10th Mount. Div. Hits Ground Running

By Spc. Scott Akanewich

Sgt. Michael Pieniazek is an infantryman. His job is simple. To seek out and destroy the enemy.

Atop an armored humvee, he swivels his turret from left to right, then back again, always on the lookout for trouble. Are the streets he's patrolling unusually quiet today?

An ominous warning, perhaps. Maybe overnight road improvements or a suspicious roadside character on a cell phone. Also possible harbingers of danger.Pieniazek and his brothers-in-arms from the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team are currently training at Camp Buehring as a run-up to their imminent mission in Iraq.

On his lethal perch behind either an M-2 .50-caliber machine gun or M-249 squad automatic weapon, he commands enough firepower to repel large numbers of enemy troops, however, he still feels a bit like a sitting duck, he said.

"Considering, there's only a little piece of metal in front of me, I feel very vulnerable," said the San Antonio, native, who was selected to be one of the unit's gunners because of his proficiency and familiarity with the arsenal of weapons at their disposal in his role as company armorer. Capt. Michael Olson is the leader of these men who will soon step into the breech of a combat environment. As company commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 2nd BCT, it's his job to ensure his Soldiers are ready for what they will face once they cross that berm into the chaos of a country in transition. It's a place where potential danger lurks around each corner, down every alley and in many forms.

To this end, Olson realizes his men need to be proficient in many different areas, ranging from providing security on rural terrain in wide-open desert expanses to the close-quarters of urban surroundings.

"We train on individual and crew-served weapons as well as military operations on urban terrain and convoy operations," said Olson. "However, our main focus is on convoy security because our unit moves around the battlefield."

There are ten different battle drills Olson puts his charges through under the scorching Kuwaiti sun. They cover a wide variety of situations including reacting to an ambush, successfully navigating past improvised explosive devices and recovering casualties and vehicles. Each drill encompasses multiple scenarios the Soldiers must read and react to until it becomes second nature, a kind of sixth sense.

"This is so when situations arise, you don't have to think first, you just react," said Olson, citing things such as speed and spacing of vehicles and sectors of fire. "Briefs and rehearsals are important elements of this."Due to the fact the enemy can be anywhere at anytime, vigilance must be maintained in all directions, Olson said.

"Whenever we stop, we always maintain 360-degree security," he said. "We have different formations to ensure that."

The opportunity to train in an all-encompassing environment is a critical component in their readiness, something not available at the unit's home of Fort Drum, N.Y., said Pieniazek.

"Training here is a lot less restrictive," he said. "Back at Drum, you can't run a 360-degree range due to safety factors. This gives you more of a real-life situation." Even something as simple as mounting or dismounting vehicles must be executed with precision and purpose, one Soldier at a time.

Olson's men are a diverse mixture of young guns and experienced veterans, which works to the overall advantage of the unit, he said.

"We have a mixture of young Soldiers and experienced ones," said Olson. "The older guys help calm the young guys down and that helps everybody."

Olson senses a difference in his troopers as they train here.

"I think everybody is taking the training a lot more seriously," he said. "There's a lot more motivation. I think everyone understands the seriousness of this business."Olson, in turn, is training his men accordingly.

"My goal is to make training as hard, or harder than real situations so when we roll out for the first time, they'll have a handle on it," he said.One of the Soldiers who will have the convoy in his hands, literally, when they do move out is Sgt. Carlos Benavides, one of the company's drivers. As the man behind the wheel, however, he can only survey what he can see from the driver's seat. The gunner atop the vehicle serves as a second pair of eyes when it comes to maintaining awareness of their surroundings.

"He's higher up, so he can tell me what to look out for," said Benavides, who recently served in Afghanistan with the 10th Mtn. Div. "If it comes, we'll be ready. That's what we're getting paid to do."According to Olson, the learning process is one that never stops.

"We base our standard operating procedures on everything we've learned and keep learning," he said.

Pieniazek, on his first deployment, described a mixture of nervousness and anxiety as he reflected on what lies ahead for him and his fellow Soldiers as they prepare for the unexpected -- including how he will react if he comes under fire.

"I think if you're not scared, you're not human," he said. "I've gone through it in my head, but you never know."