Photo By Saska Ball | Soldiers of the 350th Civil Affairs Command and a few of its subordinate units, to...... read more read more
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ST. CLOUD, Fla. – It looks like a typical day at the Kempfer Cattle Company. The sun is shining, cows are mooing, horses are ready for a day of riding, and dogs are running to and fro. However, there is something a bit different on this ranch—Soldiers.
U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers of the 436th Civil Affairs Battalion, based in Orlando, Fla., took their training out of the reserve center and onto the ranch to participate in a veterinary field exercise.
“The beef industry is big in Florida,” said Lt. Col. Cristopher Young, lead veterinarian for the 350th Civil Affairs Command located in Pensacola, Fla. “A lot of places we deploy to in Central and South America beef is the primary operation, with hog being second, so we thought beef would be a good place to start.”
The overall goal for the veterinary training was two-fold: to train the veterinarians within the command to work collectively with the civil affairs companies, and for the civil affairs companies to recognize the members of the functional specialty teams as an asset.
Young spoke about using his personal experience conducting veterinary stability operations while deployed to the Horn of Africa as a catalyst for planning this type of training.
“From what I’ve seen, a team house will be in a remote location with a small group of personnel and no vet assigned to that location,” said Young. “The team will nominate engagements which are very meaningful. We want to help them properly nominate an engagement.”
As part of the training, Soldiers were able to get hands-on lessons at various stations.
“We have the Soldiers out here today to train them a little bit,” said Henry Kempfer, ranch owner. “To give them every day cow production type experience that might benefit them while helping people in other countries.”
The first station was all about horses. Soldiers learned how to safely approach a horse, identify where the danger areas are located, to saddle and unsaddle, bridle and halter, and even get on and off a horse properly.
“Today we are learning how to saddle horses and getting riding lessons,” said Spc. Jamyla Westry, a civil affairs specialist with Charlie Company. “I’ve been on a horse before but it’s been a long time, like 10 years, so I really enjoyed the training today.”
The next station allowed the Soldiers to interact with young Brahman Cattle in a pen. There they learned how to safely handle young bulls, move in and out of a herd, identify flight zones, and to read cattle behavior.
“In the beginning of the day I was very nervous,” said Spc. Jose Pineda, civil affairs specialist with Delta Company, who didn’t have any experience being on a ranch. “I didn’t want to get kicked or anything but now I’m comfortable. The only way to get comfortable is to really get out there and do it.”
Finally, the Soldiers learned how to catch a cow.
“The Soldiers were taught how throw down a calf and restrain it,” said Kempfer. “In case they ever needed to do any type of work, like de-worming, vaccinating, castrating, this way they have an idea on how to properly restrain an animal.”
“I took down a cow,” exclaimed Pineda. “It was fun! Really intense. But if there is a circumstance where you have to do it, there is only one way to do it, that’s hands on.”
Even though the Soldiers enjoyed getting their hands dirty, the big take away of the day wasn’t lost on them.
“If we do come into contact with people who do this as a living, on a smaller scale, with maybe just a few head of cattle in their backyard,” said Spc. Lindsey Rouse, civil affairs specialist with Delta Company, “we can better understand their struggles and what they have to deal with on a daily basis and we can give them the needed support.”
| Date Taken: | 03.22.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.13.2014 13:03 |
| Story ID: | 125716 |
| Location: | ST. CLOUD, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 318 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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