Members of 2/121st Infantry squad coordinate during training at Ft. Benning.

Georgia’s ‘Second Foot’ 
Trains for  Security, Stabilization Operations
Story and photos by
Lt. Col. George M. Scott, GSDF

Security and stabilization operations in an urban environment was the name of the game when soldiers of Cordele’s Company B and Americus’ Company C, 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, trained in early January at Fort Benning outside Columbus.

While the unit’s dismounted infantry trained with other "Second Foot" elements at Benning’s Camp McKenna MOUT site, crews that operate Company B’s Bradley fighting vehicles remained in Cordele to train on convoy operations.

Captain Brian Lassiter, Company B’s commander, explained that the day’s training happened in four stages:

• Tactical movement in a built up area.

• Reacting to a sniper.

• Room entry techniques.

• The search and securing of a building in a built up area.

Lassiter said, the troops later repeated the training to test their ability to perform during low light conditions.

Instructors for the training came from the 3rd Infantry Division Training Support Battalion, and they worked well with the Georgia citizen-soldiers. As the Guardsmen went through the tactical movement the instructors were teaching them the lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan for encountering an enemy in urban terrain. It was completely different, one Company B soldier was overheard saying, from what he and his fellow Guardsmen had been trained to do in the past.

Many times during training the instructors were heard telling their charges, " walk, run, fast, safe." What they were telling the soldiers, one instructor said, was that they had to train on the basics first in a slow and deliberate manner.

"Once they mastered the process of operating in a built-up area, they increased the speed in which the drill was conducted," the instructor said while a group of Company C soldiers past him on their way into a nearby building. "That accomplished, they move faster through the training, while remembering that safety is always paramount."

Entering what could have passed for a small shop or home, the Guardsmen practiced movement through the building in teams. The soldiers constantly practiced using the different entry points to the rooms and how to communicate with each other while inside. They also practiced what to do if a man went down during the clearing of a room. " It’s better to sweat and practice now than to bleed later."

Lassiter said the training his troops received put much emphasis on small unit leadership. A factor, he said, that surely helped everyone gain a better understanding of what each must do during a mission. "That way, every soldier, from the most senior NCO to the most junior enlisted can pickup lead a team should the first line leader be unable," Lassiter said. Second Battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. Steve McCorkle, echoed that sentiment, saying that this type training prepared his soldiers to perform better under what would be the most difficult of conditions.

"As leaders we must ensure our soldiers are prepared for whatever missions may come their way," McCorkle said.

"In today’s ever-changing world the National Guard and Reserves are being relied on more and more, at home and overseas," he added, "and we must be prepared to fulfill the mission whatever or where-ever it may be."

Back in Cordele the rest of Company B ran convoy operations unit the wee hours of the morning over a two-day period. Part of the unit’s maintenance section acted as an opposing force (OPFOR) that changed checkpoints and tried to create confusion among the convoy members and their operations. It only took a short time for the Guardsmen to foil the OPFOR’s attempts and get the convoys operating as they should.

– Lt. Col. George M. Scott, is public affairs officer for the Georgia State Defense Force’s 2nd Brigade