Pathfinders conduct shoot house training

By Capt. Linda Gerron (10th Mountain)May 26, 2016

Pathfinder shoot house
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Despite the wet and unpredictable upstate New York weather, Soldiers from F Company "Pathfinders," 2nd Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (LI), conducted their first shoot house squad live-fire exercise May 2-5 on Fort Drum.

A shoot house is a small-arms range designed to give the commander the ability to train and evaluate the unit's proficiency to enter and clear a room, conduct a breach, and practice target discrimination on would-be enemies with both live and blank ammunition.

"Conducting a squad live-fire shoot house is one of the most complex mission sets that we do as infantrymen," said Capt. Alex Sinclair, F Company commander. "As you move into tight corners and into the unknown of what's in the next room, then it becomes about trusting your teammates, your leaders and your own ability to shoot a weapon."

Using the Army's crawl-walk-run strategy, the Pathfinders structured their four-day exercise into four phases: Deployment, Live-Fire Ranges, Redeployment and Recovery.

It was during the second phase where the Pathfinders moved to a location with a simulated high-value target and executed a mechanical breach, followed by a successful building clearance.

Pathfinders, who make up less than one percent of the Army, play a critical role when it comes to infiltrating an area to set up parachute drop zones and helicopter landing zones for airborne and air-assault operations. As the only Pathfinder entity for the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, F Company's role is critical as Soldiers prepare to deploy, worldwide, as an aerial reaction force with a downed aircraft recovery team and as a personnel recovery asset in support of 10th Mountain Division (LI) air and land operations, which makes this type of training even more essential.

"Like most of the training we do, we focus on creating tough, realistic training in order to be ready to meet current and future demands that come our way," Sinclair said. "The live-fire portion of this exercise can be a stressful environment for some Soldiers, but the end results always makes them more confident individuals."

Pvt. Justin Dougherty, infantryman, agreed with Sinclair.

"Coming in here as a younger guy, you get nervous because everyone else has experience," Dougherty said. "However, I feel my confidence has definitely increased with all the training we did leading up to the live-fire exercise."