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FORT SILL, Okla. - Troops at Fort Sill participated in a different kind of field training Tuesday. More than just combat maneuvers and battle strategy, they also learned how to win the hearts and minds of Iraqi civilians.
They call it a Fixed Site Security Mission and the troops found out it is a lot more challenging than it sounds.
Although the soldiers have ran through many rehearsals before their field exercises Tuesday, some still made mistakes and that is exactly what the mission was all about, to avoid those mistakes in combat.
The training was set in the Middle East. The objective; to have the platoon leader talk to the site manager at the water treatment plant through a translator and get permission to carry out his orders, but the first time did not go quite as planned.
"So far I just have to work on my people skills, you know kind of slowing things down and have a good plan before I go in," said 2nd Lt. Tyler Walls.
The commanding officers told Walls he put the site manager on the defense by showing up in full uniform with his gun loaded. Instead, Watts should have greeted the manager a little more politely.
"Hopefully next time around, you know, learn from my mistakes that's the most important thing with training," said Walls.
The soldiers then were told there was a threat in the village so they checked it out. The scenario was that their leader was hurt and needed medical attention. They had to take him away on a stretcher. The goal was for soldiers to know what to do even if their commanding officer is down.
"It's a great opportunity for them to get out here and do this stuff cause you never know when you're going to have to do this in combat," said Staff Sgt. James Kurth.
Some of those who have been there have seen that first hand.
"One of my deployments we went in thinking we were going to be driving trucks and then all of a sudden came down and some doors needed to be kicked in," said Kurth.
There needs to be teamwork in every unit, Kurth says.
"Staying vigilant, communication is key when you are doing that kind of stuff," said Kurth.
After an hour of training in the field, everyone gathered back into a room for an after action review. The whole battery talked about mistakes they made or what areas the unit needs to strengthen.
