Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Soldiers with Company C, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, rush to mount a CH-47...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - “ONE MINUTE!” the soldiers cried out over the roaring engine of a CH-47 Chinook. “GO!”
As the rear loading ramp of the large helicopter lowered, soldiers of Company C, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment “Manchus” exited the aircraft as fast as they could to find cover in nearby vegetation.
The Chinook, assigned to the 4th Squadron, 6th Air Cavalry Regiment, was one of two in an air convoy dropping off troops in the landing zone, along with four UH-60 Black Hawks, also from the squadron.
On the ground, the “Manchu” soldiers communicated with the 4th Sqdn., 6th Air Cav. Regt. aviators in the air, with whom they partnered for an air assault mission on a training range here, Jan. 27.
Preparing for their rotation at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., the squadron contacted 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division who then tasked out the “Manchus” to help out its fellow JBLM unit.
U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Nathan Gadberry, the C Company 2nd Platoon leader and the opposing forces commander for the exercise said he thinks it’s a good thing to have these units working together.
“This gives us the handshake with (4th Sqdn., 6th Air Cav. Regt.) and it allows us to operate in a dismounted element,” said Gadberry. “[It] allows us to see what they had to go through for their part of the planning process and what we need to do as an infantry unit to accommodate them and what they need from us.”
During training for the exercise, “Manchu” soldiers learned the proper way to enter and exit the aircraft involved, became familiar with a plan of action for capturing a high value individual, along with other skills needed for an air assault mission.
Meanwhile, Gadberry and his soldiers acted as OPFOR and trained to think like the enemy.
“My soldiers were able to see what it’s going take to get ready to operate in an environment like this,” he said. “And when we come out here to provide OPFOR support, we can flip the map and see how they actually maneuver on us.”
As the exercise kicked off, many of the C Company soldiers onboard the aircraft were deep in thought, as they got ready to head out to the “fight.”
“I was just thinking I’ve got a lot of new soldiers [who] have never ridden on any type of bird,” said Staff Sgt. Jack Vanover, 1st Platoon’s platoon sergeant.
As the Chinook approached the LZ, the Kerrville, Texas, native ran through the scenario in his head, figuring out the location where his men were headed and wondering how well his new soldiers would execute the tasks at hand.
Out of the 19 soldiers under Vanover’s leadership for the exercise, eight are brand new to the Army.
One of the new soldiers, Pvt. Neil Flores, an infantryman with 1st Platoon’s 1st Squad, said he had a thousand thoughts running through his head, including worrying about jumping off the Chinook fast enough so as not to get run over by the train of soldiers behind him or how well he had tied down his equipment.
“You kind of second guess yourself, but then you just fall back on your training and your team leaders,” said Flores, mentioning that some of the new soldiers didn’t know certain things their leadership did, but that sort of thing “comes with experience and you kind of just put faith in your team leaders to help you with whatever you need.”
The confidence in leadership paid off throughout the mission as the team, squad, and platoon sergeants led their soldiers through a successful mission.
After a two hour-long operation involving finding an insurgent leader and taking him into custody, the “Manchu” soldiers loaded back up onto the aircrafts and headed home, having completed both missions: capturing their target and helping a fellow JBLM unit test their skills.
| Date Taken: | 01.27.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.07.2011 13:23 |
| Story ID: | 64940 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 262 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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