Photo By Sgt. Aaron Ricca | First. Sgt. Donald Fisher of the California National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 143rd...... read more read more
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CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. — 1st Sgt. Donald Fisher, Task Force Warrior operations non-commissioned officer in charge, wanted to show his fellow 1st Battalion, 143rd Field Artillery Alpha Battery “Warlords” that he does more than sit at a desk all day shuffling papers. He proved it by spending July 26 in the stagnant Camp Roberts, Calif., heat, charging through the individual movement technique lanes with a squad of soldiers training under Team Bayonet. The team is part of Task Force Warrior, a component of the California National Guard’s pre-mobilization training assistance element.
The 13-series military occupational specialty field artillery soldiers spent the coolest part of the day receiving a two-hour slide presentation on the basics of what Team Bayonet was about to put them through.
That would be the only taste of air conditioning the Warlords would get.
From the time Fischer, a San Jose resident, stepped outside, his unit was running through the IMT lanes in 90-degree heat in full “battle rattle”. Each troop had a chance to get down and dirty with Fischer, a father of six ranging from 2 to 20 years old.
The most grueling part of the training involved squad-sized elements going through the IMT lanes. The squad maneuvered through an obstacle course designed for the practice of urban movement, crossing a linear danger zone and negotiating buildings, dirt mounds, walls and rolls of concertina barbed wire.
Later on, the Warlords would once again charge through another course doing 3- to 5-second rushes through dirt and weeds. Fisher, an 82nd Airborne veteran of Operation Desert Storm, lead his group as they assaulted through a lane that came under simulated live fire from an oxygen/acetylene powered pneumatic gun designed to simulate fire from a .50-caliber machine gun, M240B machine gun or M249 light machine gun.
After nearly seven hours of running and crawling through the sticker-infested Bayonet lanes, the Warlords had completed the day’s training.
“I wasn’t going to let the obstacle course beat me and I wasn’t going to let the soldiers see the obstacle course beat me,” Fisher said afterwards. He added, however, “I feel like I should be in my office taking a nap on my couch.”
As for the most challenging part of the training, Fisher knew all eyes were on him and had concerns about what worried him the most. “The fear that you’re going to let someone down, that I’m going to let myself down. Everybody was focused on me and what I was doing. No matter how bad you hurt, you still got to go over that wall.”
Fisher said he wouldn’t rule out another run. “I might. Maybe if [TFW] Sgt. Maj. Roy Wise goes through it, I’ll go though it with him,” Fisher said laughing. Misery loves company, especially when they are within the same Army Physical Fitness age bracket.
2nd Lt. Terrance Matlack of Battery A said he appreciated that Fisher was willing to go through the IMT lanes, which Fisher had last completed in 2007 before a deployment to Iraq.
“It’s good seeing the leadership get out with the young guys,” said Matlack.
| Date Taken: | 07.26.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.31.2011 13:30 |
| Story ID: | 76234 |
| Location: | CAMP ROBERTS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 409 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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