JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq - Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 155th Brigade Combat Team, qualified at Debro Range for the counter-improvised explosive device Level III training Aug. 20, at Joint Base Balad.
C-IED Level III is a train-the-trainer program, which teaches Soldiers how to teach other Soldiers to be instructors for the C-IED Level II course. Level II training is a Multi-National Corps - Iraq requirement and provides important information to Soldiers who regularly go outside the wire.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Anthony Navejas, with the 532nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron Quick Reaction Force, said he assists the Task Force Troy instructors who run the range and help them train new instructors.
"What we do out here is show them how to run an IED course and set up indicators as they are used outside the wire," said Navejas. "We also set up a scan lane for when individuals are conducting dismounted route sweeps."
Navejas said students drive through an instructor-engineered IED course designed according to the latest information from the area of operation for familiarization students.
"It is very important for individuals running outside the wire, whether they're running convoy or area security operations, to notice indicators of IEDs and keep themselves and local nationals safe from the actions of insurgents in the area," said Navejas.
Staff Sgt. Douglas Hall, with the 107th Cavalry Regiment's B Troop 2nd Squadron, said the training has made the overall mission safer. It has given the Soldiers a new view on current IED activity in their sector, he said.
"The training covers ... tactics, techniques and procedures we can use to counteract the enemy as well as the devices that we will find out there and the methods they will use to employ those IEDs," said Hall.
Maj. Derek Holland, the C-IED officer for the brigade staff of the 155th BCT, said it is his job to ensure the noncommissioned officers are trained to level III standards and ensure they, in turn, teach Soldiers C-IED Level II.
"The more people that get trained up on this, the more people that become trained instructors and can go back to their units and instruct their troops how to do the same thing; how to find things they didn't know that existed out there," said Navejas.
Social Sharing