CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait— Soldiers assigned to 1/201st Field Artillery, West Virginia Army National Guard expected many things on their deployment to Kuwait, but the opportunity to attend Warrior Leader Course, WLC, was not one of them. Third Army/USARCENT planned and sponsored the first in-theater WLC at Camp Buehring, Kuwait in 2009.
Despite the operation tempo, 201st leadership made WLC a priority and graduated 17 soldiers.
Allowing the soldiers to attend WLC while deployed is a relatively new initiative which eliminates additional time away from the soldiers’ family. The two-week courses offered at Camp Buehring and Camp Arifjan are improvised renditions of the same course taught back in the states. The course consists of basic non-commissioned officer, NCO, development tasks, such as drill and ceremony, military courtesies and how to conduct counseling’s and write NCOER’s.
“I especially enjoyed learning about PRT [physical readiness training] during WLC,” said Sgt. Jeremy Snyder, assigned to 1/201st Field Artillery, West Virginia Army National Guard. “The new physical fitness regiment is very structured and I especially like that the stretches isolate the specific muscle groups that are worked during the exercises.”
While land navigation wasn’t included in the curriculum, the soldiers were trained on squad tactics and battle drills. The junior non-commissioned officers spent several hours a day practicing moving their elements from one location to another and some found the task to be a bit more daunting than they had expected.
“What I realized is that throughout the course, you have to work as a team and with a team,” said Spc. Joel Richardson of Morgantown, W.Va. “A lot of people who received 100’s on the drill and ceremony tests didn’t receive top scores on the field tactics or public speaking sections. Not everyone is a 100 percent strong in every core competency area so in order to succeed, you have to depend on others and trust others to step up when needed.”
The WLC’s held at Camp Buehring and Camp Arifjan are offered to soldiers deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Egypt as well as Kuwait. WLC is the first step in a junior NCO’s career and is vital to their professional development.
“My favorite part of WLC was being referred to as a sergeant,” Richardson said. “I really enjoyed the leadership experience and the overwhelming feeling that others believed in me and knowing that I am capable of leading. It’s easy to feel undervalued as a specialist but WLC really boosted my self-confidence in myself and my troop leading abilities.”
The following 201st soldiers from W.Va. graduated WLC while stationed at Camp Buehring: Spc. Joel Richardson of Morgantown, Spc. David Hawkins of Charleston, Spc. Timothy Alley of Stewarts Town, Spc. Nathan Tice of Elkins, Sgt. Jeremy Snyder of Weston, Sgt. Kevin Allen of Huntington, Sgt. Jason Cottle of Princeton, Sgt. Aaron Vedder of Fairmont, Sgt. Nathan Teague of Wilkesboro, Sgt. Aaron Anderson of Charleston, Sgt. Phillip Hedrick of Elkins, Sgt. Mathew Waddell of Morgantown, and Sgt. Kenneth Hammond of Shinnston. Sgt. Jason Quickel, from Marion, N.C. and Spc. David Scranage of Gaithersburg, M.D.
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.05.2011 02:35 |
| Story ID: | 69859 |
| Location: | CAMP BUEHRING, KW |
| Web Views: | 330 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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