Taji-based Division Completes Warrior Training Program
By Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq
Nov 29, 2009 - 5:13:01 PM
Blackanthem Military News
BESMAYA, Iraq - Five hundred seventy-three Iraqi army soldiers completed a four- week warrior training program at the Besmaya Combat Training Center Nov. 25. The soldiers are a part of the 1st Battalion, 35th Brigade, 9th Division, which is garrisoned in Taji and conducts mechanized infantry operations in Taji and Baghdad.
Training consisted of an individual skill phase, a collective skill phase, and then culminated with a mounted movement to contact live-fire drill. During the individual skill phase, soldiers conducted small arms training using AK-47 rifles and close quarters marksmanship. In addition, 45 soldiers conducted a 10-day combat life saver course. The collective training phase consisted of military operations in urban terrain, day and night live-fire, as well as dismounted movement to contact.
First Battalion's commander took the skills taught by the Iraqi army cadre at the training center and adapted them into the mounted live-fire operation. This was the first time at Besmaya Combat Training Center that a unit expanded the training they received and developed its own training scenario. These soldiers now return to their units to continue to provide safety and security in Iraq.