Photo By Brad Rhen | Soldiers attending the towing and recovery specialist course at the U.S. Army...... read more read more
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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – Military vehicles, like all vehicles, are prone to getting stuck in mud and sand.
Fort Indiantown Gap’s two mire pits provide realistic training for Soldiers whose job includes recovering vehicles stuck in less-than-ideal driving conditions.
One mire pit can be filled with water creating a pit with several feet of water and mud, while the other is sand, recreating desert-like conditions.
“They offer units the ability to practice extracting stuck vehicles in a controlled setting,” said Capt. Michael Shea, Range Management Authority at Fort Indiantown Gap. “They learn how to hook up vehicles under austere conditions and how to extract them from mud and water or sand in a training environment.”
Soldiers attending the towing and recovery specialist course at the U.S. Army Reserve’s Regional Training Site – Maintenance at Fort Indiantown Gap conducted vehicle recovery training at the mire pits Aug. 22. The class was made up of active-duty, Army Reserve and National Guard Soldiers.
“We had a vehicle that was overturned in the mire pit, so we had to upright that vehicle, then winch the vehicle out of the mire pit,” said Staff Sgt. Brad Coffell, course manager and primary instructor.
Coffell, a native of Mount Pleasant, Michigan, said the training the mire pits provide is very realistic and challenging.
“Part of the reason we did it in the pit is because it’s a different dynamic,” Coffell said. “In the past, we did it in an open field, but vehicles don’t necessarily roll over in open fields. They tend to roll over on embankments and stuff like that. Having a ditch for the mire pit and having a vehicle overturned inside it is more realistic than just a vehicle stuck in water, or a vehicle rolled over on flat ground.”
In addition to the mire pits, the towing and recovery specialist course also includes the basic fundamentals of oxyacetylene and metal cutting, basic rigging techniques, crane and winching operations and towing.
Among those taking part in the training was Cpl. Leah Durec, a heavy construction and diesel equipment mechanic with Alpha Company, 876th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Washington, Pa.
“I think it’s fun,” said Durec, a native of Conneaut Lake, Pa. “I like the outdoors, so hands-on is a lot better for me, and I think I learn a little more when I’m hands-on in the sauce doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Although it was a warm day, Durec said the water, which was chest deep in some places, was a bit chilly.
“But then once you come out, the wind makes you even colder, so you’d rather stay in the water,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 08.24.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 08.24.2023 08:35 |
| Story ID: | 452036 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | CONNEAUT LAKE, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 270 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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