Idaho engineers dig in security at National Training Center

Photo By Spc. Michael Germundson | An Idaho Army National Guard Soldier with the 126th Engineer Company operates a D7 bulldozer to cut a trench for base perimeter security at “Tactical Assembly Area Snake,” at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., Aug. 18. The unit is supporting the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team during a 12-day field training exercise that simulates an expeditionary deployment. This training cycle is the first force-on-force battle simulation the Army National Guard has participated in since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom, and is composed of more than 5,200 Soldiers from 10 states’ National Guard units, the U.S. Army Reserve and active duty U.S. Army Soldiers. (Photo by Spc. Michael Germundson, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)  

FORT IRWIN, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES

08.18.2015

Story by Spc. Michael Germundson 

115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

FORT IRWIN, Calif. - Dust flies into the hot air as a bulldozer lowers its blade into the Mojave Desert sand. The dozer is just one piece of equipment the Idaho Army National Guard’s 126th Engineer Company, from Moscow, Idaho, uses to enhance security at their tactical assembly area, known as “Tactical Assembly Area Snake,” during operations at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California, Aug. 18.

The 126th Engineers are attached to the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team (CBCT) that deployed with 5,200 Soldiers from 10 states’ National Guard units, as well as Army Reserve and active duty U.S. Army units, for the first force-on-force NTC training-cycle rotation the National Guard has participated in since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Working in conditions a Soldier might expect to encounter in the Middle East; the engineers are fast at work pushing, scooping and moving dirt to create berms and hasty fighting positions in order to deter enemy contact.

During a simulated attack, the Soldiers jumped from their construction equipment and down to their newly-built fighting positions to pull security until the event Observer Controller (OC) called-off the attack and gathered the construction platoon together to have an after action review (AAR).

“NTC is important to the Guard because some Soldiers haven’t actually deployed before. So, this gives them as close of a scenario as you can have to deploying,” said 1st Lt. Andy Ridinger, platoon leader with the 126th.

For Pvt. Christopher Baynes, a horizontal construction engineer, NTC is important.

“Mostly active Army units go through NTC rotations,” said Baynes. “Part of the challenge of being in the National Guard is being able to compete and perform at a level that regular Army units operate at. There is the same standard and we’re working to prove ourselves.”

• Date Taken: 08.18.2015
• Date Posted: 08.20.2015 15:39
• Story ID: 173772
• Location: FORT IRWIN, CALIFORNIA, US
• Hometown: MOSCOW, IDAHO, US