FORT CARSON, Colo. - The Soldiers of the 100th Missile Defense Brigade (Ground Based Mid-course Defense) practiced their soldiering skills Sept. 23 during the brigade's annual field training exercise.
From getting classes on how-to, to actually getting hands-on, the 100th walked through some of the most important skills that any Soldier, regardless of military occupational specialty, needs to know.
"We needed to make training as real as possible. That's why we had all the different ranges, like range 8 and range 157," said 1st. Sgt. William Ray, "We're not just sitting behind a computer."
The first event was land navigation. The unit was divided into five groups and Defense Advanced GPS Receivers (DAGR) were handed out to each. There was a class on how to operate the DAGRs. Then the groups were given ten points to find and an hour and thirty minutes to find them.
After that, another class was given on the Army's HMMWV (Humvee) Egress Assistance Trainer. It covered the risks of simulating a real life humvee rollover. The trainer offers a safe way to practice getting out of a vehicle on its side or from one completely turned over.
Getting tossed around in a spinning shell of a humvee didn't quell the motivation of the Soldiers. They moved on to learning how to clear a building properly.
Despite an hour long trip to the urban training site, the Soldiers were ready to take on the simulated Middle Eastern village. Teams of four were instructed to stack on a wall, breach the opening and enter rooms according to the path of least resistance.
They first worked on clearing a training house then moved to a village with "real" bad guys (played by 100th MDB's leadership), ammunition (M4 blanks), and smoke grenades to increase the realism.
"NCOs have to get real world experience with troop leading procedures," said Capt. George Lambos, 100th MDB Headquarters and Headquarters Battery commander. "Overall this exercise was a success."
Only shouts of fire stopped this exercise as some pyrotechnics caught two patches of land on fire. The fire was put out with the combined efforts of the Soldiers as they stomped out and shoveled dirt on the flames.
"It unquestionably was not a deliberate event," said Lambos. "But it was intentionally planned for. We had conducted a thorough risk assessment and delivered a detailed safety brief regarding fire hazards prior to training. When the fires started all the Soldiers reacted quickly and efficiently. The fires were quickly under control and extinguished."
"This incident speaks volumes to the team work and professionalism of the members of the 100th Missile Defense Brigade. It also gave us a real world example that Composite Risk Management works," said Lambos.
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