In today's war effort, the motto "Soldier First" applies more than ever to all military occupational specialties.
It is in this spirit that Company A, Division Special Troops Battalion's 1st Sgt. Apollo M. Williams, and his supporting staff have rethought their approach to sergeants time training for traditionally non-combat job skills.
The training block for Sept. 5 would be a perfect opportunity for the Soldiers of Co. A "Assassins" to see first hand the benefits of this new approach as they conducted air troop movement training with help from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and aviation troopers from Co. B, 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade.
"The main intent; whole purpose of us doing training like this is to be better prepared [for our upcoming deployment to Iraq] than we were last time," said Williams, who is a Los Angeles native.
"I utilize the battalion commander's philosophy or 'training focus;' shoot, move, communicate, and sustain, as well as the commanding general's 'everyone fights' philosophy, and I don't get much resistance when I use those two things to my advantage," said Williams.
The purpose of this static load training was to teach Co. A troops to identify chalk positions, move to assembly areas, depart an aircraft, and insert and extract from landing zones.
"These 'birds' are our company's primary means of transportation in Iraq," Williams said. "Most Soldiers who have not experienced getting on and off a 'bird' during a deployment, don't know how to get in, how to approach, don't know how to buckle up, hold their weapon, etcetera which ends up holding up the operation, and we don't want one of those Soldiers to be an Alpha Company Soldier."
For Williams and his command team this training was essential for Soldiers with no deployment experience, as well as those Soldiers climbing aboard for their first ever flight on a military chopper.
"This training was enlightening for me," said White County, Ga. native, Spc. Hershel L. Myers, a budget technician, 1st Cav. Div. Comptroller Office. "It was my first time inside a 'chopper,' so, I feel I now know what to expect, and I am more prepared for a situation like this to present itself, than I would have been without it."
As a company that is generally full of staff positions, often times sergeants time training can be the only warrior training these Soldiers get the opportunity to participate in. Williams said he wants them all to take full advantage, build a spirit de corps, and instill in themselves the Warrior Ethos.
"Anytime we get the opportunity to do some 'HOOAH' training, we as a company are going to do it, it's that simple," said Williams. "Battlefield Operations Training is some of the most focused and important training we do. This is all an opportunity... a preview of what to 'expect', and what will be "expected" down range."
Social Sharing