Foal Eagle in Full Spin for Desert Rogues

By Spc. Dustin Gautney, 2nd BCT Public AffairsApril 2, 2009

2BCT Desert Rogues on the Move
1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Bradley Squad and Section Exercise
2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – During the Bradley Squad and Section Exercise Soldiers from 1/64th Armor, 2nd BCT dismount the Bradley fighting vehicle and move as a squad towards an objective with fire support from the tactical vehicles during a training exercise held at Rodriquez... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Squad Live-fire Training in Korea
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REPUBLIC OF KOREA Nearly 58 years to the day, Soldiers from 1st Battalion 64th Armor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division returned to the Republic of Korea near the North Korean Border, March 20, the same ground former Desert Rogues helped secure during the Korean War as part of Task Force Hawkins.

The trip gave Soldiers the opportunity, upon completing 10 consecutive days of training, to see the history which has shaped the Korean peninsula since the Korean War.

The training, which was part of the Desert Rogues' deployment to the Republic of Korea for the joint and combined military training exercise with Korean military forces, took place within the Rodriquez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, Korea.

"This training has better prepared our Soldiers to fight and win anywhere and anytime," said Lt. Col. Ross Coffman, 1/64th Armor commander.

During the 10 days of training, Soldiers were able to polish their skills during the squad live-fire course, convoy operations, medical evacuation training and urban combat training. Soldiers furthered their experience on tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, and Howitzer field artillery during various scenarios inside the highly advanced Rodriquez Live Fire Complex tank and Bradley range.

"It was definitely some high-speed training," said Staff Sgt. Levin Rolland, Forward Support Company, 1/64th Armor.

Rolland, normally a truck driver, participated in the squad live-fire, urban combat training and medical evacuation training that that is normally reserved for infantry Soldiers.

"It made me want to be an infantryman, watching my Soldiers really get into the training; it definitely gave me a whole new respect for the infantry," Rolland said.

The squad live-fire course, which focused on basic combat infantrymen skills, required a squad of Soldiers to move as a team and neutralize enemy positions and bunkers.

"It may be a basic Soldier skill, but it definitely is a perishable skill," said Rolland.

After several days of training, the culminating event, the Bradley Squad Section Exercise, tested the coordination between Bradley crews and dismounted infantry teams, as well as fire support from Howitzer field artillery, said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Raab, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1/64th Armor, master gunner for the exercise.

"The BSSE allows Bradley squads the opportunity to work as a team and pushes their ability to coordinate their efforts to lay down maximum firepower on a single target," Raab said.

The training offered many growing experiences for Soldiers and leaders, allowing junior noncommissioned officers and lieutenants to take on new responsibilities and challenges, Coffman said.

"I witnessed team leaders become squad leaders and officers, especially young lieutenants, develop as platoon leaders," Coffman said. "For myself I realized that I have grown and learned as a battalion commander from this experience."