Courtesy Photo | Sgt. 1st Class Stephanie McClendon, language instructor, 177th Armored Brigade, Camp...... read more read more
By Sgt. Belynda Faulkner
CAMP SHELBY, Miss. – One of the most important positions a soldier can hold is that of a trainer. Training soldiers and ensuring that pre-deployment preparations are current and relevant to the unit’s mission are essential. In order to accomplish this, the Army often utilizes soldiers with job specific experiences who have recently returned from overseas contingency operations. These soldiers use their experiences to train fellow service members who are preparing to deploy.
The First Army Training Academy at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center is one of the few places that teaches Soldiers the necessary skills to effectively train what was learned during their deployments.
The academy provides future observer controller/trainers and training assistors a foundation to build their professional development as they train mobilizing Soldiers at their home stations and mobilization training centers.
“The academy is both physically and mentally challenging,” said Sgt. 1st Class Luis Rivera, operations non-commissioned officer, First Army Training Academy. “It is vital that all students attending the academy arrive in top physical and mental condition.”
Rivera also explained that students must have passed a record Army Physical Fitness Test within the last six months, and they must also be capable of wearing full field gear to include helmet and body armor.
The First Army Training Academy is not rank specific, officers and enlisted attend. It is also not component specific -- Active duty, Reserve and National Guard Soldiers are welcome.
The observer controller/trainer class is a 10-day event where students spend five days in a classroom environment covering fundamental tasks such as running an entry control point, gun truck crew skills, and mounted combat patrol. The next five days are spent in the field using what they have learned.
Sgt. 1st Class Stephanie McClendon, language instructor, 177th Armored Brigade at CSJFTC thought the field exercises were challenging.
“I actually got to be a truck commander and a gunner during the field exercises,” said McClendon. “I teach in a classroom, so I don’t get the opportunity to do those things often-- it was great.”
The academy is a resident course that doesn’t allow soldiers to leave Camp Shelby. Regardless of rank or component this lockdown policy stays in effect.
Maj. Renysha Brown, 1-411th Regiment, Fort Knox, Ky., believes the lock down policy makes sense.
“It is very understandable,” said Brown. “We are about to train units that are on lock down while they are getting ready to deploy. We need to understand their mindset and how it affects the training.”
The level of respect shown at the academy is second to none. Respect is not only given to the instructors it is shown to all students regardless of rank. Instructors at the academy realize the level of expertise they have in every class, and they use the students’ skills to take the training to new levels.
“Most of our students have been deployed, many of them more than once,” said Staff Sgt. Geraldine Lewis, an instructor at the academy. “We know we can improve what we teach by using their knowledge and experience. Some students learn better from their own peer group; it would be crazy not to use what is there.”
| Date Taken: | 10.30.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 02.11.2011 17:26 |
| Story ID: | 65277 |
| Location: | CAMP SHELBY, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 254 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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