DAEGU, South Korea -- Soldiers from the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, Headquarters and Headquarters Company participated in a convoy live fire exercise at Warrior Base Story Live Fire Complex and Nightmare Range, May 1-4.
"The goal of this exercise was to educate and train Soldiers in tactical convoy missions through simulated battlefield conditions," said 1st Lt. Michael Binns, 19th ESC HHC executive officer. "This exercise is expected to allow Soldiers to build confidence in their capabilities."
The exercise challenged Soldiers with different scenarios designed to examine the unit's cohesiveness and effectiveness. Scenarios included tactical combat casualty care, obstacle breaching, medical evacuation, squad automatic weapons firing, improvised explosive device awareness and vehicle recovery.
Soldiers spent the first day receiving briefings relevant to the exercise scenarios. The briefings consisted of IED awareness, tactical combat casualty care and radio communication.
Asia Pacific Counter IED Center trainer Robert Bell instructed Soldiers about the different classifications, types, components and blast effects of roadside bombs.
"IEDs have quickly become the weapon of choice by many of our enemies," Bell said. "It's important for Soldiers to be educated on IEDs, because they're being widely used in the Middle East, as well as Southeast Asia in places like Thailand and the Philippines."
Sgt. Robert Mastroianni, 498th Special Troops Battalion, instructed Soldiers on how to properly use tourniquets, bandages, sled litters and talon litters.
"The purpose of this training is to equip Soldiers with basic medical and casualty care knowledge," Mastroianni said.
On the second day, 19th ESC CLFX team conducted an iteration using blank rounds on the actual lane. Everyone woke up at 4 a.m. to conduct vehicle, communication and ammunition checks to ensure that all equipment was accounted for and operated properly.
During the blank run, the armed convoy consisted of HMMWV and LMTV armed with M249 light machine guns and .50 caliber machine guns. Each vehicle consisted of three crew members, a driver, track commander and a gunner.
The convoy engaged opposing forces using blank rounds from concealed spots. They also had to react to IED attacks, treat a casualty and conduct MEDEVAC.
An observer-controller rode along during each iteration to supervise safety conditions on each vehicle.
Vehicles communicated through single channel ground systems, which was essential in keeping each vehicle informed in completing the objectives.
The 19th ESC CLFX Soldiers traveled three hours to the Nightmare Range on May 3 to conduct the live fire run. At the range they received a briefing about the objectives, environment and intelligence regarding the mission.
The team conducted all maintenance checks to ensure that all of the equipment was ready for the live run. The live fire run consisted of three steps: dry runs, blank iteration and the live fire.
After each run, the Team 19 CLFX Soldiers conducted an after action review to share thoughts and make improvements on different scenarios. Each vehicle team identified and analyzed problems according to their position.
The non-commissioned-officers of the team contributed many effective ideas to the team, drawing from their own deployment experiences. Important contingency plans such as assigning an alternate TC in case the TC goes down and using a vehicle's turn signal to indicate the direction of fire were discussed.
On the live run, Team 19 detected an IED on the road, so they called the Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad.
Then the convoy encountered pop-up targets. Gunners on each vehicle engaged the pop-up targets with live rounds.
As the convoy continued on, a vehicle was hit by an ambush, which resulted in a simulated casualty that had to be treated and transported to a MEDEVAC helicopter.
As a result, the team was certified a satisfactory mark by the 498th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion who hosted the training.
"Team 19 Soldiers were outstanding in the live run. I'm very pleased with our performance," said Capt. Toney M. Brantley, 19th ESC HHC commander. "The importance of this exercise is to make sure that our Soldiers are trained and ready in war fighting skills, and more importantly get confident in their ability to go out and conduct an actual convoy live fire."
Soldiers felt more confident and knowledgeable after each phase of the exercise.
"The exercise gave us a chance to put together all the skills and knowledge we learned into a simulated battle field setting. It was a lot of fun preparing, firing live rounds in a simulated setting. I feel much more confident in the taking care of a casualty and detecting IEDs," said Pfc. Gabriel Nieves, 19th ESC supply.
As for some of the KATUSA Soldiers on the squads, the exercise was a new experience.
"As a KATUSA, we don't get many chances to go out into the field and experience battle field simulation. The CLFX was a valuable experience learning fight skills and also getting know the U.S. Soldiers better," said Pfc. Kang Sung-hoon, 19th ESC training.
At the end of the exercise, all personnel were safe and equipment was accounted for, but above all, every Soldier gained abundant experience being out in a battlefield simulated setting.
tion and ammunition checks to ensure all equipment was accounted for and operated properly.
During the blank run, the armed convoy consisted of Humvees and Light Medium Tactical Vehicles armed with M-249 light machine guns and .50-caliber machine guns. Each vehicle consisted of three crew members, a driver, track commander and a gunner.
The convoy engaged opposing forces using blank rounds and were fighting from concealed locations. They also had to react to IED attacks, treat a simulated casualty and conduct a medical evacuation.
An observer-controller rode along during each iteration to supervise safety conditions on each vehicle.
Vehicles communicated through single channel ground systems, which were essential in keeping each vehicle informed in completing the objectives.
The 19th ESC CLFX Soldiers traveled three hours to Nightmare Range May 3 to conduct the live fire run. At the range they received a briefing about the objectives, environment and intelligence regarding the mission.
The team conducted all maintenance checks to ensure all of the equipment was ready for the live run. The live fire run consisted of three steps: dry runs, blank iteration and the live fire.
After each run, the Team 19 CLFX Soldiers conducted an after action review to share thoughts and make improvements on different scenarios. Each vehicle team identified and analyzed problems according to their position.
The team noncommissioned officers contributed ideas, drawing from their own deployment experiences. Important contingency plans such as assigning an alternate track commander in case the primary TC goes down and using a vehicle's turn signals to indicate the direction of fire were discussed.
On the live run, Team 19 detected an IED on the road, so they called the explosive ordnance disposal squad.
Then the convoy encountered pop-up targets. Gunners on each vehicle engaged the pop-up targets with live rounds.
As the convoy continued on, a vehicle was hit by an ambush, which resulted in a simulated casualty that had to be treated and transported to a MEDEVAC helicopter.
As a result, the team was certified satisfactory by the 498th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion representatives who hosted the training.
"Team 19 Soldiers were outstanding in the live run. I'm very pleased with our performance," said Capt. Toney M. Brantley, 19th ESC HHC commander. "The importance of this exercise is to make sure that our Soldiers are trained and ready in war fighting skills, and more importantly get confident in their ability to go out and conduct an actual convoy live fire."
Soldiers felt more confident and knowledgeable after each phase of the exercise.
"The exercise gave us a chance to put together all the skills and knowledge we learned into a simulated battle field setting. It was a lot of fun preparing, firing live rounds in a simulated setting. I feel much more confident in the taking care of a casualty and detecting IEDs," said Pfc. Gabriel Nieves, 19th ESC supply.
As for some of the KATUSA Soldiers on the squads, the exercise was a new experience.
"As a KATUSA, we don't get many chances to go out into the field and experience battlefield simulation. The CLFX was a valuable experience learning combat skills and also getting to know the U.S. Soldiers better," said Pfc. Kang Sung-hoon, 19th ESC Training.
At the end of the exercise, all people were safe and equipment was accounted for, but above all, Soldiers gained abudant experience being out in a battlefield simulated setting.
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