Returning To The Ranks

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Columbia (SC) State
September 1, 2008
Pg. B1

Fort Jackson's task force trains, prepares troops re-entering active duty
By Chuck Crumbo
Curtis Terrell thought he had seen the last of the Army when he retired in 1999 after wearing the uniform for 23 years.
But last spring he got a letter from the Army asking if he'd be interested in returning for a yearlong stint. Terrell, who's married and a grandfather, agreed.
"I was excited about the opportunity to continue to serve," Terrell said.
Terrell of Copperas Cove, Texas, is one of 5,400 soldiers who have returned to the active-duty ranks after taking refresher training at the Fort Jackson unit called Task Force Marshall.
Four years ago this week, the task force welcomed its first group of soldiers called back to active duty by an Army stretched thin fighting two wars.
Since then, the task force has returned nearly 5,400 soldiers to active-duty ranks. It also has taken on the job of training Navy sailors who serve alongside Army troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nicknamed "sand sailors," members of the Navy handle a range of jobs such as logistics, supply, engineering and personnel.
Navy corpsmen also often work alongside Army medics. And Naval officers perform a number of jobs, even commanding remote bases.
The task force's job hasn't changed much since its inception, leaders said.
"We have to prepare the soldier and sailor mentally, emotionally, physically and - in a sense - spiritually for the mission they have been called to perform," said Lt. Col. Tom Clarke, task force commander.
Initially, the task force was organized to help members of the Army's Individual Ready Reserve return to active duty.
Members of the Ready Reserve are soldiers who have been on active duty but have not completed their eight-year obligation.
Based at the S.C. National Guard's McCrady Training Center on the east end of Fort Jackson, the task force is not a mini-boot camp.
Instead, it is geared toward helping troops get back in the groove of Army life.
There's an emphasis on such matters as handling and shooting weapons, learning the tactics of running convoys, battlefield first aid, and land navigation.
The task force, which is under the 171st Infantry Brigade at Fort Jackson, involves two weeks of training and processing for Army soldiers and three weeks for sailors.
The sailors' time at Fort Jackson is longer because they receive more weapons training and a dose of infantry tactics. The sailors also learn Army lingo, customs and culture since they'll serve alongside soldiers.
At McCrady, soldiers and sailors live in barracks, attend classes, do physical training and dine at the chow hall. When it's time to shoot, they go to the firing ranges.
Trainers are a mix of Army reservists called up to active duty and civilian contractors, many former service members, including Anthony Davis, a retired first sergeant from Columbia.
"It was like a fish being thrown right back in the water," said Davis, who did a tour as a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson, the Army's largest basic training center.
When the Navy training mission began in spring 2006, sailors received two weeks of instruction before going to Iraq and Afghanistan.
But initial reports from the field indicated the sailors needed more weapons training.
Now, a sailor will fire 700 rounds in training, compared with 140 rounds when the program was launched two years ago, said Clarke, the task force commander from Mercer, Pa.
As Terrell, who will serve stateside as an accident investigator, prepared to leave Fort Jackson for his new job at an Army installation in Alexandria, Va., Petty Officer Rellas Campos and about 130 other sailors were on the firing range.
They were learning the basics of the "stress-fire" exercise, designed to give a service member a taste of what it's like to run and shoot while wearing some 60 pounds of body armor and gear.
Before they started shooting, the sailors had to climb out of a parked Humvee, run down a 50-foot ramp, load their rifles and then bound toward a series of obstacles and barriers.
To make the task more challenging, the training was done around high noon under a blazing sun with the temperature in the low 90s.
A reservist and 16-year Navy veteran, Campos volunteered for the mission that eventually will land her at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.
The single mother of a 6-year-old boy, Campos said she likes the firearms training most.
"In my whole Navy career, I've never experienced something like this," Campos said.
 
Good training...

It wasn't boot camp but hard/good on the wpns range. This schooling should come in use for being in the sandbox. It is surprising to see the army and navy together. Guess the mil getting smarter.
 
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