A soldier searches the bag of a 'town resident' Thursday. (Rick Emert / Stars and Stripes)
BAMBERG, Germany — Nearly 300 soldiers from 54th Engineer Battalion have gone through platoon-level training in Bamberg’s local training area on Warner Barracks to prepare for a deployment to Iraq this fall.
The training consists of several scenarios that solders might see in Iraq, said Maj. Timothy Holman, battalion operations officer.
In the exercise that lasted from April 25 to May 13, the battalion’s companies A, B and C each went through five days of training that will be followed by a company- level mission rehearsal in Kitzingen in June, Holman said.
The training consisted of five events that each platoon had to perform: a tactical assembly area occupation, mounted patrol, route reconnaissance, dismounted patrol, and cordon and search.
On Thursday, Company A’s 2nd Platoon was conducting a cordon and search in a simulated town where weapons dealers had set up shop, said 1st Lt. Jason Allen, platoon leader.
“So far the training is going really well,” Allen said. “It’s a good chance for us to get out and operate in missions we don’t normally do but will likely see in Iraq.”
Soldiers in the platoon that were in Iraq before have been helping less experienced soldiers, like Pvt. Gabriel Ramirez, prepare for the deployment.
“A lot of the things we have done here have helped me, since this is my first [training exercise],” said Ramirez, who arrived at the battalion March 23. “I’m learning things from my squad, and they know I’m a newbie, so they point things out to me.”
Other soldiers from the unit were observing the training to explain to the soldiers later what went well and what didn’t go so well.
“They stay with the platoon throughout the day and just watch and take notes,” said Capt. Nicholas Nazarko, Company A commander. “In the after action review, they discuss what they saw during the training.”
The scenarios that are thrown at the soldiers are designed to mirror the current situation in Iraq, Holman said.
“Our [security] guys are adding things that just happened in Iraq a couple of days ago,” he said. “We can’t really replicate Iraq, but the soldiers should walk away with a good idea of what they’ll face there.”
A soldier searches the bag of a 'town resident' Thursday. (Rick Emert / Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company A, 54th Engineer Battalion detain a ‘town resident’ who was walking the streets with a rifle Thursday in Bamberg’s local training area on Warner Barracks. The 54th Engineer Battalion conducted a three-week platoon level exercise which will be followed by a company-level exercise in Kitzingen in June. (Rick Emert / Stars and Stripes)
