Photo By Winifred Brown | Spc. Brandon Heimall, center, plans a reconnaissance mission with Soldiers in his...... read more read more
By Wendy Brown
Fort Bliss Bugle Managing Editor
The organizers of the 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division’s Team Leader Course couldn’t have planned it better if they’d tried.
As if on cue, almost as soon as a squad of Soldiers began planning a reconnaissance mission into the desert, a sand storm complete with 70 mph winds kicked up in Forward Operating Base Freedom and Training Area 62 here May 16.
By the time they headed out, the storm was in full swing – adding another element of difficulty to an already challenging scenario that included crossing a danger area, getting a concept sketch of a town and sending up all the commander’s intelligence requirements.
For the Soldiers though, it was all part of a four-day course more than one later described as “fun.”
“It was rather challenging with the 70-mile-an-hour wind gusts and 15 minutes’ worth of planning and the sand getting blown up into your face, but it was still a lot of fun,” said Spc. Brandon Heimall, the squad’s leader for the reconnaissance mission.
Heimall said the exercise, as well as the course as a whole, boosted his confidence as an 11B infantryman.
“I gained a lot of confidence in my decision making process,” Heimall said. “With the squad mission that we were able to plan, I was the one in charge of planning it, so it really helped me out with being able to bring everything in that comes into the planning process and trying to disseminate that out to the guys.”
Many, but not all, of the 30 Soldiers participating in the course were specialists, and Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Nastari, who oversaw the squad’s reconnaissance mission, said part of the class’ objective was to teach Soldiers how to lead their peers.
“They’re learning the planning process, where you start as an NCO (and how you develop it) when you become a staff sergeant, a squad leader or a platoon sergeant or a first sergeant,” Nastari said. “They’re getting into the gritty beginning of the planning process.”
Heimall said the Soldiers he led were responsive.
“If you were in charge of it, they’d let you be in charge of it, rather than try to take over it,” Heimall said. “And if you asked for their opinion, they really actually helped out by giving you what they would have done, rather than trying to be like, ‘Hey, I’m smarter than you and I’m going to go ahead and do this in my own way.’”
First Lt. Victor Bailey, officer in charge May 16, said the course certified the team leaders in basic tasks such as team Situational Training Exercise training lanes, while also re-familiarizing some Soldiers with the basic principles of patrolling and learning how to plan missions.
In addition to the reconnaissance mission, the Soldiers also practiced reactive contact, near and far ambushes, break contact drills and talked about their specific jobs while on a mission and in garrison.
Sgt. Ricky Kiess, an indirect fire infantryman who specializes in mortars, said that although he isn’t an 11B infantryman, said the class was informative and he looked forward to sharing what he learned with his Soldiers.
“It helped me mainly with confidence,” Kiess said. “I’ve done all that before, but it being able to do it and the repetitiveness made me more confident. It was very informative, a very informative class.”
Kiess also said he enjoyed the challenge of the sandstorm.
“That was the most difficult mission I’ve ever done. It was miserable, but it was fun,” Kiess said.
| Date Taken: | 05.23.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 05.23.2017 17:17 |
| Story ID: | 234970 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 92 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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