FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The combat engineers of Company C, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, have been shaking the grounds of Fort Carson as they conduct their demolition exercise in the post training area. The training started Sept. 14 and ends Sept. 27.
During the "Iron" Brigade's recent deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn, Company C spent the majority of its time conducting route clearance, which helped ensure the safety of civilians and coalition forces as they traveled along the major roads.
The brigade returned from Iraq earlier this year and is currently in a reset phase. The engineers of Company C are using their time to get back to what they do best: making big things go "Boom!"
"This is the root of combat engineering," said Sgt. Robert Antoff, Company C combat engineer. He said the exercise was a perfect opportunity for newly-enlisted Soldiers and experienced noncommissioned officers to sharpen their skills on the demolition range.
The first day of training focused on identifying and certifying Soldiers and NCOs who could competently train the rest of the company in the following weeks.
"Our main objective was to ensure that we're certified in the trade, which is demolition," said Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Serna, combat engineer with Company C. "This is very important. A lot of these Soldiers haven't touched any demolition in the last 10 years. They've been working mostly on counter IED and route clearance (since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom)."
The training session was scheduled so that the demolition pit was occupied by one platoon at a time. Throughout the training session, each platoon used C4 explosives to construct prime blocks that were placed into pyramid-shaped bundles and attached to a network of detonation cord. Each drill ended in the platoon huddling together in the viewing bunker to witness the fruits of their labor in the form of a thunderous explosion and a slow-rising plume of dust and smoke floating towards the sky.
Pfc. David Langston, a combat engineer, Company C, said that he listened to and followed the instructions from his NCOs as closely as he could, because he knew they would not steer him wrong.
"Our squad's been doing great," said Antoff. "Everyone's on the top of their game. I can't ask for a better group of guys."
The engineers of Company C will continue their demolitions training by removing common obstacles such as barbed wire and concrete barriers and will end the training with a competition between the platoons.
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