Photo By Spc. Nathan Goodall | Pvt. Jacob M. Miklea, a Franklinville, N.J., native, now a rifleman with 3rd Platoon,...... read more read more
HOHENFELS, Germany – Boots laced, formed up and ready to work. They are tankers in the U.S. Army. Like any other armor battalion in the Army, they are prepared to fight. What separates them from armor battalions in the past is that these tankers intend to fight without ever stepping foot on a tank.
Tankers with 4th Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, conducted training exercises as part of their mission readiness training in Grafenwoehr during the month of October.
The tankers executed numerous battle drills and situational training exercises focused on infantrymen’s tactics to become capable to fight as infantry.
“It’s quite a switch,” said Pfc. Brian T. McFarland, a Winchester, Va., native and tank driver, now a rifleman with 2nd Platoon, B Company, 4-70th Armor, 170th IBCT.
“You go from being the queen of the battlefield to being one of her Soldiers,” said McFarland. “That’s the easiest way to put it.”
In order to effectively operate in the terrain of Afghanistan, the 170th IBCT won’t deploy with tanks. The 4-70th Armor Battalion traded in their M-1 A-1 Tanks for HMMWVs, small arms and the will to continue the fight as Army Soldiers on the ground.
“I would love to have tanks back,” said McFarland. “But I know we’re fighting a new war.”
“I’ve been to Iraq, and Afghanistan is a completely different animal,” said Sgt. Dana A. Westlund, a Kenosha, Wis., native and a tank gunner, now a team leader with B Company, 4-70th Armor, 170th IBCT. “To get to the enemy, you’re gonna have to dismount from your vehicle and you’re gonna have to go out and go walking around to find them.”
The soldiers of 4-70th have been hard at work to prepare for this. They studied infantry doctrine through intensive classroom sessions and countless battle drill rehearsals and integrated those fundamentals into their hands-on training exercises.
“We don’t play around,” said Pvt. Jacob M. Miklea, a Franklinville, N.J., native, now a rifleman with 3rd Platoon, B Company, 4-70th Armor, 170th IBCT. “We’re definitely doing what we need to do to prep ourselves for when we deploy.”
“This is really important because it’s starting to put these guys, for the first time, in some of these complex scenarios,” said 1st Lt. William J. Larsen, a Fairfax, Va., native, now the 3rd Platoon leader with B Company, 4-70th Armor, 170th IBCT.
Larsen was originally enlisted as an infantryman before he commissioned to become an armor officer.
“The skill set for the average tanker and the average infantryman are just different by nature of the jobs,” said Larsen. “It helps because I’ve seen both jobs and can try to bring that extra little bit over to these guys.”
The demanding training regiment was met with understanding, a determination to succeed and esprit de corps (spirit of the team), said Pfc. Ryan S. Rivera, a Killeen, Texas native, now the combat medic with 3rd Platoon, B Company, 4-70th Armor, 170th IBCT.
“It’s coming together really good,” said Pfc. Shane L. Wheeler, a Detroit native, now a driver with 1st Platoon, B Company, 4-70th Armor, 170th IBCT. “What we’re doing now is pretty much perfect training for us.”
“It seems like everybody’s got their head in the game and we all truly do want to learn this and we all want to do our best at it,” said Miklea.
It was the fact that everybody was willing to give everything they had and pull together as a team that made things work, said Pfc. Dominique J. Alston, a Charlotte, N.C., native, now a mounted M240B machine-gunner with 1st Platoon, B Company, 4-70th Armor, 170th IBCT.
“I’m not gonna lie, at times I wanted to give up,” said Alston. “But if I do that I won’t be doing anything but hurting my team. So I try my best to just stay strong, stay motivated, and keep on moving.”
The tankers of 4-70th stepped up and made it through the rough transition from using tanks to using infantry tactics, said Westlund.
“We’ll be a good, refined product,” said Westlund. “We’ll train, and train, and train until we get it right. We want to be competent, we want to be good and perform at a high level.”
“We’re Army soldiers,” said Westlund. “It’s our job.”
In the opinion of Miklea, it’s a job that they’re ready for.
“I’m pumped,” said Miklea. “I’m ready to deploy and I’m ready to get to work and do my job.”
| Date Taken: | 10.11.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 10.20.2010 09:17 |
| Story ID: | 58478 |
| Location: | BAUMHOLDER, DE |
| Web Views: | 569 |
| Downloads: | 6 |
This work, 4-70th trades tracks for treads, by SPC Nathan Goodall, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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