Private 1st Class Brandon R. Loggins maneuvers through a reflexive fire exercise as part of the 1/121 two week training at JMRC in Hohenfels, Germany.  Only months ago Loggins was a new recruit with the 48th IBCT (L) Georgia Army National Guard.  (Photo by 1st Lt. Michael E. Thompson, 2/121, 48th IBCT)

Spc. Tracy J. Smith
48th IBCT PAO

HOHENFELS, Germany (Joint Multinational Readiness Center) – ‘Full-on’ would be a good way to describe the approach to training Soldiers of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team have taken since deploying to  Germany for a two-week training mission in late April.

 “We are light infantry now,” Private First Class David N. Creech said as he takes his position behind his M240 machine gun.  He enjoys the opportunity to ride while he can. Looking at the hilly terrain of ‘the box’ Creech verbalized what everyone already knew. “Once we get to our next mission we hump it.”

Creech is in training with 150 of his battle buddies from 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment in Hohenfel’s Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC).  The two week readiness mission is part of plans and training preparations for the Volunteer Brigade’s upcoming combat mission to Afghanistan.

With elevations of nearly 1200 feet above sea level and 39,000 plus square miles of training grounds designed to mirror the environments the Soldiers will be engaging the enemy and training their Afghani counterparts the base is true to its motto to “Train to Win.”

 “Our determination is to reinforce safety and the standards that will be taken to the fight,” Captain Donald J. Thompson, company commander for the training company explained.  Thompson wants to keep in-sync with the fluidity of training while ensuring his Soldiers remain effective in unpredictable situations.

 “We are reinforcing the Rules of Engagement, acquainting them with True Simulation Training and offering these men a chance to apply lessons learned, (referencing those who have served in OIF 3.5 during previous deployment), as mentors.  They will have the mental tools needed to be in step with the mission.”

With Reflexive individual weapons firing drills and Urban Warfare, or MOUT, training predominant on the units ‘Horse Blanket,” and old army slang term for training schedule, the Soldiers were also being challenged in the classroom.  Certification of 120 of the infantrymen as Combat Lifesavers would be achieved as well as the reinforcement of basic Soldier Common Task Training; all within fourteen days.

 “The key to success is certification and that’s the responsibility of the company commanders,” 48th IBCT commander Colonel Lee Durham stressed to the team during his visit with the Soldiers. “NCOs need to know their Soldiers and be effective on the tools at their disposal to succeed. We are building combat leaders.” 

Command Sergeant Major Calvin Wilcox agreed. “My Soldiers realize the need to work as a team, be (adaptive) and take the lead when it is necessary as it relates to our mission,” Wilcox added. “Here they get outstanding training and realistic battlefield experience so that they can ‘adjust fire’ now.  Once we get out there we don’t get a do-over.”

Specialist Matthew “Crow” Hunter, a self described rifleman from Lilburn, Ga., knows all about the ‘No Do-Over’ rule.  He volunteered to be the ‘casualty’ for a demonstration of the ‘J-tube’ replacement; the Nasal Pharyngeal Airway (NPA) insertion.  The tube, the length of which should be no longer than the distance between the corner of the casualty’s nose and casualty’s ear, is used to avoid triggering a gag reflex.  Hunter’s reaction to the process might reject that concept.  He called it a CLS nose job and, as his eyes watered, clearly understated the sensation as “slightly uncomfortable.” 

As he walked outside and watched the sunset highlights over the mountainous hills he and his fellow Volunteer Soldier had taken on just hours before.  He took a deep breath.

 “It’s the first time I’ve been able to breathe since I’ve been here,”   Hunter mused.

With his battle-buddies congratulating him for his bravery, Hunter took a deep breath and laughed at their rudimentary assessment of what he had just done.

It was his contribution to the team’s full-on training.

 

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