members of 2120th Engineer Company, 120th Engineer Battalion, 90th Troop Command,...... read more read more
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In the Cookson Hills of Braggs, Oklahoma, members of the 2120th Engineer Company, 120th Engineer Battalion, 90th Troop Command, Oklahoma Army National Guard, maneuver throughout a mock town named Liberty Village at the Camp Gruber Training Center. With gravel roads and dilapidated buildings, it’s meant to give Soldiers a feel of what it would be like to patrol an actual Middle Eastern village.
This event is called a situational training exercise or STX, designed to help Soldiers with reacting to fire, squad movements, and other warrior tasks and battle drills. The STX is part of the Soldiers pre-mobilization training (PMT), before heading to mobilization training at Fort Bliss, Texas, to prepare for their upcoming deployment to the Middle East.
“Our deployment is in support of Operation Inherent Resolve,” said Capt. Amanda Thornton, commander of the 2120th Engineer Company. Other events during the PMT include combat lifesavers course, firearms qualification, combatives, land navigation, and even hand grenade qualification.
While the training would appear daunting, Soldiers of the 2120th are pushing forward with tremendous resolve. “The Soldiers are staying very motivated which helps a lot,” Thornton said. “The senior leadership and even our junior non-commissioned officers are doing an excellent job instilling teamwork and camaraderie.”
The 2120th is a vertical construction engineer company of more than 150 Soldiers, whose duties include anything from maintenance of plumbing, electrical, carpentry and masonry to the construction of a two-story building.
“While deployed we will be doing a lot of rebuilding diplomatic structures and maintenance on those diplomatic structures,” Thornton said.
This will be the first deployment many of the Soldiers in the 2120th.
“This unit doesn’t have a lot of people with a deployment under their belt,” said Spc. Kindon Kaiser, an Elk City resident and electrician with the 2120th. “But the ones who do, are helping out a lot of people who have never deployed.”
Through teamwork and determination, the members of the 2120th are pushing through with anticipation of their mission in the Middle East.
“While I’m deployed, I’m looking forward to learning, more than anything,” Kaiser said. “Just having that kind of experience, it’s a once in a lifetime chance, you can’t ever get that again.”
| Date Taken: | 05.25.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 05.25.2017 15:49 |
| Story ID: | 235251 |
| Location: | CAMP GRUBER, OK, US |
| Web Views: | 899 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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