Courtesy Photo | Members of the 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team teamed up with elements of 2nd...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Members of 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, teamed up with elements of 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Aug. 28 to observe a containerized delivery system drop of simulated supplies onto Roger's Drop Zone as part of a Pathfinder refresher course that will bring their Pathfinder certifications up-to-date.
"We're in a bit of a crawl phase for our organization to do this," said Maj. Denis Fajardo, the brigade support operations officer for 3-2 SBCT. "We haven't done it on our own before, so what we're doing is all the Pathfinders (throughout the brigade) are doing their observation phase of the operation with the 2-75th Ranger Regiment."
The Rangers demonstrated the process of locating a suitable drop zones, clearing the area to ensure the safety of personnel on the ground, and marking the area where the supplies would be dropped.
"We're (refreshing) them on their skills that they learned in (Pathfinder) school," said Lt. Col. Darren Jennings, the deputy commanding officer for 3-2 SBCT.
According to GoArmy.com, "Army Pathfinders are specialists in navigating their way through foreign terrain and establishing safe landing zones for Airborne and Air Assault Soldiers, Army aircraft (or supplies)."
Jennings said that since he and his Soldiers are not part of an airborne unit, they don’t get to train on these tasks as much as they might like. This makes training like this all the more valuable and ensures that 3-2 SBCT is ready to take on these missions in the future.
"Pathfinders are extremely important because they allow us to communicate from the ground forces to the air forces and deliver assets, whether they are personnel or equipment, to the ground in a timely manner," Jennings said.
In addition to Soldiers from 3-2 SBCT "Arrowhead" Brigade and the 2-75th Rngr., the operation also involved elements of the 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade and the U.S. Air Force’s 62nd Airlift Wing.
"The Air Force has (the planes), the Rangers have the bundles … and the 201st BfSB has the (parachute) riggers, and they exclusively do the rigging, securing and inspecting of the bundles and the loads for the operations here at Joint Base Lewis-McChord," said Fajardo, a Miami native.
The focus of the exercise was to deliver supplies weighing in excess of 500 pounds from an altitude of 1000 feet to the target area, which measured only 25-yards in diameter. The Soldiers from the 2-75th Rngr. took the lead on this operation, although next time it will be the Arrowhead Brigade's turn to plan, coordinate and execute the same mission.
Jennings, a native of Augusta, Ga., explained the importance of the CDS drop, stating that it allows units to have an external reach that they don't have with ground vehicles. It essentially enables them to supply or resupply austere positions, such as those in Afghanistan, which they wouldn't normally be able to get to via ground because of bad roads or a lack of vehicle capacity.
"Think about the mountains of Afghanistan where you may have a small airstrip where you can deliver supplies, but that location could be a two to three hour drive through very rough terrain," Jennings said.
CDS drops allow Soldiers to avoid the dangers of going through rough terrain for resupply operations, and instead let them deliver supplies directly to the unit’s location.
Other advantages include resupplying troops during training operations at Joint National Training Centers, such as the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., or Yakima Training Center in Yakima, Wash., as it can take hours to drive from one end of those training areas to the other side. With the ability to do an aerial delivery of supplies, it can be done in a matter of minutes.
"We've got (more) CDS drops set up in the next ninety days, which will really get our guys trained," Jennings said." I can see us using this at our next NTC iteration in July or if we deploy we fully plan on using this capability to resupply ourselves."
| Date Taken: | 09.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.02.2014 20:10 |
| Story ID: | 140992 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Hometown: | AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | MIAMI, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 83 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Pathfinders from 3-2 SBCT get current on CDS drops, by SSG Christopher McCullough, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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