FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — To be lethal on today’s battlefield, Soldiers need a safe place to hone their warfighting skills, so after severe weather damaged parts of a Missouri National Guard training site near the Oklahoma border, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Leonard Wood’s Safety experts jumped at the opportunity to share their hazard spotting skills.
Two safety specialists from the Fort Leonard Wood Safety Office, Craig Reeves and Bradley Hilton, inspected an obstacle course and rappel tower May 20 at Camp Crowder, a Missouri National Guard training center located about 166 miles southwest of Fort Leonard Wood in Neosho, Missouri.
The training center is host to 118 units ranging from National Guard, Marines, active duty, recruiters, ROTC, JROTC, and veteran and civilian organizations. About 9,000 people train there each year.
Camp Crowder’s operations supervisor, 1st Lt. Tanner McNutt, said he requested Fort Leonard Wood’s assistance after a tornado ripped through the area April 29.
“Base operations wanted to ensure the safety of all troops coming to train here at Camp Crowder,” McNutt said. “We are currently in our busiest time of the year with National Guard units coming to train for their annual training events. We have 17 units on ground for the month of June.”
After the tornado, McNutt said he had to shut down nine obstacles and the 40-foot rappel tower.
“I was worried about Soldiers not getting the opportunity to train. Fort Leonard Wood’s Safety specialists’ quick response, and putting the Soldiers training needs first, allowed us here at Camp Crowder to reopen the rappel and obstacle course and Soldiers won’t miss any training opportunities,” McNutt said.
The air assault style obstacle course is designed to test the physical and mental endurance, strength and stamina of warfighters, while also fostering teamwork and confidence.
The course consists of a variety of obstacles, including a rope and cargo net climb, incline wall, uneven logs to negotiate, oversized confidence climb ladder, rope swing, low crawl under wire, and an incline then decline obstacle designed to test Soldier’s abilities to weave themselves through the boards.
Hilton said he was looking for deficient equipment and “anything that is going to negatively impact or endanger Soldiers using the equipment.”
Reeves said this is the third time Fort Leonard Wood’s Safety team has been requested to inspect this equipment at Camp Crowder.
“They do a lot of training there. We need to make sure to protect all of our Soldiers” Reeves said. “We do not want warfighters to get injured in training accidents that would keep them off the battlefield.”
Hilton said it is a “great feeling” to be able to help another training location.
“If you can’t train successfully, you can’t fight successfully. No matter where they do their training, they are sharing the same mission,” Hilton said. “I love making sure our warfighters are safe. Our job is to take care of them, so they can take care of us when they are called to duty.”
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