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The spire on the mosque next door glinted in the late afternoon sky. The Soldiers huddled near the entryway to the house next door. With a single breath, they rocked backward and then kicked open the door.
This scenario did not happen in Iraq or Afghanistan. This scenario took place Nov. 13 at a mock forward operating base on Panzer Kaserne. The Special Troops Battalion, 21st Theater Sustainment Command held sergeants time training to teach Soldiers how to conduct military operations on urbanized terrain. On this day, the training focused on entering and clearing rooms.
Set up to duplicate an Iraqi village, the FOB has a mosque; houses with couches and a kitchen; a village square; and a garage with broken down cars. Conducting training in a MOUT setting has become a strong training point for the Army due to the fact that most military operations are now conducted in cities and surrounding areas. It is important for Soldiers who are going downrange to train in realistic situations prior to deploying.
“This is the kind of stuff you’ll be doing downrange and this is the most realistic you’ll see before going downrange,” said Staff Sgt. Anthony Cardona, NCOIC of the munitions department of supply operations, STB, 21st TSC.
Even though the Soldiers training were support Soldiers, they understood the significance of the training.
“Being female doesn’t mean that you are exempt from this kind of training and it doesn’t matter if you are in a section like Staff Judge Advocate,” said Sgt. Dawn Davis, court reporter NCOIC, SJA, STB, 21st TSC. “When I was downrange I was an alternate for the third team back man, so if anything had happened to him, I would have had to jump in.”
One building on the FOB combined all dangerous scenarios Soldiers would face in clearing a building. The building contained a window, an interior staircase, a small room, a long room that connected to a neighboring building and an exterior exposed staircase.
“I thought that it was different because this building was much more complex. I knew most of the basics before this training, but I had never learned how to clear a staircase,” said Pfc. Michael Trischler, a motor pool mechanic at STB, 21st TSC.
The rest of the training consisted of how to stack the entry team before entering a building, how to clear a small room, how to go up an exposed staircase and how to maintain awareness of the other team members.
“I’ve really enjoyed this training. It’s much better than just another powerpoint slide show,” said Sergeant Davis.
