January 2009 NRA News
by CAPT David M. Mitchell, USN
Editor’s Note: Part 1 of this series appeared in the November 2008 Guest Column.
Saturday, 26 July, found Sailors flying across the country from Norfolk, San Diego, Gulfport, and Port Hueneme after completing NMPS training. Destination, FT Riley, KS, home of training for Transition Teams going to Iraq and Afghanistan. For the 150 plus Sailors preparing to go to Afghanistan, this would be their home for the next 2 1/2 months. Met by ECRC FT Riley OIC LCDR Smithers and his crew, the arriving Sailors were taken to the Custer Hill area of the post for a week of inprocessing.
During the first week, the members of Class 53 were billeted in rooms with two bedrooms sharing a head and kitchenette. Meals were taken at the dining facility (DFAC) within walking distance of the billeting and there was a computer lab nearby to check e-mails and the Internet. At Custer Hill, members received gear issues that filled three seabags to add to the one filled at the NMPS. Gear such as a complete sleep system, cold and extreme cold weather gear, canteens, camelback, assault pack, and more, much more. Also issued were an M4 carbine and M9 pistol along with integrated body armor (IBA). In addition, there were initial briefings, completion of ISOPREP information (for search and rescue), and acclimation to the “Army Life.”
At the end of the first week, all of the seabags were loaded onto trucks by the class members; school buses were boarded; and after about a 20-minute trip to the other side of the post, we arrived at Camp Funston also known as Forward Operating Base (FOB) Camp Army Strong. There, everyone was introduced to their new quarters which were more cozy than those at Custer Hill. Basically, everyone below the rank of O-6/E-9 was put in a central barracks with 40-person open bay barracks and 4-person rooms for O-5’s. The O-6/E-9’s were assigned two to a room, four to a head. Of course, another all-hands evolution was conducted to unload all the seabags. Once this was done, we enjoyed dinner at one of the two DFAC’s at Camp Funston.
The first day of training was the next day, Saturday. It began as most training days at a 0600 formation where Colors was played and we sang the 1st Infantry Division song, “The Big Red One.” Following formation, we did PT by teams, cleaned up, ate breakfast in the DFAC, and went to class. For the first day, the entire Class 53 gathered in the “Deployment Center,” a new multimillion dollar facility, to start classes and their gear on the road to Afghanistan and Iraq. There, sitting on bleachers, we were introduced to the concepts of combat advising and counterinsurgency (COIN). We would spend another week studying these principles as well as the “official” Afghanistan language, Dari, in small (40-person) classes. In these classes, we were taught by former Special Forces operators and language/culture by natives of Afghanistan working for the U.S. Army/Department of Defense. The main take-away from this training is that the teams are there to train and mentor the Afghan Army and police forces so that they can take over the security of their county and coalition forces can leave.
Starting with the following week and continuing through the remaining weeks, our focus was on advanced combat skills. As a continuing theme throughout the combat training, we continued to focus on combat advising through a series of “Leader Meetings” with Afghans playing the roles of Army, police, elected officials, village elders, interpreters, and so forth. A brief description of the major training areas follows.
Combat Lifesaving: This three-day course taught us to treat wounds such as sucking chest wounds; applying tourniquets, combat dressings; and the part most people were concerned about, giving each other IV’s. While most people were concerned about giving and receiving IV’s, in the end, every one of us was successful. The key take-away is that, in combat, everyone is a medic and quick response can save a life.
Tactical Vehicle Training: In addition to learning to drive and being issued licenses for a variety of tactical vehicles during the day and at night with night vision goggles, we had to undergo “rollover training.” For those reading who have gone through the “Helo Dunker,” it is like that, only on dry land. For the rest, this is being strapped into your seat with two belts; wearing 50 pounds of armor and gear; being rolled left, right, and inverted; and, then, having to get out. The key take-away from this is that everyone must be prepared to egress the vehicle, and everyone must know how to drive (even our classmate who came from New York City and had never driven before).
By the way, I forgot to mention the issue about wearing the armor, helmet, and gear (referred to as “battle rattle”). We did this for most activities from a 4.5-mile march, to anytime we drove our vehicles (which was a lot), to every range where we shot weapons. Let me tell you that wearing all of that stuff changes the way you do almost everything!
We also received the latest in training on improvised explosive devices (IED’s), how to detect them and how to defeat them. This training was reinforced every time we drove out of FOB Army Strong as we had to drive through “IED Alley,” a deeply rutted dirt road strewn with damaged vehicles and IED’s. Another “fun” aspect of our patrols was that we were subject to attack by OPFOR at any time.
The next week focused on communications training with everyone spending three days in class learning a variety of handheld and base-station radios, including crypto. This was followed by “train the trainers” as team members split up and took a variety of advanced classes in communications, trauma, tactical systems, biometric identification, calling for fire support/close air support, logistics, and others. These skills were then shared with fellow team members to ensure all had knowledge of them.
Next came the kinetic skills training, known as weapons training. This was very thorough with primary marksmanship instruction (PMI) on all weapons before any were actually shot on the range. First, we worked with the M9 pistol and M4 carbine (improved M16). The range time was grueling with the average day being 24 hours on the range in whatever weather conditions existed. In those 24 hours, you would actually be on the firing line for an hour or less. A lot of time was spent zeroing in the M4 using both the “iron sights” and the tactical scope (this is the cool stuff with a red dot on target giving you a hit most of the time). The actual qualification was shooting at “pop-up” targets of a person ranging from 50 to 500 meters during daylight and, at night, using a laser designator and night vision goggles. These same types of targets were on the M9 range and included a “walk and shoot” phase as shooters walked down the line and shot at targets, but only during the day. After firing was completed, all hands participated in picking up all expended cartridges which often took more time then we actually spent firing. This was referred to as “policing brass” and happened at all ranges.
Next came “crew served weapons” which included the M2 50 caliper machine gun, the 240 and 249 machine guns, and the MK19 grenade launcher. In addition, we had the opportunity to fam fire a variety of “foreign” weapons likely to be found in Afghanistan such as the AK47. Again, range time was grueling, involving both day and night qualification in every weapon except the foreign weapons. While everyone enjoyed the opportunity to “go kinetic,” we were glad to move on from those long days.
Following a couple of “light” days of land navigation, media awareness, and preparation for our “Midpoint Exercise,” we headed out in our tactical vehicles in full battle rattle for another FOB on FT Riley where we were tested on everything we had learned to date. A team would walk up to a tent that was testing a subject such as combat lifesaving and two or three team members would be picked to perform the skills while the others watched. Successful completion of all skills testing resulted in a pass to continue on with training.
The final three weeks of training put everything learned to date into completion of “field exercises.” First up was two days of training in “Mounted Combat Patrols” to include a sophisticated simulator where teams would man crew positions such as driver, commander, and gunner and go out for a patrol experiencing IED’s, complex attacks, and driving through narrow streets crowded with people. After the training, we went out to the mounted combat patrol range where teams of three or four vehicles would travel a route of about 5 km shooting live ammo at a variety of targets, including some dismounted situations. Vehicles would be disabled by IED’s requiring emergency tows. Once all teams were complete, we once again policed the brass.
The second-to-last training was short range weapons marksmanship followed by urban operations. The marksmanship involved shooting the M4 and the M9 at short range targets while walking together down the firing line. Clearly, there is danger here as people turn to fire; and we were reminded that a Soldier had been killed during this training in the recent past. After the range, we moved to the urban operations range which is a small city designed to train members to enter and search buildings. This training culminated with a walk down Main Street and an attack by special nonkinetic munitions fired from M4’s. The team responded with smoke grenades to cover our movement up to and into the building where rooms were cleared one by one against an OPFOR. While the munitions are nonkinetic, they will break the skin; and a few class members were bleeding after the exercise.
Training was completed and all that remained was the Capstone exercise. We pulled together all of our training for this event. First, we met at the rally point with our Afghan Army partners and the interpreter who would be working with us. We departed in our tactical vehicles through IED Alley and onward to a new FOB. There, we planned our mission with our partners, using our interpreter to communicate. While we were there, a distraught father arrived with his Mullah to inform us that his son was killed by Coalition Forces. We did our best to calm him and help him with his grief. We were then ready to go on our mission which involved visiting several Afghan villages to meet with key leaders there. During our travels, we were attacked, detained an enemy combatant, captured a weapons cache, and treated civilian casualties from an enemy attack before the final stop which was a meeting of several leaders, police chiefs, and officials. While that meeting was going on, our security was challenged by an increasingly unruly crowd which resulted in our early departure from the village when we could not ensure our safety. On the return trip to our FOB, we were attacked by an IED which disabled one of our vehicles with a blown tire. After using an emergency tow to get out of the kill zone, we changed the tire(s) and continued onto our FOB. At that point, our training was complete, and we graduated in a Deployment Ceremony where we were honored to have RDML Garry Bonelli speak to us.
Due to our training being over 45 days and a boots-on-ground of 12 months (15 months total for us), we were entitled to a tenday break which allowed us to go home and complete final preparations for being away from home for a year and visit our families. Upon our return, we moved into the Deployment Center along with our seabags, weapons, and two small personal bags to begin our trip to Afghanistan. After checking in, being weighed and manifested, we were “locked down” to await the buses that would take us to Topeka, KS, where a charted MD11 aircraft waited to fly us to our next destination. We were ready; we were trained; but we all wondered about the next 12 months. Soon enough, we would find out.