FORT BENNING, Ga., (June 22, 2016) -- The Fort Benning Criminal Investigation Division Battalion executed a five-day counter drug-training event June 13-17 at the residential Military Operations in Urban Terrain site.
The training followed the crawl, walk run philosophy of training management; starting with classroom instruction, building to scenario based practical exercises and culminating with testimony to a military judge. The effort to create a realistic training environment included the use of role players, a military working dog, simmunitions and the Fort Benning office of staff judge advocate, which included a judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Sgt. 1st Class Ira Harrison, a CID special agent, helped organize the training. He explained that it was meant to prepare Soldiers for what they'll have to face in real life while on the job.
Soldiers will have to enter buildings and deal with different scenarios. The individuals they encounter could be either compliant or combative, Harrison said.
"CID's main goal is to rid the community of drugs and keep it safe. When the Soldiers leave this training, I want them to know how to act when going through these scenarios in real life," he continued.
During the training, the Soldiers also had access to Fort Benning's Department of Emergency Services' K-9 unit.
"In our operations we often work with partner law enforcement agencies; to include canine teams. So to incorporate those canine teams in our training and having that familiarity for our Soldiers and agents and our counterdrug teams on how to work with a canine safely and effectively is key," said Lt. Col. Randolph Morgan, the CID battalion commander.
"K-9 is a key component of any narcotic interdiction. With us doing specific narcotics training here, to not bring them in would have been a missed opportunity," added 1st Sgt. Nicholas Kreiner, a special agent.
Morgan explained that CID has an annual opportunity to conduct drug training and the Benning Battalion is constantly looking at how to improve that training.
"Everything from the planning stages to the actual purchases and take downs of subjects. Nothing is better than doing real-world, force on force training with simmunitions. These practical exercises are the best way to develop ourselves and ensure that we're able to safely execute our mission," he said.
"These practical exercises are the best way to help ourselves and ensure that we're able to safely execute our mission."
Morgan added that the MOUT site is incorporated as often as it can be into the training. It is the first time, however, that the MOUT has been used to conduct this kind of counterdrug operations training.
Morgan said that the Soldiers did a lot of preparing before coming to the MOUT.
"Before we ever do a purchase of narcotics from a subject or take down a subject or the location where a subject sells their narcotics, there is a lot of planning and coordination," Morgan said.
Kreiner said that Soldiers from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum, along with the Active Guard Reserve, joined the Fort Benning CID for the training.
Fort Benning's CID is leading the way with realistic, hands on training opportunities for Soldiers and agents. It's a great career path for anyone interested, he said.
"CID is the premier law enforcement organization within the Department of Defense with top of the line training and top of the line agents. We're on par and we're better than any of our federal counterparts in almost everything that we do," Kreiner added.
Morgan said that in addition to the training at the MOUT site, CID partnered with the Fort Benning office of staff judge advocate to train on taking the stand and providing testimony with the staff judge advocate to get real world feedback in the Fort Benning courtroom from the prosecution team.
An agent can't train on testimonial evidence without sitting in front of a judge in a courtroom, said Kreiner.
"The Fort Benning Staff Judge Advocate Office agreed to donate some of their time so that these young Soldiers can get that experience. They'll know what it's like to get those hard questions on the stand and be able to answer them in the best way possible so that there will be a successful prosecution for those crimes," he added.
"This training provides a setting where the CID can go through the motions of a real-life situation and they can understand how they'll react individually to different stimuli. Things start becoming second nature," said Maj. Andrea Acosta, the executive officer for the Fort Benning CID Battalion.
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Martin Eaves, with the CID Battalion, said it's important for the public to know that the CID is there.
"We're actively combating drugs on all our installations. We're a battalion with a large area of responsibility. Fort Benning is attached to our name, but we're responsible for so many other locations," Eaves said.
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