The young man in the keffiya or shemagh, a traditional headdress of Middle Eastern origin, cautiously moved through the sea of uniforms. He was looking for someone whom he could easily target.

His eyes immediately trained on Company A, 148th BSB, Staff Sgt. Melvina Barnes.

"Ish la aklabah (I am Your Friend)," Spc. Benjamin Browning, a COMSEC radio operator said in Pashtu, the language of the indigenous Afghanis, while waving his hands frantically.

Browning is a valued member of the Immediate Search Squad, ISS, Desert Hedgehogs training team.

A college history major, he is a natural in the role of a local Afghani attempting to pass through a hasty check point. His role today is to disrupt the training environment and finds his target, Barnes, a 48th IBCT Iraq veteran, non-plus.

Respectfully showing the back of her hand Barnes motions, her fingers pointed downward, and, instructs him in a language he would understand, to "Go away."

"Em-shee," Barnes says firmly, a slight scowl on her face. The hardened platoon sergeant has five new Soldiers and wants to ensure they realize that "this is real. If he wants to play I’ll play too. I am bringing all my Soldiers home."

Barnes and the Soldiers of 148th Brigade Support Battalion are in an intense two day training scenario to not only prepare for the Infantry brigade’s pending Afghanistan mission but to also ensure Warrior Training tasks are covered prior to the 2009 troop assemblage for Operation Phoenix.

148th BSB Command Sergeant Major Barry Smallwood cited the initiative of the Soldiers to prove they are ready for deployment as the springboard for the elaborate training.

"As we continue to meet the (brigade) commander’s intent, which is to show our Soldiers are trained and ready at any given time, we look at any opportunity to capitalize on resources available to us," Smallwood said marveling at the success of the training. "We married-up with our aviation partners and training assets at Fort Stewart and were able to go above and beyond what was expected."

Expectations were initially to break out the trauma moulage kit, give some chaos based scenarios and pop off the simulated-frags to wake everyone up. Pepper it with land navigation using the new hand-held Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR pronounced Plugger), and show them some dummy IEDs for familiarization and you have a recipe for a typical training weekend.

Then battalion training command upped the ante and brought in the purveyor of chaos Sergeant Michael ‘Madman’ Madsen. All Hades broke loose as an open field adjacent to the armory became a all things one would anticipate in a war zone.

"I practice chaos," Madsen, a training NCO for HHC, 148th BSB said. He also has experience as a tactical interrogator. "My job is to make sure they have all the tools and solid training they can handle then I go into overload mode."

Madsen also brings another unique trait to the training table; as Citizen-Soldiers do.

A former active duty Warrant Officer pilot he has strong aviation ties and with the help of his ‘friends’ was able to bring in big blades to add to the ambience.

As the medical choppers are directed to a field expedient landing zone, a big boom erupts from a tree line. Soldiers acting as potential casualties literally flip in the air and wait for their peers to render aid.

One trainer is simply waiting for a reaction.

"This is what they call a directional blast," Sergeant Michael A. Quinones states. Quinones is an Improvised Explosive Device Detect Level 1 training NCO from Rochester, NY. He now calls Georgia home and the Guard his ‘familia.’

"We want to reiterate situational awareness. You don’t want them to get tunnel vision focusing on one thing. You’ve got to take your visual scan and if it’s suspicious react appropriately. Watch this…."

Training his sights on three Soldiers who are taking baby steps in order not to be surprised, his lips curl in anticipation of their reaction.

Leading the three is Sergeant April N. Brock. She tells the young PFCs of her ‘squad’ to keep close along a narrow path. The scenario is to take care of a Soldier who has lost her left arm and leg. When the next blast erupts Brock, who was four months out from becoming a new mom, is surprisingly calm and focused. Uttering an expletive she deftly places the soldier over her shoulders and tells the squad to "Follow me!"

Fireman-carrying the ‘injured’ soldier more than 300 yards to a field hospital tent, the supply technician realizes what she has just accomplished and reflects on her OIF combat experience.

"You have to remember the more you practice, the better you get at it. Its like driving home," Brock muses. "You don’t remember the name of the streets or how you got there sometimes, it just becomes a part of you."

Smallwood wants this to be more than an opportunity to check off seven additional Warrior Tasks. He wants them to embrace the training standards.

Adjusting to circumstance is important and those experienced Junior Non-Commissioned Officers are who will lead the training and the very different battlefield fight in Afghanistan.

"You cannot hold a soldier to your standard, you hold them to the standards set by the Army" Smallwood punctuates. "That’s how you gain respect and their attention."

Barnes sides with her Soldiers. She is satisfied with the stress and realism reflected in their faces and that they have gotten a taste of the trainings intent.

"It’s not about a sign-in roster, it’s taking your training seriously and applying it. Knowing what to do when it is time to do it. This is for real!"

(NOTE: As a full immersion training mission, trainers/Soldiers spoke certain phrases in Arabic. For this article the phrases are presented in basic phonetic-aural translation in italicized font.)