IED training

My unit, the 1171st Transportation Co. arrived at Ft. Bliss, TX and after in processing we moved to Camp McGregor (apart of Ft. Bliss, but just across the border in New Mexico). Being that most of unit completed mobilization training in Tennessee there has not been a lot to do until this past week. Beginning on Tuesday the entire company participated in IED training that lasted 3 long days. We had classroom training in the morning and then moved out to the range for field training. All the time wearing the new helmet, body armor that includes plates designed to stop 7.62mm rounds and our individual weapon. We learned the types of IED's to include command and victim detonated types of IED's. Those include radio controlled, cell phone, infrared and pressure plate. We saw the indicators of IED's to look for something different and trails "ant hills" that hide the command wires. Also, we learned the types of electronic countermeasures to defeat the remote controlled IED devices.

The third day was the day of our battle drills which was broke apart into dismounted and mounted. Being that my squad leader was sick in quarters I took over the squad and during the dismounted section, I was the troop leader. This was a challenge for me in that I have not been in charge of that many people (19 total) and didn't have a lot of infantry experience. We used the wedge formation, which included point people to scout for IED's and other trouble and a stagger-two formation in the rear for support. I was fortunate to have outstanding people in the point where most of the IED's and UXO (unexploded ordnance) were found. We did run into trouble with a sniper and the observer-controller intended to take me out, but I stayed low to the ground low crawling to the radio. It was a learning experience and we got a "GO". In games such as Medal of Honor, I and my squad get killed more often than complete the missions.

The second part of the course was the mounted version where we drove gun trucks on a presence patrol. I played the part of the (TC) Truck Commander of an individual Humvee, thankfully not the convoy commander. My truck was the third of eight. My job was to man the radio relay messages to the gunner and passengers that would dismount. We did succeed in our mission, the lead truck had an experienced TC who served in the Fallujah and Ramadi areas during the height of the Iraq War. The TC and gunner spotted all the IED's before they drove up on them.

Back on active duty

On December 1, my National Guard company, the 1171st Transportation was placed on active duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The first three days were spent at the armory in Dresden, TN working on packing several items. On the 4th we flew to Fort Bliss which is near El Paso, Texas. Prior to leaving Tennessee, we were provided an escort by the local and state police and the Patriot Guard.

We arrived to see snow capped mountians and some snow on the ground. Training will intensify in the coming days.