Soldiers assigned to 39th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team,101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), built an engagement area as part of their training during Operation Lethal Eagle III on Fort Campbell, Ky., Aug. 5, 2023.
The engagement area consists of various obstacles, emplacements and fighting positions designed to assist Soldiers in slowing down enemy troop movements.
“This emplacement allows us to hold a specific area without any trouble to us, but doesn’t allow the enemy to know we’re there.” said Spc. Tyler Klein, a horizontal construction engineer assigned to Bravo Company, 39th BEB.
The constructions created by the Soldiers included concertina wire, barbed wire, vehicular ditches, sandbags, and trenches. Soldiers made use of pickets, shovels, and heavy equipment to construct the engagement area. These obstacles allow Soldiers to see the enemy as they approach and swiftly eliminate them as they try to navigate the constructions.
“Making it through the obstacles is meant to look approachable so the enemy will move through it, but we set it up so that we can see the enemy before they see us,” Klein commented on the purpose of the engagement area. “We have holes made to hide Soldiers, vehicles, and weapons systems.”
This training also gives more experienced Soldiers an opportunity to train, advise and act as team leaders. The goal is for leadership to be more directly involved in the training of Soldiers.
“This training gives me more experience that I wasn’t able to get at my last unit,” said Klein. “It also allows me to train newer Soldiers on how to properly use the equipment and tools that were given to us.”
Soldiers from other units will make use of the engagement area in further training during OLE III to ensure the ability of the engagement area to force the enemy into a position where they can be more easily destroyed with little risk to themselves.
“So my part is to supervise as a squad leader and make sure my guys are constructing the right obstacles that are needed by the infantry," said Staff Sgt. Eric Ortiz-Vasquez, a combat engineer assigned to B Co, 39th BEB. “I make sure the infantry are getting the desired effect of either fixing, disrupting, turning, or blocking the enemy so they can be destroyed in the engagement area.”
30th BEB Soldiers will continue to improve and expand upon the engagement area throughout OLE III.
Date Taken: | 08.05.2023 |
Date Posted: | 08.05.2023 20:45 |
Story ID: | 450776 |
Location: | FORT CAMPBELL, KENTUCKY, US |
Web Views: | 173 |
Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 39th BEB Constructs Engagement Area, by SPC Jayden Woods, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.