Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Carlos Lazo | Staff Sgt. Dustin D. Douglas, Military Operations in Urban Terrain training obstacle...... read more read more
RAPID CITY, S.D. — Urban combat has become a major part of modern warfare over the last six years, giving more and more Soldiers outside of the infantry a taste of urban combat.
Military Operations in Urban Terrain training prepares Soldiers from all branches of the Army for this new aspect of modern warfare, teaching tactics that can keep them safe and alive in combat, as well as acting as a team to accomplish their mission.
"The biggest obstacle Soldiers face in an urban setting ... is they haven't worked with one another enough to know what each others role are," said Staff Sgt. Dustin D. Douglas, MOUT obstacle course trainer, Mobilization Support Team One, 1st Battalion, 383rd Regiment of Des Moines, Iowa. "But with practice and training, they should be able to get to that level of confidence with each other."
Douglas, a native of Burlington, Iowa, along with other Soldiers of the 383rd, are training fellow service members from both the U.S. and Canada as part of the Golden Coyote training exercise.
"We have medical units out here, we have transportation units, we have a whole gamut of units across the spectrum," said Maj. Bill C. Kuhfahl, MOUT officer in charge, 383rd Regt.
Training begins with a classroom phase, to get their mental focus on what is going to happen today, said Douglas. From the classroom, Soldiers move on to phase two, better known as the "tape house." A tape house consists of small stakes placed in an open area and connected to each other by tape to represent a building with rooms.
"The phase two portion is were they are actually going to do the training; they are going to see a demonstration first from some of my instructors. After that, we will break it down, step-by-step, on how to do it and then we have them run through it ... so they can get comfortable with what their doing," said Douglas.
Once the Soldiers feel more comfortable going through the motions, they move on to a practical exercise, said Douglas.
"Then they get an operations order...and they run through a mission," he said. "They go into a town, secure [it], and clear out any insurgents as necessary and deal with any noncombatants."
Paintball guns are used in place of real weapons to provide a real-world aspect to the training, said Douglas.
"We use paint balls to simulate bullets coming at them, so they can tell if they get hit," he added.
Along with providing a more realistic environment, the use of paint balls helped keep the training entertaining.
"I had a lot of fun," said Spc. Kay J. Cuka, Detachment 3, 155th Engineer Company of Wagner, S.D. "I wish I could have shot more paint balls."
Along with being fun for the service members, both Douglas and Kuhfahl feel this training is essential to all Soldiers, including National Guard and Reserve.
"You never really know when you might find yourself in a theater of operations and you might have to do this," said Kuhfahl. "It may not be your MOS [military occupation specialty], it may not be your job, but you may end up doing something like this if the situation calls for it, so its essential that every Soldier know their part, and at least have a familiarity with how to do it," said Kuhfahl.
Douglas also hopes that at the end of the training, all the participating Soldiers take something back from the training to their units.
"I hope they take away a good training aspect," said Douglas. "What we tried to teach them and hopefully take it back to their unit to teach other Soldiers."
| Date Taken: | 06.10.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2009 22:01 |
| Story ID: | 34990 |
| Location: | RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 179 |
| Downloads: | 152 |
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