FORT HOOD, Texas - A convoy consisting of different variants of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, otherwise known as MRAPs, slowly made its way down a dirt road, kicking-up dust along the way.
They were cautiously looking for something; they were searching for improvise explosive devices.
Soldiers with the 3rd Combat Engineer Company, Regimental Engineer Squadron "Pioneer," 3rd Cavalry Regiment trained at Phantom Run Range here April 7 in preparation for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. This training course lasted five days and consisted of three phases: the crawl, walk and run.
Capt. Ben Cox, the commander of 3rd Combat Engineer Company explained the purpose of this training.
"This is one of the last training exercises that we will conduct at Fort Hood before we deploy to Afghanistan," said Cox. "The training is focused on counter-IED training, and our very specific engineer vehicles and hand-held equipment we use to detect the possible threats."
Staff Sgt. Brian Welsh, a squad leader in the unit, added, "This is a great experience for the younger Soldiers to understand what us older [non commissioned officers] already learned from previous training exercises; it's a chance for us to form up as a group and train as team."
From emplacing wire obstacles to searching for IEDs, the job of a combat engineer is not easy said Cox.
"The job definitely comes with its danger-especially in Afghanistan, however, with the excellent training that we get to do before we deploy [the danger] is mitigated," said Cox. "This training is key, and it is a must before we deploy to Afghanistan. The training is geared specifically to what's going on there."
The regiment is scheduled to deploy in early June with approximately 1,200 Soldiers.
"Being a combat engineer in Afghanistan is extremely important; our route clearance operations makes it safe for other Soldiers to complete their missions," said Cox.
The unit's recent rotation to the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California provided feedback on how to improve their training.
"Our Soldiers did an excellent job out there; we are just refining our skills based off our [after action review] comments and continuing to train up until we deploy to Afghanistan," said Cox.
"We learned some techniques that we can use [at NTC] and applied them to the training here," said Welsh. "The Soldiers are picking up on the information and training hard."
As a squad leader, Welsh said, it is his job to ensure his Soldiers understand the importance of training along with any new concepts learned often testing their knowledge.
"I do checks on learning with my Soldiers," said Welsh. "They are doing a lot better than I expected they would; they're getting a good grasp on the concepts that are being thought."
The next training for the unit is the Route clearance and Reconnaissance course in mid-April at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. During the two-week course, they will build upon their already learned skills in a much grander scale.
"We are going to deploy and do excellent," said Cox. "All of these soldiers have been training for the past seven months for the upcoming deployment, and I look forward to taking them to Afghanistan.
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