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***image1***Driving convoys, building defense fighting positions and throwing elbows in hand-to-hand combat were all incorporated into the Combat Readiness Course Oct. 20 through today at Bitburg Air Base.
The 1st Combat Communications Squadron ran 33 newcomers to the squadron through the mandatory course which prepares the Airmen for hostile locations.
“Eighty-percent of the squadron is the rank of senior airman and below, including several first term Airmen,” said Lt. Col. Joe Sublousky, 1st CBCS squadron commander. “I want to ensure 1st CBCS Airmen are trained for austere and hostile environments before they are deployed.”
The course is designed to teach Airmen basic skills like setting up tents, keeping bugs out of combat boots and painting their faces with camouflage paint.
Once the Airmen have set up their camp and a defense perimeter, more combat-oriented skills are tested, including self aid buddy care, convoy driving, searching a hostile enemy for weapons and operating in chemical warfare gear, said Colonel Sublousky.
The courses are run by a full-time cadre team of seven 1st CBCS experts, said Master Sgt. Raymond Lara, 1st CBCS Cadre NCOIC. The cadre’s job is to provide as-real-as-possible training to squadron members while ensuring their safety.
The cadre uses the help of opposition forces, or OPFOR, to run scenarios by the course’s Airmen. The opposition forces are volunteers from 1st CBCS that have completed the course and understand how vital the realistic training is to their coworkers.
The motivated volunteers dress in realistic costumes and prepare each other with moulage makeup to simulate injuries so course attendees can treat them with self-aid buddy care, said Sergeant Lara.
“This course is successful because of the realism our experts add to prepare new Airmen for the deployed environment they could soon encounter.
Everyone excels at what they have been trained to do and gives 110 percent effort 110 percent of the time.” said Colonel Sublousky.
