108th recon teaching, being taught
124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Georgia National Guard
June 12, 2007 – Soldiers from 48th Brigade Combat Team’s 108th Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Target Acquisition Squadron, (formerly 1st Battalion, 108th Armor) are in southwest Louisiana helping other Soldiers from around the country get the training they need for deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
With temperatures rising near the hundred-mark at Fort Polk's Joint Readiness Training Center, the Georgia Guardsmen goal is to make the humidity and foliage the only differences between this active Army post and the arid regions of war-torn Iraq.
Captain Chris Powell, who command’s Rome-based Troop A of the 108th, described his Soldiers’ mission as a role-playing exercise. Acting as Iraqi internal defense force soldiers, they are providing real-world experience to those who are about to experience in the Global War on Terror, many of them for the first time.
“The preparation they get here is important because it lets them experience the kind of obstacles and challenges they’re going to have in communicating through interpreters to Iraqi platoon leaders,” Powell explained.
During its two-weeks at Fort Polk, the 108th is teaching deploying Soldiers, like those with 101st Airborne Division, how to fight insurgents alongside their Iraqi counterparts. The knowledge they’re passing on comes from their own experiences working with the Iraqi army while deployed with the 48th from May 2005 to May 2006.
Sergeant Billy Harp said the training he and his fellow Guardsmen are providing should be a great help to those about to journey “across the pond.”
“They’re getting their feet wet in a whole new way,” said Harp, a Troop A squad leader. “What we teach them here gives them a taste of what life’s gonna be like once they get in country.”
"The new guys with the 101st, especially, are like sponges," said Spc. Michael Matlin, a Troop A team leader and Iraq veteran. “They’re really soaking up the knowledge and looking for more.”
But being at JRTC isn’t just about being the teacher for the Georgia Guardsmen. It’s also about picking up “lessons learned” from the California National Guard’s 19th Special Forces Group, which is deploying with the 101st.
“We’re doing more on the ground now that 108th has changed from the traditional armor mission to one of reconnaissance and surveillance,” Harp said. “Yeah,” said Pfc. Gabriel Human, a scout with Calhoun’s Headquarters Troop, “it’s a whole lot different since we’re now 48th Brigade’s eyes and ears on battlefield.”
The 108th began its transition from an armored battalion to a RSTA squadron not long after returning from Iraq. Most of those who were tankers are now scouts, which is a Special Forces specialty.
“We’re really learning a lot from the ‘SF guys’ about how to do our mission,” Harp said.
"They really know their stuff," said Human added, "so they know our techniques and how we can improve on what we now do."
Troop A’s main body has been at JRTC for the past week. It’s scheduled to return to home later in the month. When they do return, these one-time tankers will be more knowledgeable as scouts, and they will have helped those getting ready to support the mission in Iraq be more prepared themselves.
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