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Exercise pulls Air Cav unit together

Nov 4, 2010

By Sgt. Richard Wrigley, 1st ACB PAO, 1st Cav. Div.

FORT HOOD, Texas -- Troopers from 1st Air Cav took training to a new level, Oct. 28, with a series of challenges designed to test their leadership, motivation and teamwork.

The Soldiers from Company D, 3rd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, used Zodiac inflatable boats to travel across a portion of Belton Lake and retrieve simulated downed pilots. To transport the injured to a safe landing zone for a medical evacuation, they had to assault through a hostile area and defeat an opposing force through use of effective paintball fire.

Soldiers found the training physically demanding and forced them to not only push their bodies to their limits, but to come together and work as a team in highly stressful situations where decisions determined success or failure.

The training was fun but had a clear point to it, said Spc. Derek Rice, of Gainesville, Fla. It was his first time participating in training of this nature and he thought it was fun to get out of the hangar and perform.

"Obviously [the Soldiers] need to have fun too ... But I think they had good team work ... they did really well," said Capt. Rene de la Fuente, of Monterey, Calif., commander of Co. D.

Just getting out of the workplace and developing cohesion within the unit was a big motivator when it came to this professional development exercise.

For the most part, the NCO's and junior enlisted work on aircraft and stay in the hanger; some fly, but most of the time the individuals stick to their respective shops and platoons. If anything, the cross-communication between NCOs of different sections within the company is a small victory in and of itself, said de la Fuente.

Pfc. Marcos Gotay, from Puerto Rico, got something a little different from the exercise: confidence in his fellow Soldiers.

For the exercise, Gotay played one of the "downed pilots". He was also the Soldier who was drug from the paintball sight, over rocky, steep and treacherous terrain for more than 1 1/2 miles in a SKEDCO Improvised Litter to the evacuation site.

Gotay was drug for so long that members of Co. D had to switch out with each other in order to keep the litter moving. It was not uncommon to see a Soldier reach out a hand to pull another Soldier up a hill, who in turn was struggling to pull Gotay in the litter.

"We specifically went up that hill because we knew it was going to be a smoker," said 1st Lt. Steven Waxfrom Bethel, Conn.

For Wax, motivation came from the teamwork; to see Soldiers working together to accomplish the mission.

The event ended back where it started, at the Sunny Side Pavilion in BLORA, with a barbecue and music. The jokes and laughs showed that Co. D had in fact come together as one unit, not just a collection of smaller platoons and shops, accomplished the mission, and was ready for more.