JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri -- A sergeant yells "Turn it." Another coaches his Soldiers, "Come here high-speed, keep rocking those dollies." More leaders compete with the bubbling current of the water while calling out "Steady," "Heave!" and "You got it!"
Perhaps the four words that rang out the loudest at a training area in Jefferson City, dubbed Ike Skeleton, were "Help each other out."
Teamwork was the buzzword as the Fort Leonard Wood-based 50th Multi Role Bridge Company - part of the 5th Engineer Battalion, 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 1st Infantry Division - trained on the fast-moving Missouri River, Nov. 3-6, by building a raft, more specifically, an improved ribbon bridge.
An improved ribbon bridge is a series of connected components to allow movement across a waterway.
"We want to reinforce our expeditionary mindset," said Capt. Matvey Vikhrov, a native of the Ukraine and commander of 50th MRBC, or '50-Boat' as it's known by many Soldiers. "So we convoyed to Ike Skeleton, then we established our base camp with our whole operation outdoors. The battalion's Field Support Company provided cooks for us; everything we are doing is to train in an expeditionary mode which is more realistic."
The company's objective was to train Soldiers who recently completed advanced individual training, the schooling Soldiers receive immediately after completing basic training, in rafting and boating operations on moving water.
"At Fort Leonard Wood, we do rafting [operations], but it's not realistic because the training area is a body of standing water," Vikhrov said. "Today, the water current velocity in the Missouri River is about four to five feet per second and operating the boat in the moving water is a different game than in standing water, it requires more training."
Vikhrov cited the turnover in his unit as numerous new Soldiers have joined the ranks of the 50th MRBC since their last training in moving water, about 18 months ago.
One of those new Soldiers was Pvt. Jennifer Goff, bridge crew member and native of Pennsboro, West Virginia, who says she was only at the unit for a week before participating in this training.
"I did bridging during basic [training] but this is my first time being on a current in a river," Goff said. "It's different on the ponds back at Fort Leonard Wood so this is a real experie
The unit's objective of training new Soldiers was supported by one experienced noncommissioned officer -- Sgt. Jonathan Quinn, native of Livingston, Massachusetts and team leader for 50th MRBC.
Pfc. Summer Koenig, a 'green' bridging Soldier and native of Houston, Texas, was impacted by Quinn's leadership.
"We were having a hard time because the ramp wasn't level with the bay," Koenig said. "Sgt. Quinn helped us a lot and he showed us pretty much everything."
Once the raft was completely connected, Quinn held an after-action report with his team of new Soldiers.
"With ramps, we're going to encounter small problems, but one thing we learned today is if we keep working as a team, working hard, we're going to get this thing put together and we're going to accomplish our mission and that's the most important thing," said Quinn.
The pride Quinn felt was evident as he wrapped up his discussion.
"Did everyone see that teamwork?" Quinn asked his team. "You guys came together and worked hard and we go this thing right on the shore. You all did an outstanding job!"
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