Photo By Staff Sgt. Michael Crawford | Soldiers with B Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT POLK, La. – Soldiers preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan were able to experience a picture of reality during a village raid training exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La., March 19.
Soldiers with B Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, entered the mock village of Turani to search for a suspected high-value target. Partnering with Afghan National Army and Afghan Uniform Police role players, soldiers split into two groups and formed a perimeter around the village.
At their home station, the soldiers may have only had enough resources to rehearse a raid mission, but here they were able to practice as if they were truly in theater. As soldiers and the ANA prepared to move through the village, the command group prepared to meet with village leaders to coordinate the conditions of the search.
“The scenarios here are a lot more complicated and involve a lot more training aspects,” said Capt. Jake Reidel, B Company, 2-14th Inf. Regt. commander. “It allows a level of training you just can’t replicate at home station. The only time you get to train like this is at a JRTC rotation.”
Initially, the village elder and police chief were upset with Coalition Forces presence and the disruption to their village. Soldiers had to work to rebuild the local leader’s trust before the search could begin.
“You never know how some individuals are going to receive you,” said Reidel, a native of Baldwin, Mich. “It’s good to be exposed to different situations and be able to practice those discussions, especially for company commanders because key leader engagements are a crucial part of the fight.”
After receiving the blessings of the village leaders, soldiers moved to capture their suspected target and, with the help of a local interpreter, called over a loud speaker for his surrender. The call was answered with gunfire and explosions, putting the soldiers ability to work with their ANA counterparts to the test.
Soldiers cleared the building containing their target as another group charged towards a nearby building with insurgents firing upon coalition forces. After the violence subsided, the target was captured, but both U.S. and ANA forces had received casualties, which were medevac from a secured landing zone by Black Hawk helicopters.
“Usually we do this at platoon scale, but not at this level or with attachments,” said Spc. Tyler Kuzenko, a native of Lancing, Mich. “It helps getting used to interpreters and working with the Afghan people. We don’t have anything like this at [Fort Drum].”
The 2-14th Inf. Regt is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan later in the year and plans to return to JRTC in the fall for additional training.
“It’s a great opportunity to come out here,” said Reidel. “My guys have learned quite a bit.”
| Date Taken: | 03.22.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.22.2012 09:44 |
| Story ID: | 85602 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 129 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Deploying Soldiers train for multi-faceted missions, by SSG Michael Crawford, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
