Soldiers perform last minute checks in the predawn light of Jan. 25 as the 7th Chemical Company
prepares to convoy to Pine Bluff, Ark., for crew certification training.
7th Chemical Company trains, certifies crew
By ANGIE THORNE
Guardian staff writer
FORT POLK, La. - “East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’. We’re gonna
do what they say can’t be done. We’ve got a long way to go and a short
time to get there…” This music from Jerry Reed brings back memories of
citizens’ band radios and convoys with lines of massive trucks traveling
the highways.
No matter what direction they’re traveling, these metal caravans usually
contain a large number of vehicles carrying cargo with miles to travel and
deadlines to meet. For whatever reason, it seems as though you don’t see
as many commercial 18-wheeler convoys, but the military still uses this
mode of transportation to get Soldiers and necessary equipment from one
place to another.
Soldiers of 7th Chemical Company, 83rd Chemical Battalion recently did
just that to complete certification training in Pine Bluff, Ark. The
convoy lined up and left 7th Chemical Company's motor pool in the cold,
early hours of Jan. 25. Many think the convoy is only a means of getting
to the training site, but Capt. Rogelio Pineda, 7th Chemical Company
commander, believes the convoy is an essential part of the training. “The
actual convoy to and from, tracking and logistics support and fuel are all
part of the training. People might not think it is, but everywhere we go
there’s an element of movement and coordination involved,” Pineda said.
Two Soldiers on the M31E1 Biological Integrated Detection System crew set up a site at Pine Bluff Arsenal
1st Lt. Heather Morgan, executive officer, said this training was the
first in a long time in which the company integrated so many moving pieces
from other units and agencies. “It was an exercise in logistics, and I was
thankful for the chance to learn while executing the movement to and
from,” she said.
But the trip is only half the battle. Pineda said the training was
imperative. “It’s our way to tell the Army that we’re ready to deploy and
the Soldiers are trained to the task. The last certification we did was in
August. That was a platoon certification, whereas this is focused on the
crew level,” Pineda said.
Training included crew certification and the evaluation of Soldiers on
multiple tasks using the biological integrated detection system vehicles.
Pineda said that over time, Soldiers had started to learn the Fort Polk
area; so moving the training to an area that wasn’t familiar created a
challenge.
In today’s world, “biological” usually refers to naturally occurring
agents like anthrax, according to Lt. Justin Hill, 4th Platoon leader.
Hill said that for the purpose of terrorism, these agents can be
inexpensive and deadly. “We are the guys you don’t want to have to call to
do our job. With that being said, it’s better to have the skills and not
need them than to need them and not have them,” Hill said.
The BIDS vehicles took center stage during the Pine Bluff Arsenal
training. “The BIDS vehicles are for shelter and detection. They have a
gas filtration unit and are sealed, so operators can take samples from the
air. If they come back positive, Soldiers are protected inside the vehicle
and have communication resources to call ahead and say they have a problem
with an agent. During training, units responded and performed –– not a
true decontamination –– but similar to decontamination procedures,” Hill
said.
Pineda said once the biological agent is collected with the BIDS vehicle,
it’s processed so it can be placed in a test tube to presumptively
identify the agent. He said in a real situation, the sample would have to
be sent to a lab for verification.
To capture air samples at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Soldiers set up in a
“critical node array pattern.” “Soldiers were assigned designated areas
because when the cloud comes in, it hits one, and then another vehicle. We
are trying to get two hits to confirm the presence of an agent,” Pineda
said.
Soldiers set up overnight to monitor the BIDS system so they could be
evaluated on their reactions. “They didn’t know when we were going to hit
them with the simulants or what we were spraying them with. We wanted to
test them as they started dozing off because we wanted to try to catch
them off guard,” Pineda said.
Knowing their roles can build the trust needed to certify Soldiers as a
crew and they must be performed with skill, accuracy and speed. According
to Hill, there are usually four Soldiers to a crew. “During a set up, a
Soldier on the outside should have the generator running so the system can
be fired up. Once that’s going, the Soldier on the inside can start
powering up the system. Another Soldier is in charge of setting up the
equipment on top of the BIDS vehicle. One Soldier runs the system and
sends all the reports and weather data he’s collecting. Teamwork is the
key that allows a flow that gets the crew to complete training in 45
minutes, but we actually shoot for less than that. You can tell when
Soldiers haven’t worked as a crew because it takes them longer to complete
the same task,” Pineda said.
Hill said that 7th Chemical Company Soldiers take this training seriously.
“When it comes to the actual BIDS system, every one of our Soldiers,
officers, platoon sergeants, squad leaders, specialists, all the way down
to privates are equally skilled on the system, and that’s a unique
ability,” Hill said.
After training, the convoy retraced their steps back to Fort Polk and
Morgan reflected on the success of the mission. “The training and crew
certification was necessary because we have a long-standing reputation as
the Army’s most highly trained biological surveillance company and we
always want to maintain that level of success,” said Morgan.
“Accomplishing the crew certification at Pine Bluff was a way to rehearse
deploying and sustaining our crews and gaining valuable experience working
with other units and agencies. In the end, I believe our Soldiers gained
confidence in their skills, as well as a sense of teamwork.
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