Soldiers with the security force advise and assist team four and their security platoon, both with the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Infantry Division, practice their close quarters marksmanship during ...

Soldiers with the security force advise and assist team four and their security platoon, both with the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Infantry Division, practice reacting to improvised explosive devices ...

By 1st Lt. Daniel J. Jowdy

3rd Brigade Combat Team journalist

FORT DRUM, N.Y. - A specialized, joint small arms range was conducted Thursday, Oct. 26, by security force advise and assist team four and the security force platoon assigned to protect them at Fort Drum in an effort to develop their collective ability to operate as a combined unit.

The training exercise, known as a shoot-house range is specifically designed to improve the soldiers' individual marksmanship skills as well as to practice combat casualty care, reacting to improvised explosive devices, and transporting casualties, all at close quarters inside an enclosed space. The exercise also gave unit leaders an opportunity to further develop and rehearse their standard operating procedures.

"During the planning phase of this range, I placed great emphasis on conducting the training in a manner that would enable security force advise and assist team four and the security force platoon to further develop as a strong, cohesive and effective team," said 1st Lt. Nathaniel H. Cruikshank, the officer in charge of the range.

The exercise is just one part of the intensive training the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division is conducting in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan this fall.

In preparation for the training, the soldiers broke down into 10, four-man squads, each consisting of two members from both teams, a configuration new to them since they normally operate as two separate teams. After receiving their initial range safety brief, they moved directly into conducting rehearsals utilizing a sand table and a full-scale, imaginary lay-out of the range also known as a glass house. They used the sand table as a visual aid and overview of the range allowing the team leaders to verbally rehearse their team's plan while the glass house allowed the team leaders to physically lead their team through the range scenarios prior to entering the actual range.

The squads then entered the shoot-house range to rehearse their mission. They entered each of the four main rooms where they encountered different training scenarios. Each scenario generally began with two security force advise and assist members receiving enemy contact while conducting a key leader engagement. The security force members supporting them countered the threat, providing security as they exited the room.

With rehearsals complete, the teams moved back into the shoot house. This time, their weapons were loaded with non-lethal training ammunition known as simunition, which uses paint to mark its impact point. Each team went through the scenarios twice utilizing the simunition rounds.

It was then that with the commander's approval, live ammunition rounds were issued. 30 rounds of 5.56mm ball ammunition and 20 rounds of 9mm ball ammunition were issued to each team, which they loaded into their magazines in a manner that forced magazine changes to occur. Through forcing magazine changes to occur, it further forced the development of strong communication skills and rehearsed, standard operating procedures amongst the teams.

"Today's training was instrumental in molding the security force advise and assist team and the security force into one fighting force capable of advising and assisting while maintaining proper security," said Capt. Coggin J. Duncan of security force advise and assist team four.

The intense training reinforced the need for strong communication, situational awareness, accurate target identification and quick reaction. Not only was this a successful and productive training event which improved their ability to work together. It also serves to highlight how effective risk can be mitigated without comprising the training value of the event. The addition of training using live ammunition made it critically important that all who participated remained completely engaged as they ran through the scenarios which in the end left them feeling better prepared to deploy.

"The live-fire exercise was the perfect culminating event leading into the upcoming deployment to Afghanistan," said 2nd Lt. John J. Levulis, the security force platoon leader.