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Blackanthem Military News
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Division West trainer uses combat experience to prepare deploying Soldiers
By Michael M. Novogradac, First Army Division West Public Affairs
Aug 22, 2010 - 2:31:40 PM
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Blackanthem Military News
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| Spc. Andrew Deckhut, center, and Spc. William Jennings talk with an Iraqi trainer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., during the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion's culminating training event July 29 with its parent unit, the Nebraska Army National Guard's 67th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade from Omaha. First Army Division West's 191st Infantry Brigade is training the units for their deployment to Iraq. (Photo by Lt. Col. Bob Vrana, 67th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade Public Affairs) |
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. - Many First Army Division West Soldiers have deployed to a combat zone more than once, and now they apply their warfighting experience to training Reserve component Soldiers to go to war.
Sgt. 1st Class Brandon E. Reik grew up in the Army as a Washington Army National Guard combat engineer. He deployed twice to Iraq, sweeping convoy routes for improvised explosive devices so military trucks and other vehicles could travel safely.
Now, Reik is the senior observer controller/trainer at Company C, 3rd Battalion, 364th Engineer Regiment, 191st Infantry Brigade, training the Nebraska Army National Guard's 67th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade out of Omaha during the unit's culminating training event at Fort Lewis, Wash.
"We had our fair share of IEDs," Reik said of his time in Iraq. "At first, it is very strenuous … it works on your nerves a little bit because you understand that you're not out there to execute a breach of a minefield or a wire obstacle (using explosives). You are essentially moving to contact. You are driving into a possible situation that puts you and your "Joes" at risk, and you never know. You'll only know when it happens.
"There was a funny saying by our battalion commander," he continued, "who would say, 'Either way, we're going to have a 100 percent find rate in Iraq. Because (an IED) is either going to find you or you're going to find it.'"
Reik applies his combat experience every day while training other Soldiers for war.
"I was asked to come here and assist with IED-defeat training and pass along some of the information and events that I went through in real life, in theater, to people who are going there to give them a better understanding of how IEDs work and what the dangers are," he said. "I am very compassionate about it because I feel that the knowledge that I've gained by being there would benefit Soldiers that have never deployed before."
For the 67th BfSB's CTE, Reik controls all training aspects of the exercise role players. During the CTE, various role player events are "injected" into a unit's daily operations, which cause key unit members to exercise the unit's battle drills and standard operating procedures and, ultimately, to make decisions during warfighting.
"Role-playing scenarios give commanders the ability to see and react to scenarios that may - or will - happen while they are in theater," Reik said.
"There's likelihood that a brigade or battalion commander will be interviewed by news media, for example," Reik said. "There is a possibility that there will be a sexual assault, or you may have to deal with suicides. With our live role players, the amount of realism and effort that they put into it is real-world, and I feel that (deploying units) benefit greatly because, God forbid anything does happen like that, they will remember, 'OK, I remember seeing this and I know the procedures.'"
Reik feels he is at the right place at the right time to share his own combat experiences with Soldiers who are about to deploy.
"You have to get involved with these Soldiers," he said. "You are preparing them for something that a lot of them have never seen before, and I think it's important for us at Division West to have passion for what we do.
"It is an absolute frame of mind, because if you go into a training event with a very passive attitude, then the attitude that the unit is going to give you will be passive as well," he continued. "They won't take you seriously. Their minds will not be where they need to be. They're at home with their girlfriends or their boyfriends, or they're at a concert in their heads when they should be thinking about reflex drills or the ranges or IED defeat or convoy live fire or engagement techniques.
"If you don't have a trainer with that amount of passion, the unit is not going to give it back. It is not going to reflect."
Since the beginning of the U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, nearly 700,000 reserve component Soldiers have mobilized, at a rate of about 75,000 per year.
Working closely with the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, Division West has trained more than 1,500 units and more than 85,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines since October 2007.
ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
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| A role player acting as an Iraqi interpreter, left, talks with a role player acting as an Iraqi intelligence official, center, and Col. Philip Stemple, commander of the Nebraska Army National Guard's 67th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade from Omaha, during the unit's culminating training event at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., July 31. First Army Division West's 191st Infantry Brigade is training the unit for its deployment to Iraq. (Photo by Lt. Col. Bob Vrana, 67th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade Public Affairs) |
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