Photo By Staff Sgt. Kelsey Blankenship | Senior non-commissioned officers of the 171st and 883rd Engineer companies (Sapper)...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Combat engineers from the North Carolina National Guard assembled together at to train on explosives here, Jan. 7, 2012.
Soldiers from the 505th Engineer Battalion’s 823rd Quarry Team, and the 171st and 883rd engineer companies participated in the demolition training. The training event was conducted in order to prepare these National Guard soldiers for operations in a combat zone.
The soldiers prepared, planted and detonated the explosives, which afforded the units’ veterans the opportunity to refresh themselves with demolition use, as well as provided newer soldiers with an introduction to what it means to be a combat engineer.
“This is great familiarization training for soldiers and it lets the younger soldiers know what to expect in real-world missions,” said Army Staff Sgt. Marcus Smith of the 171st Engineer Company. “It helps to work with live demolition because it helps Soldiers get used to it.”
The training reinforces the North Carolina National Guard concept of, “always ready and always there,” in order to provide a wide-variety of capabilities and assistance to the citizens of North Carolina for state emergencies or natural disasters.
The combat engineers practiced making explosives and setting different charges, such as the cratering charge, which blows a hole into the ground that acts as a defense, and the flex linear charge, which is used as a way to breach a door or wall, and more.
“You can never afford to be scared when handling live explosives,” Smith said.
“In a combat environment, you don’t always know when you will be resupplied,” Smith said. “It’s important to be familiar working with live explosives. This training helps cut losses and can keep mistakes to a minimum overseas.”
The soldiers were highly motivated and knew the importance of the skills they received.
“This training is really important for the soldiers,” said Spc. Joshua Westmoreland, 171st Engineer Company. “Soldiers cannot always control their situation or environment, so it’s a good idea to learn all that they can about the different charges and how to set them.”
As National Guard citizen-soldiers, the opportunity to spend a drill weekend handling live explosives had a lasting training impact for future operations.
EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: For queries, contact the North Carolina National Guard Public Affairs Office at pao@ng.army.mil or by phone at (919) 664-6242. For more NCNG news, visit our website: www.nc.ngb.army.mil/. To become a Facebook fan of the NCNG, please visit www.facebook.com/NCnationalguard or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ncnationalguard #NCNG. To view additional pictures from North Carolina National Guard events, visit www.flickr.com/photos/ncngpao.
| Date Taken: | 01.07.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 01.13.2012 15:04 |
| Story ID: | 82384 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 163 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Soldiers have a blast, by SGT Zachary Otto, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
