Combat skills training: Army training for today's Airmen

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Wesley Wright
  • 442 FW/PA
CAMP MCGREGOR, N.M. --  In August, Approximately 30 reservists from the 442nd Fighter Wing Civil Engineers Squadron completed combat skills training at Camp McGregor, N.M., part of Fort Bliss, Texas.

According to Air Force Maj. Alexander Curtis, commander of Army Detachment 4, 602nd Training Group at Fort Bliss, Texas, CST came about due to limitations current combat operations have placed upon the Army.

The intent of CST is to ensure Airmen deploying to hostile theaters in support of the Army have the knowledge, skills and abilities to survive and support the Army's mission in and out of combat.

An Airman is first selected to fill a joint expeditionary tasking then sent to CST at an Army post for training - the length and location of the training depends on the downrange mission. Every year thousands of Airmen go through CST to help them succeed while deployed.

Curtis and his team are in place to put an Air Force face on the Army's mission and ensure deploying Airmen have what they need while training with the Army.

During CST, Airmen step outside their traditional roles and skills and apply them in places and situations that require an adjustment of their outlook. While traditional CE deployments focus on base maintenance, this deployment will be centered around tasks outside the wire.

"These Airmen are the heart of the mission. They go out and do civil affairs missions; they build roads, villages and hospitals," Curtis said.

Airmen are trained by Army instructors in such skills as land navigation, GPS systems, vehicle rollover recovery, weapons training, and tactics and movement. Training is both classroom and hands on in the field.

"They learn to travel in small units, to travel in less-than-safe conditions, to persevere in austere conditions," he said. "We get civil engineers from across the Air Force sent here and they get trained in expeditionary warfare skills."

Airmen don't come to CST without basic skills, though. Every house is built on a foundation and for the civil engineers, the foundation is solid Air Force fundamentals and values.

"We build on the core competencies that Airmen bring to the fight," Curtis said.

Tech. Sgt. Joel Keltner, 442nd CES, is part of that solid base.

Army-style training in preparation for deployment is new for Keltner. He said in his past deployments he was sent directly to the deployed location with minor optional training under his belt.

Keltner said CST for those deployments would not have been useful, as they were traditional deployments on a base.

"This deployment, we are going to forward locations, possibly on convoys," Keltner said. "This training will help us be better warriors when we are outside the wire."

Experienced instructors ensure team Whiteman is on track to succeed at their deployed mission.

"It's excellent: The years of experience they bring from actual combat in Afghanistan," Romine said.

Training, teamwork, and Army-style unit cohesion combine at CST to draw together the members of the civil engineers squadron.

"Here we have done a lot more training like the Army. We get together as platoons and companies, form up and march everywhere," Romine said.

The reservists of the 442nd were tight-knit during CST; almost everything they did incorporated teamwork.

"Even when we put down our gear, it is in formation," Romine said.

Senior Airman Charles Barentine is one of Romine's wingmen at CST. Barentine is prior-service Army and previously deployed as a solider before joining the Air Force Reserve in 2008. This will be his first Air Force deployment.

Barentine said CST was not exactly what he anticipated.

"It's a little more advanced than I was expecting, but I'm glad it is," he said. "I'm learning a lot."

Barentine said the CST model bodes well for unit morale.

"It helps out with the camaraderie, going through the training with the people you are actually going to be over there fighting with," Barentine said.

Romine agreed with Barentine about the importance of teamwork and how the civil engineers team has developed a reputation for it.

"There is a team spirit that Whiteman civil engineers have always had and brought to any kind of mission," he said. "We have been complimented on that from other groups that are down here."

Romine said Esprit de corps is high in the unit.

"We have a sense of cooperation. We know we can rely on each other for things," Romine said. "We are always trying to see what we can do to help each other out."

Keltner, who has deployed twice before, said the training is challenging and the hardest part is enduring the heat.

"It's good training, to get used to carrying the gear and the weapons," Keltner said. "It helps you get acclimated to the climate and terrain."

Barentine agreed CST prepared the unit for the environmental factor.

"Here at base, in the heat, wearing the gear all the time, has gotten us used to it," he said. "If we had not (worn it here) when we got to the deployed location, we might have more heat-related injuries."

Curtis also said the CST environment is designed to prepare Airmen for the deployed location, environmentally, with the testing ground itself modeled on the downrange environment.

"Fort Bliss represents very well the environment the Airmen will be facing when they go downrange," Curtis said. "It's remote, sunny, it's hot, and there are lots of critters running around."

Environmental acclimation is not the only type of adaptation the reservists went through. Language immersion classes helped them become familiar with the native tongues and culture.
Keltner said pre-deployment exposure to the cultural environment was an advantage and should prove invaluable to the unit while in the deployed location.

Barentine said signs in both English and the indigenous languages posted around the CST grounds helped him get acclimated to the languages of the region.

"Some of the signs are in Dari and Pashto language," he said. "I'm starting to learn some of the pronunciation and a little of the language."

The reservists of the 442nd Civil Engineers Squadron will continue the fight, and thanks to CST, will be much more prepared to succeed wherever they deploy.

"The Army has repeatedly said that our young Airmen are some of the best students they have," Curtis said. "Our Airmen get it."