Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Marks Opening of Fort Stewart Counter-IED Training Facility

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held March 11 celebrating the completion of a new Counter Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) training facility at Fort Stewart.

Brigadier General James R. Blackburn Jr., Commander, Task Force Marne, with the Army's 3d Infantry Division, was the guest speaker at the ribbon cutting, which was attended by Fort Stewart senior leaders, including Col. Mike Calvin, Commander, 3d Sustain Brigade, Rear Detachment, LTC Ronald "Daren" Payne, 3d Infantry Division, Engineer, SGM Enoel Santiago, 3d Infantry Division, Engineer, and LTC Sean Kuester, 3d Infantry Division, G-3.

The Fort Stewart Counter-IED training facility is the Senior Commander's mission resource for Counter-IED home station training, tailoring training based on the deploying Commander's mission requirements and objectives.

The newly renovated C-IED facility encompasses over 15,000 square feet of facilities, including seven state-of-the-art classrooms, Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) room, and dedicated classroom/training areas for Electronic Warfare/ Counter Radio Electronic Warfare (CREW), Handheld Detectors and a Home Made Explosive and Unexploded Ordnance Awareness simulation training room. In addition, the C-IED facility maintains a Counter-IED training set, which is comprised of a classroom/individual training set and a collective C-IED equipment training set that units can utilize at home station squad/platoon/company collective training events. The C-IED equipment training set consists of Robots, Handheld Detectors, EW/CREW, Wolfhound, Biometrics, Site Exploitation Kits, OSVRT's, MPLC, CALEX, etc. to use during home station training. The facility is located at 550 William H. Wilson Avenue, Building 509, in Suites C & D.

"In the previous six months, the Fort Stewart C-IED facility trained approximately 750 Soldiers per month. The newly renovated facility provides the instructors an opportunity to conduct training simultaneously and increases the capacity to train 215 Soldiers per day with seven classrooms," said John Summers, Site Exploitation training lead.

The Fort Stewart C-IED facility offers an array of home station training opportunities; such as IED awareness/detection, Home Made Explosive and Unexploded Ordnance Awareness, Hybrid Threat Integration, Electronic Warfare/ Counter Radio Electronic Warfare (CREW), Company Intelligence Support Team, Robotics, Site Exploitation, Culture Awareness, Country Briefings, Biometrics and Handheld Detector courses that target individual, leader and collective training tasks.

An additional C-IED training area and part of the C-IED facility at Fort Stewart offers vehicle lanes for training on individual and unit (mounted/dismounted) IED awareness and reaction, and route-clearing operations at an additional 3 1/2 acre training area located at the Bravo 2 Mine Warfare site training facility.

"I'm proud to be a part of providing a state-of-the-art IED training facility that will increase awareness and ultimately saves the lives of our soldiers," said Nestor Colls-Senaha, Fort Stewart Counter-IED lead.

For more information on Fort Stewart Counter-IED Training Facility or on Counter-IED training courses, contact Nestor Colls-Senaha, or John Summers, 550 William H. Wilson Avenue, Building 509, in Suites C & D, telephone: 912-767-4321 or 912-767-4069, E-Mail: nestor.l.collssenaha.ctr@mail.mil or john.l.summers.ctr@mail.mil.