Training heats up for Armenian troops

By Sgt. Samantha ParksJanuary 23, 2014

Training heats up for Armenian troops
1 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Portuguese soldiers take Armenian soldiers through the crawl phase of fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4. The crawl phase consisted of using water bottles in place of Molotov cocktails. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Samantha Parks, 4th Public ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Training heats up for Armenian troops
2 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Portuguese soldiers demonstrate how to react to a Molotov cocktail in a platoon size element during fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4. Portuguese soldiers demonstrated and trained the Armenian coy, who recently arrived in Kosovo. (U.S. A... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Training heats up for Armenian troops
3 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The Armenian coy completed fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4. Under the guidance of Portuguese soldiers, Armenian troops spent the day training with water bottles and Molotov cocktails to build confidence when dealing with fire. It was t... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Training heats up for Armenian troops
4 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – A Portuguese soldier corrects an Armenian soldier on his form during fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4. Armenian soldiers spent the day practicing crowd and riot control techniques when facing Molotov cocktails. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Training heats up for Armenian troops
5 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – An Armenian soldier conducts the proper technique when reacting to a Molotov cocktail during training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4. The training covered reacting as an individual, in a squad and in a platoon size element. This was the Armenian coy's fir... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Training heats up for Armenian troops
6 / 6 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Two Portuguese instructors prepare to throw Molotov cocktails at a platoon size element of Armenian soldiers during the fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4. Armenian soldiers learned to properly respond as an individual, squad and platoon ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CAMP SLIM LINES, Kosovo - With their transfer of authority completed, the Armenian coy hit the ground running and turned up the heat with crowd and riot control training.

Armenian soldiers with Multinational Battle Group-East participated in fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4. For most soldiers, it was the first time they had experienced the training with Molotov cocktails.

"It's [my] first time and it's very interesting," said Armenian Jr. Sgt. Seerek Hrhalutyunyan. "I've seen [fire phobia training] before, but never [participated.]"

This Armenian rotation had only been in Kosovo for less than a month.

"This is the second big training [event], the first one was the CRC training with [notional rioters]," said Armenian Capt. Slavik Avtisyan. "This training is very important for the CRC because nobody knows what we are going to face when we see the crowd."

Fire phobia training consisted of crawl, walk and run phases. Each phase began with a demonstration by Portuguese soldiers and then built on the previous phase's instruction.

Soldiers began by practicing as individuals with water bottles. The training progressed to using Molotov cocktails and responding to them as squad and platoon size elements.

"We should do [the training] as much as we can because we should be ready at all times when we are here," Avtisyan said. "We don't know when they will need a quick reaction force and we should be ready."

Avtisyan explained it is important to conduct the platoon size element training because that is the size that would respond during a CRC event.

"We should do platoon training to understand each other and to know what we should do in each situation," Avtisyan said.

Avtisyan said the training was a little difficult for some of his soldiers because of the language barrier.

"It is a little bit difficult for my soldiers because most of them don't speak English, but a couple guys understood English so they [translated]," Avtisyan said. "The most important [part] is that my soldiers have fun."