'Multi tool' engineer battalion certifies on platoon tasks at Knox

By 2nd Lt. Zachary DooleySeptember 15, 2017

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An engineer battalion is often much like a multi tool for its brigade combat team, providing critical engineer skills that ensure success for the brigade operating on a battlefield.

As the multi-tool for 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), 326th Brigade Engineer Battalion conducted a platoon certification exercise at Fort Knox Aug. 22-31. The field training exercise focused on three specific missions: a platoon convoy live fire, combat patrols, and specific training for each unit's varied military occupational specialties.

All of it focused on the platoon collective tasks needed to react to enemy contact, perform medical evacuation and recover vehicles. Platoon leaders and platoon sergeants were given 24 hours to plan and prepare their Soldiers for each event.

A key training exercise proved to be the convoy live fire lane. For many, this was their first convoy live fire.

Soldiers participated in several iterations of the live-fire exercise, starting with walk-through dry runs and run-throughs with blank ammunition at various levels of intensity before culminating with the live fire convoy, all done to master the platoon-level certification while ensuring safety.

"It was a huge morale booster as we progressed from dry to blank to live fire," said Spc. Eric Green, Company C. "It showed us what right looks like so we can emulate it and get the most out of our training while moving toward a higher level of readiness."

The combat patrol lane was designed to assess each platoon's ability to work with civilian and police role players in a contested environment. One of the platoon's tasks involved conducting a key leader engagement in a village. Engineer platoons were required to provide a Sewage, Water, Electricity, Agricultural, Trash assessment of the village as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear platoons responded to a chemical threat.

In addition to providing leaders with more opportunities to refine their troop leading procedures, the combat lane allowed Soldiers an opportunity to work on dismounted patrols and security operations.

Finally, companies planned and executed MOS-specific training to focus on their unit mission essential tasks. The training provided platoon leaders and sergeants the opportunity to hone their skills while planning missions they could expect to execute in a deployed environment.

"As a junior NCO in a platoon sergeant position, the missions out here, (especially) the MOS mission, reinforced the theories behind troop leading procedures and identified the types of future training my platoon needs," said Sgt. Ronald Benton, Company C platoon sergeant.

Prior to the certification exercise, the combat engineer Sapper Eagles had conducted a deliberate leader certification program.

The Kinnard Mission Training Complex provided training on military intelligence and command post operations. Many companies also utilized the HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer and Recon-figurable Vehicle Tactics Trainer to simulate convoy operations and vehicle rollover training. The leaders reconnoitered the site multiple times in addition to conducting three corresponding leadership professional development sessions where noncommissioned and commissioned officers discussed ethical decision making processes under combat conditions.

Capt. Chris Payne, battalion assistant S3, said the staff's dedication during preparations helped facilitate certification of the platoons.

"The staff worked hard to plan and prepare our Platoon CERTEX," Payne said. "Through that, we were able to execute a great exercise that trained our platoons on (troop leading procedures), convoy operations and MOS-specific collective tasks."

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