Shots rang out as the 73rd Engineer Company conducted military operations on urban terrain training at the Pvt. Joseph P. Martinez Combined Arms Collective Training Facility March 25.
The routine training was conducted to refresh Soldiers on how to properly clear a building and also provided Soldiers who were new to the unit an opportunity to establish teamwork.
Over the last few months, the Fort Wainwright, Alaska-based 73rd Engineers received a lot of new leaders, and the training gives them the opportunity to establish teamwork within their squads and fire teams, explained 1st Sgt. Derrick Brown, 73rd Eng.
The Soldiers arrived at the urban terrain training site on Strykers, quickly dismounted and stacked against the building. They used simulated explosives to open the doors and cleared rooms as directed by team leaders.
The squads took enemy prisoners of war played by other Soldiers posing as opposing forces. Some Soldiers remained in the Strykers to maintain communication with the OH-58 Kiowa, a single-engine, armed reconnaissance helicopter, from the 6th Squadron, 17th Calvary Regiment that provided air support for the mission.
The mock-urban facility is used for training such as this because it allows leaders to set up varying situations to prepare their Soldiers for actual combat situations.
"[It] is an awesome facility because you have the multiple buildings set up like [it would be] in a real wartime situation," said Brown. "It basically lets us prepare for different scenarios of what we would be up against in a real combat situation."
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