FORT BENNING, Ga. (July 18, 2012) -- The goal of the Armor Basic Officer Leader Course is to train Soldiers to become Armor and Cavalry platoon leaders capable of performing multiple missions as part of a combined-arms team. Much of the training requires students to draw from all they have learned in the 19-week course for optimum results.

A piece of training the lieutenants receive is actions on contact with an IED. During this block of instruction, they are introduced to products from the counter-IED program, which provides realistic effects on the battlefield by producing large simulated explosions and reinforcement by a small-arms ambush scenario.

The actions taken left of the blast lead back to a piece of training the lieutenants receive early on in ABOLC, said Capt. Justin High, commander of "Lightning" Troop, 2nd Squadron, 16th Cavalry Regiment.

"The piqued awareness training that is taught during (Advanced Situational Awareness Training) has to be tied into all Armor and reconnaissance missions, giving the platoon leader the ability to look for trace enemy evidence, and then react to a possible enemy contact situation," High said.

With ASAT, the lieutenants use advanced recognition techniques designed to identify specific details that assist in identification of the structure an enemy has in place for command and control. The training gives the lieutenants the ability to produce intelligence used to de-compartmentalize the enemy structure of organization.