Maine Army National Guard Soldiers Prepare for Deployment

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CPT Snow, SPC Turgeon and CPT Phillips of the 133rd Engineer Battalion rehearse room clearing techniques during Leader’s Validation Training at the Gardiner Training Area on April 2, 2013. The Soldi

AUGUSTA, ME (04/10/2013)(readMedia)-- Key Leaders from the 133rd Engineer Battalion's Headquarters & Headquarters Company and Forward Support Company, along with the 1035th Survey and Design Team, traveled to the Maine Army National Guard's Gardiner Training Area to demonstrate their proficiency on Army Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills in preparation for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

Trainers from the State Headquarters validated the leaders on specific tasks so they could return to their units and validate their own Soldiers proficiencies on the same tasks.

The intense training was designed to replicate the rigors and confusion of combat. Soldiers trained for convoys by using up-armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) with M2 .50 caliber machine guns mounted in the turrets. As the Soldiers maneuvered along convoy routes they encountered a variety of situations, such as small arms fire from a simulator with blanks, simulated Improvised Explosive Devices, and interactions with civilians.

Explosions, the thumping of gunfire, the crackle of radio traffic, and the roar of engines filled the air. The Engineers also trained on vehicle recovery techniques in the case of a vehicle becoming immobilized. Dummy rounds for their individual weapons added a level of realism as Soldiers trained on reacting to ambushes and moving in urban terrain. The Engineers made use of the mock village at the training area to hone their skills in Military Operations in Urban Terrain, or MOUT as it is often called.

For the MOUT training, leaders and key personnel were integrated into three squads, which were cycled through the different training stations. Sergeants and specialists worked alongside captains and majors to accomplish the different tasks, building team cohesion that is necessary to sustain units in a combat environment.

The Soldiers will be able to take the lessons they have learned from this training and apply them to the training of their own sections. The units will attend Annual Training at the Camp Ethan Allen Training Site in Vermont next month.