Warrior Soldiers train for future by going old school

By Sgt. Cheryl CoxFebruary 12, 2015

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2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – A Soldier from 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), sets up security along the outer perimeter of the Brigade Support Area with a mounted weapon system during training Jan. 22 at the Joint Readiness Tr... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
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FORT POLK, La. -- Through the last decade of combat, Soldiers have deployed with contracted services and just about all of their noncombat-related support.

As the current landscape of combat fades, 1st Brigade Combat Team Soldiers used their training at the Joint Training Readiness Center at Fort Polk, La., last month to get back to their roots and train for potential expeditionary operations that will encompass the true essence of what the Army can do.

"We have spent the last 12-14 years living and operating off (forward operating bases) with contracted security, contracted chow, contracted laundry services, contracted maintenance," said Command Sgt. Maj. Roy Holmes, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment senior enlisted adviser. "This (training) has shown them what it's going to be like not having those things and having to do it ourselves."

Warrior Brigade Soldiers started preparations long before arriving on the ground at JRTC. Since their redeployment from Afghanistan, 1st BCT Soldiers trained year-round in preparation for future missions. Their JRTC rotation gave them a chance to prove what they have learned during their training at Fort Drum.

"JRTC gives us the assets and the terrain to train on what we don't have at home," Holmes said. "We are able to get feedback on how effective our home-station training has been, and it gives the Soldiers a small taste of what being on deployment is like."

Upon arriving in the fictitious country of Gorgas, American forces set up an intermediate staging base where every unit prepared their vehicles and personnel for the mission they were about to undertake.

Radios were installed, rucksacks were loaded and air support was on standby. The Soldiers were ready to leave Gorgas and begin their mission of returning safety and security to the people of Atropia, a neighboring country to Gorgas and the main focus of the mission.

The first units to leave the ISB and go into the training area in what JRTC refers to as "The Box," were the infantry, artillery and engineer units. From dawn until after dusk, convoys from 1-32 Infantry; 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment; 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment; 7th Brigade Engineer Battalion; 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment; and 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment staged their vehicles and rolled out the gates. As darkness fell, additional Soldiers from 2-22 Infantry donned their rucksacks and headed to the airfield in preparation for an air-assault mission to their first objective.

"The training we received broke the ice of the true essence of infantrymen," said Sgt. Michael Burch, C Company, 1-32 Infantry. "We don't get a lot of creature comforts -- or at least we aren't supposed to. If we actually do deploy to another country without FOBs, without (the Exchange), without any of that, (and) living out of a rucksack. I think it was a good taste for everybody."

After nearly two weeks of nonstop missions, the Soldiers were tired and sore, but they had to continue to pick their heads up, don their rucksacks and push forward. While some Soldiers have the ability to push through just about anything on their own, others looked to their buddies for the strength to keep going.

Spc. Jon Talbert, team leader assigned to C Company, 1-87 Infantry, is no stranger to tough missions.

Understanding the mental preparation Soldiers need to operate outside of the garrison environment can have great impact on the mission and the Soldiers' well-being, but training on the basics exposes Soldiers to the unknowns.

"It readies them mentally so that they have an idea -- an aspect of what will or could happen -- and also physically prepares them because they understand now what it takes to actually go through it all," Talbert said. "Everything we go through on a day-to-day basis while we are in the field or the box -- even prepping to go to the box -- it's all part of the deployment. It's all important -- the fundamentals and basics -- those small things. It teaches Soldiers on a daily basis where they're headed, what they need and where they're going."