Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Andrea Hester | Drill Sgt. Tuesday Swanner, Task Force Marshall, 108th Training Command (IET),...... read more read more
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FORT JACKSON, S.C. -Currently, there are thousands of sailors serving "boots on ground” performing duties from detainee operations to serving as dentists and doctors. Of these sailors, several thousand of them are Individual Augmentees (IA) filling joint or Army positions. Unlike a sailor who deploys with a ship, squadron or unit, IAs leave their assigned unit or command to deploy individually or with a small group.
In an effort to ensure that these sailors receive the training they need prior to deployment, IAs receive INCONUS basic combat skills training conducted by Army Drill Instructors. In January 2006, Task Force Marshall (TFM) based at the McCrady Training Center, Eastover, S.C., became the central training facility for Navy personnel assigned as Individual Augmentees.
Capt. William Purdue of Alpha Company TFM stated that preparing IAs for deployment involves three weeks of continuous training designed to teach individuals assigned to Army units the basic required skills. “The soldiers are trained on different Army warrior tasks such as basic rifle marksmanship and convoy operations.”
TFM operates as a member of the 171st Infantry Brigade, U.S. Army Training Center & Fort Jackson and includes a battalion head quarters, several contractors and four tasked organized Basic Combat Training companies from the 108th Training Command (IET). The task force provides training to approximately 55 percent of the Navy’s total IAs deploying to theater.
Sgt. 1st Class Tuesday Swanner, a drill sergeant with TFM, explains how the training prepares the sailors with the basic skills necessary to be integrated more quickly into joint/Army units.
“It’s basically a condensed training program to get them up to speed on Army lingo and the Army’s way of doing things,” said Swanner.
Swanner further added that a great percentage of the sailors have no training in areas such as land navigation and firing an M-16. “We have a short amount of time to teach them a lot of stuff.
Many of these sailors have never shot any weapon at all much less an M-4 so we are teaching them the very basics just as we would a basic trainee except we have three days to do it instead of three weeks to do it.”
Cmdr. Jason Hoffman of Naval Air Systems Command says the training has been an eye-opening experience. “I was an aviator in the Navy with no training on rifles and hardly any training with pistols. The training we received is all very brand new.” Hoffman is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan assigned to a Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle (TUAV) that looks for roadside bombs.
TFM drill sergeant Sgt. 1st Class William Nelson stated that special emphasis is put on convoy and counter-IED operations. “This training can be crucial to survival during deployments.”
Everything the sailors learned during the three weeks of training is evaluated during a convoy operation exercise designed to closely duplicate what would happen on a real convoy. It’s what Nelson referred to as the “Round Robin” or “Super Bowl Event”.
The training that is provided to sailors from the lowest enlisted rank all the way up to admirals has received many accolades since its inception. It is a great cooperative agreement between the Army Reserve and the Navy with good results. It also expands the training the drill sergeants get beyond the basic combat training for initial entry soldiers.
Task Force Marshall began training Navy personnel in December 2005 for deployment with Army units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jabuti and other locations throughout the world. In addition to training Navy IAs, Task Force Marshall provides two-week basic skills refresher training to mobilized Individual Ready Reserve and Retiree Recalled Soldiers where they are trained on different Army warrior tasks.
| Date Taken: | 01.18.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 01.29.2013 09:34 |
| Story ID: | 101171 |
| Location: | SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 256 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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