Photo By Sgt. Samantha Stoffregen | A Pathfinder instructor pins a Pathfinder torch on Spc. Sawyer Sumrall, the junior...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Less than one percent of Soldiers in the Army are Pathfinder qualified. In a class of 40 students, three Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, completed the Pathfinder Course July 20, 2015, joining the elite few.
“I’m always looking to improve my knowledge and skillset in the Army,” said Spc. Sawyer Sumrall, the junior most Soldier in class 05-15 and an infantryman with Company D, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment. “So by being a Pathfinder, I further my career and make myself a more valuable member to my team and the Army.”
A Pathfinder’s primary mission is to penetrate areas and set up parachute drop zones and helicopter landing zones for air assault missions.
“Pathfinders are in charge of going in first before the main assaulting force and establishing landing zones and drop zones for follow-on forces to jump into or land on,” Sumrall explained. “We are qualified to rig and inspect loads and also have the ability to handle irregular loads, i.e. a downed helicopter.”
The course was a rigorous three-weeks where only 30 of the 40 attendees graduated.
“Academics was the most challenging aspect of the Pathfinder course,” Sumrall said. “Overall, the firehose of knowledge was challenging. You would come in one day, go over roughly five chapters of material and be tested on it the next morning.”
Staff Sgt. Christopher Redd, platoon sergeant for 3rd Platoon, D Co., 1st Bn., 327th Inf. Rgt. said the amount of studying he did on his personal time after class was the most challenging part. He studied with other classmates and utilized flashcards, which were created with his wife’s assistance.
“When you are getting ready for Pathfinder school, study ahead of time; don’t be too proud to admit you need help; and have a wife willing to stay up and write flashcards to help you study,” Redd said.
After graduating the course, Redd said he feels he is more of an asset to his company.
“Being in Delta Company, a heavy weapons company, means air assault operations are a little more challenging than air assaulting a rifle company,” Redd said. “Being a Pathfinder means I’m able to inspect our own sling loads, which takes a lot of stress off our Forward Support Company.”
Sumrall said that his favorite part of the course was the culminating field exercise where they brought all the training together.
“We conducted a continuous 24-hour operation, actually getting missions and setting up drop and/or landing zones,” he said.
At the graduation ceremony, the Soldiers of class 05-15 received their badges – a Pathfinder torch – by the class cadre. The Pathfinder's torch symbol comes from ancient Greece where runners opened up the Olympic Games, bearing the Olympic Torch. A winged-torch signifies the pathfinder's function to "light the way" for airborne forces following behind.
“I am very proud to have earned my torch,” Sumrall said. “It was definitely the most challenging and rewarding experience in my career thus far.”
| Date Taken: | 07.20.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 12.02.2015 13:51 |
| Story ID: | 183284 |
| Location: | FORT CAMPBELL, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 1,875 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Bulldog Soldiers graduate Pathfinder school, by SGT Samantha Stoffregen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
