The Soldiers, ranging from privates to sergeants, conducted a situational training exercise to meet the final requirements of the Combat Leaders Course at Forward Operating Base Kalsu June 27.
The CLC is a course designed and led by senior noncommissioned officers of the 172nd infantry brigade to teach junior NCO’s combat leadership skills.
The students’ mission was to complete a supply run to a fictional forward operating base called FOB Sage. While on the route, the students had to apply knowledge and skills learned from the CLC, such as reacting to an improvised explosive device, vehicle recovery, medical techniques, casualty evacuation, reacting to small arms fire, sensitive site operations and detainee operations.
“The exercise incorporated everything we learned and was combat oriented for all of the Soldiers out here,” said Spc. Nicholas A. Bourdon, a mortar man for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment.
As the sun rose, Soldiers in four military vehicles slowly scanned the road for anything suspicious.
“We first spotted a possible IED about 100 meters in front of the lead vehicle,” said Sgt. Elijah Howlett, class platoon leader, Company C, 2nd Bn., 28th Inf. Regt. “We then changed course to avoid it, but then the next vehicle got hit by a secondary IED.”
Two Soldiers from the second vehicle were “injured” by the IED. With little hesitation, the Soldiers dismounted the vehicles to pull security and assist the casualties.
After treating the casualties, the platoon-sized element began to recover the vehicle damaged by the IED.
When the recovery was complete and the course instructors gave the okay, the convoy continued on its way to FOB Sage.
The rest of the route went smoothly for the team, until they arrived at the FOB and were greeted by small arms fire. The team reacted and took on the challenge with only a few minor communication errors. After they delivered the supplies to the FOB, they were informed of a mock detainee situation that needed their assistance.
A little confused as to what exactly the task was at first, the Soldiers figured it out and pressed on to complete their mission by talking to the role-playing Iraqi Security Force leader and enrolling the detainee into a tracking system, consisting of pictures, fingerprints and retina scans.
“It went well and we all came together as a team despite our different jobs,” stated Howlett, a native of Chatsworth, Calif. “We didn’t do everything perfectly, but we accomplished the mission we set out to do.”
“When you have hindsight, you can always say that things didn’t go perfectly. We did what we knew under stress and we accomplished the mission,” said Bourdon, a native of St. Albanas, Vt.
The STX is a more recent addition to the CLC; however, it was always a consideration for the course.
“It has always been on the plate to have the exercise, but due to resourcing, it took two classes to set the course up permanently,” said Sgt. 1st Class Eric R. Bunuan, noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the Blackhawk Academy, HHC, 172nd Inf. Bde.
“I’m glad they were able to add the exercise to the class,” said Bourdon. “The exercise is different from the classroom because it’s a hands on experience. You can’t simulate the stress levels and the thought processes in the classroom, it has to be something you experience firsthand.”
