It’s been a long month and your Swampdogs have been training and working hard on all
of the skills necessary for their Team Certifications. I am very grateful for the support and understanding our Families have shown our Soldiers. Over the past few weeks, our Soldiers have competed in and completed their required Team Certification exercises and are now fully prepared for the upcoming rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

The Team Certs began bright and early one Monday with the teams executing a Combat
PT course where they ran; carried a 150+ pound litter for about ¼ mile through uneven
terrain and mud; carried ten full sandbags up a steep, long hill; ran some more; and
pushed a HUMVEE for another ¼ mile. After the Combat PT course, the teams changed
socks and boots and jumped straight into their AWT (Army Warrior Task) lanes.

During the AWT evaluations, each team was tested and evaluated on their common
Soldier skills. They were given a map and some grid points and had to plot their
waypoints and then navigate to each point. Along the route, they were faced with
various scenarios which tested their Soldier skills. As they walked down a heavily
wooded trail, they were attacked by OPFOR (Opposing Forces) with small arms fire,
artillery simulations, IEDs, and other dangers. During the attacks, sometimes team
members were deemed to be injured by the OCs (Observer Controllers) and the team
demonstrated their ability to perform casualty evaluation and execute first aid skills. Then they had to call in a 9-Line MEDEVAC (Medical Evacuation) Report in order to get their casualty transported away so they could continue their mission. They had to spot IEDs or UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) hidden near the trail and call in the appropriate report to their higher headquarters. For over two hours, in full “battle-rattle” (body armor, helmet, weapon, and ruck-sack), the teams executed numerous skills that are vital to survival in a combat zone.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the teams came together at Wilson Gym and
participated in a Combatives PT event where they went head-to-head with fellow Soldiers in hand-to-hand combat and grappling. They pushed, pulled, wrestled, and choked each other into submission for five grueling minutes that seemed much, much longer. During the second half of the day, the platoons went out to the firing range and executed reflexive fire drills. They practiced close-range shooting drills against targets at various ranges while standing, walking, kneeling, running, and turning. Anything less than 100% hits on the target silhouettes was unacceptable.

As the week wore on, the teams participated in Entry Control Point (ECP) exercises where they demonstrated their ability to safely stop a vehicle entering into a controlled zone (like a Forward Operating Base [FOB]), search the vehicle for contraband and explosives, and control and search the occupants. During this exercise, the teams were sometimes faced with harmless civilians, suicide-vest wearing fanatics, AK-47 wielding insurgents, and vehicle-borne IEDs. Their communication skills and their ability to maintain control of volatile situations were tested.

From the ECP, the teams moved over to the “Warrior Lane” IED lane training and
executed a Combat Logistic Patrol through a mock foreign street with countless threats. IEDs, both hidden and obvious, blocked the safe passage of the convoys and the teams had to negotiate each obstacle using experience, knowledge, training, and aggression. Vehicles were disabled and Soldiers were given simulated injuries. The teams had to provide security, shield their vehicle recovery assets, treat their wounded, and transport everything out of the danger areas. Once clear, the Soldiers again put their MEDEVAC skills to use and moved their wounded Soldiers to safety.

Finally, the Soldiers came to be tested on their bread and butter – Signal Skills. With only a few short weeks of training and practice with new equipment and sometimes only days of practice with their new teams, the JNN (Joint Network Node), CPN (Command Post Node), and HCLOS (High-Capacity Line of Sight) teams went out to be tested on how quickly and accurately they could install and operate their Signal Communication Systems. Although some teams first put up less-than-stellar times, by the time certifications were complete, each team installed their systems in impressive times. The results will be coming soon!

All in all, the teams performed commendably and we all learned a little more about our strengths and weaknesses as Soldiers, Teams, and Leaders. Now, we are packing and
preparing our vehicles and equipment for movement to the Joint Readiness Training
Center in order to complete the necessary training that will ensure that we are fully
prepared for the rigors of our deployment.