BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The water in the 5-foot deep, man-made basin splashes as the bridge bay slides from the back of the bridge transporter truck. Iraqi Security Force soldiers wait on the boats in the water who then work together to push the bays together to be used as a raft.
This exercise, March 6 at Camp Taji, Iraq, is the culminating training mission for 25 members of the ISF who've spent three weeks training with Coalition Soldiers on standard ribbon bridges.
The training was being taught by the 310th Engineer Company, an U.S. Army Reserve unit from Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. They are working with the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command -- Operation Inherent Resolve to advise, assist and enable the ISF liberate Mosul from ISIS.
This is the second time that some Soldiers of the 310th has deployed to Iraq. Several members of the unit previously deployed with the 299th Multi-Role Bridge Company, which served from 2010 to 2011 at Camp Taji, training the ISF on the same equipment as they used this time.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael McConaughey, operations training sergeant with the 310th, was one of the Soldiers who deployed with to train the last group of ISF on ribbon bridge building.
"These are my guys as far as I'm concerned," said McConaughey, a State College, Pennsylvania, native. "I stayed in contact with the guys I trained last time up until now, and it's amazing seeing what they've accomplished. It's probably the greatest thing I'll ever do while I'm in the Army."
The last training cycle was eight months long. This was important because the trainers were starting with the very basics, helping Soldiers, all of whom had no previous experience.
"Last time they didn't have any experience," McConaughey said. "This time they have experienced Soldiers who can fill in the gaps."
Iraqi 1st Sgt. Haider Grave, now the bridge commander for his regiment, was one of the soldiers who attended the training the last time the 310th deployed. Grave was wounded in action on the front lines in Mosul, but as a result got the opportunity to return to Camp Taji and help his friends with the training.
"It's very important to get trained right now because of the situation and the war," said Grave.
"We are the only regiment for bridges in this whole country. And we don't have enough Soldiers so we got new people to help train their brothers."
The bridges are designed to be put together quickly and under fire. For the exercise the ISF linked together two improvised ribbon bridge bays and transported their entire team across the man-made lake.
"Without these bridges they're not going to get across the Tigris in Mosul," said U.S. Army Sgt. William Munroe, training squad leader, 310th Engineer Company. "So training up a new generation of engineers that can work with the ones we trained five years who are currently up in Mosul is very critical for them so they can continue making their country free."
The alternating week-on, week-off training took soldiers who had not even driven trucks before, and gave them the tools they needed to be proficient in their ribbon bridge building mission, said Munroe.
"That was their introduction to bridging, which was kind of awesome," said McConaughey. "They went from no capability what so ever to actually running the operation."
During the first week the Soldiers were trained on truck driving. Many came to the training with no mechanical or hydraulics experience. "It was basically a whole week of moving the pieces a few feet this way and then back again," said Munroe.
The second week was focused on boat training and moving the bays in the water and back out again.
For the third week the training consisted of combining the training from the previous two weeks. This consisted with constructing and bridge steering. "They knew all the little pieces, they just needed to put them all together," said Munroe.
"To go on a deployment and work with the host nation, train them on the skills that I've done for eight years, and to see the results, it's great. This is everything I could have asked for in a deployment," Munroe said.
Once completing their training and graduation, these ISF soldiers will be going in to combat, Munroe said.
"By the Coalition's help, with this training, we will help these guys to move north and help their brothers," Grave said.
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