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SIGNAL SOLDIERS WITH V CORPS' 1ST ARMORED DIVISION GET BACK TO BASICS

V Corps Release

Release Date: 3/1/2004

By Cpl. Todd Pruden 372nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Training and readiness play vital roles in today's Army. But as important as it is for soldiers go get "high-speed" training , it's just as important to get back to basics.

That's particularly true in a combat environment, where instruction and training in basic combat skills are necessary to ensure soldiers are prepared to deal with the dangerous situations they may encounter.

The leaders of the 141st Signal Battalion of V Corps' 1st Armored Division here recently decided to give their Soldiers a refresher course in basic soldier skills. So the battalion's Soldiers donned their gear, grabbed their common task training manuals and hit the training area.

"We have been here nine months," said Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Clark, operations sergeant for the battalion's Headquarters and Headquarters Company and the NCO in charge of the training. "You can't help but have complacency set in. The last thing we want our Soldiers to do in the last three months (of their deployment here) is to get lazy and get hurt."

While the foundation skills of soldier can be overlooked in the day-to-day press of a unit's deployed mission, Clark stressed that those skills are vital to keeping his Soldiers ready and alert. "We want to refocus the soldiers' attention on basic skills," he said. "The hope is to bring them home alive."

The day's training put the troops through their paces in evaluating a casualty; recognizing and dealing with unexploded ordnance hazards; preventing and treating heat injuries; safety risk assessment and management; individual weapons maintenance; minesweeping; communicating with a tactical radio, and the safe use of hand grenades.

Using land navigation skills are also part of a Soldier's basic toolkit, so trainers made getting to the training site an interesting part of the day's instruction. Each class was located at a specific map grid coordinate that the soldiers had to pinpoint and find in order to make their way to the training.

Staff Sgt. Jeremy Aiosa, a transmissions systems chief with the battalion's Headquarters and Headquarters Company was one of the Soldiers who came up with the idea of incorporating land navigation into the training exercise. "It gives a clear picture of the whole area and makes the Soldiers aware of their surroundings in case of an attack," Aiosa said.

The soldiers who were trained said they found it beneficial to get back to basics, particularly in a combat environment where those skills are designed to be put to use, Aiosa added.

"We need to go over these things to make them second nature," said mechanic Pfc. Joseph Mussari. "We've got to keep these things fresh."