FORT DEVENS, Mass. - When a Soldier takes his or her Oath of Enlistment, they pledge to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Whether in a quick strike unit like the 82nd Airborne Division or stationed at a research and development facility like the Natick Soldier Systems Center (NSSC), a Soldier must hone their Soldiering skills.

Soldiers from the U.S. Army Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) and The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's Headquarters Research and Development Detachment (HRDD) tested some of their Soldier Skills at Fort Devens, Mass.

"Our Soldiers have to be proficient on the Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills as part of the Soldiers Creed," said Master Sgt. Kevin Buie, USARIEM Detachment First Sergeant. "It is our job to make sure they are trained. We're responsible for making sure that the 60 Soldiers assigned to USARIEM are ready to deploy if called upon. We had 30 of our Soldiers participating.

Soldiers were trained and tested several of the Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills. Some of the tasks and drills trained and tested included land navigation, evaluate a causality, call in a Medivac helicopter, and move under direct fire and how to do an intermediate or remedial correction on a weapon malfunction.

"We had 13 Soldiers from HRDD participate in the training," said Sgt. Christopher Sanchez, Operations Noncommissioned officer in charge of HRDD. "It is very important that we do this kind of training so it keeps what the younger Soldiers learned at Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) fresh in their minds. It also is a good refresher for Soldiers like me who have been doing this a while. It's not every day you get to do land navigation, but when you go through the noncommissioned education system (NCOES) you will be tested on it."

Many of the Soldiers at NSSC are involved in the medical research that is done to make sure our Soldiers are able to perform in the terrain they may be called to fight in. Military training on the 83 acre campus is tough to do.

"We are fortunate that we have Fort Devens close by," said Buie. "Our job as NCO's is to train our Soldiers and make sure they are prepared for anything the Army may ask them to do. Going to a field environment at Fort Devens provides more realistic training. This is a program we intend to keep growing."

The next training set for USARIEM and HRDD is Sept. 17.