39th getting back to basics

Infantry unit in Fort Chaffee woods to hone skills

— The men of Alpha Company’s 2nd Platoon sought refuge from the pounding heat among the hungry ticks and chiggers in the shade of an oak grove.

There was little wind to offset Monday’s 100-degree temperature and growing humidity. Sweat forged muddy trails down the soldiers’ faces as they joked and dug into MREs - combat rations known as Meals Ready to Eat.

It has been years since Arkansas’ 39th Infantry Brigade has headed into the depths of Fort Chaffee for its two weeks of annual training. Its focus for nearly a decade has been on urban warfare and other tactics needed for deployments to Iraq, where the brigade has been deployed twice since 2004.

Now the troops are preparing for a much different war: Afghanistan.

As the 39th - Arkansas’ largest National Guard unit - begins training for an expected 2012 deployment to Afghanistan, its leaders are vetting the ranks for medical problems and working to determine how many soldiers will opt to stay in the Guard and be available for that deployment. The soldiers are working on skills necessary to maneuver, fight and live in a rugged, desolate environment.

“We’re practicing fieldcraft,” said Maj. Joel Lynch, operations officer for the 1st Battalion. “We’re remembering what it’s like to be infantry.”

Fieldcraft involves such things as properly packing, carrying and living out of a rucksack in the most primitive of conditions. It’s about learning to weather adverse conditions, from the heat to hygiene.

Like 1st Battalion, the soldiers of 2nd Battalion and the 151st Cavalry made camp in secluded valleys squeezed between ridgelines, and bedded down at night on the forest floor.

“Anybody can go to the field for a couple days,” said Maj. Greg Pelts, operations officer for 2nd Battalion. “But after four or five days, the bucket of suck begins to fill up.”

Managing in rugged environments is a skill that requires practice, said 39th Command Sgt. Maj. Steve Veazey of Sheridan.

“This is the first step on the ladder to Afghanistan,” he said. “When you look at available training days [drill weekends and a few additional weeks of specialized pre-deployment training], we’re months away from going, not years away from going. The key is taking every available second to get out there and train.”

The soldiers are practicing other skills that haven’t been required in recent years but are used daily in Afghanistan. The combat engineers of Alpha Company, Brigade Troop Support Battalion, practiced river crossings for building or destroying bridges. They built a bridge and a building, and then practiced their demolition skills by blowing them up.

Two months ago, the 39th received notice that it has been added to the 2012 Afghanistan rotation schedule. The early notice was a surprise - and a nice benefit.

“If we didn’t have this notice this early, we’d never get the personnel piece worked out,” 39th commander Col. Kirk VanPelt said. “It wouldn’t happen.”

The personnel part of the deployment is the most challenging in these early months because there are more questions than answers. The biggest question is the medical readiness of the brigade’s soldiers.

The brigade is going through what will be one of many medical screenings intended to identify problems that may make a soldier undeployable. The earlier such soldiers can be flagged, the earlier that soldier can either be healed or replaced.

By late summer, VanPelt expects to have a good understanding of the brigade’s deployability. But that’s only one part of the challenge.

Between now and the scheduled end of the deployment - in mid-2013 - about 1,400 of the brigade’s current 2,900 soldiers will become eligible for retirement or reach the end of their enlistments.

Stop-loss, which the Army used in the past to retain soldiers in deploying units past their retirement or enlistment dates, is being phased out. That complicates the job of filling out an infantry brigade for deployment.

“You can’t really stabilize the force,” VanPelt said. “Until that guy signs his re-up [re-enlistment] papers, you don’t know if he’s staying or not.”

On the other hand, current policies allow soldiers the freedom to decide whether to stay in.

Maj. Slade McPherson is using historical data from the past two years to estimate how many soldiers who will become eligible to leave actually will. Once done, VanPelt said, he should have a good picture of what positions will need to be filled.

The Afghanistan mission isn’t like the 39th’s past Iraq mission, in which a soldier in any Army specialty could fill a spot, however. This deployment is specifically for the infantry, which limits the pool of people from other units within the state that are eligible to deploy with the 39th.

“We’re missing the [sergeant first class and first sergeant] levels, too,” VanPelt said of the experienced noncommissioned officer ranks. “And I can’t just go out and get more of those.”

The Pentagon has promised an infantry battalion from another state to augment the 39th during the deployment. Just like its first deployment in 2004, the 39th will consolidate two of its battalions to fill vacancies and add a battalion from another state.

And the 39th will have to work to retain the soldiers it has, without the benefit of bonuses or a policy forcing them to stay in.

Pfc. Jeremiah Johnson of Muldrow, Okla., joined the 39th to deploy.

“It’s more money,” he said, referring to extra pay soldiers receive when they deploy to a combat zone.

“And sitting at home, I’m not helping anybody. I didn’t join the Army to sit at home.”

However, Spc. Joseph Hilliker of Lamar, an engineer like Johnson, deployed with the brigade in 2008. He plansto get out before the brigade’s next deployment.

“I’m still thinking about going, but I’m going to take time off,” he said. “It’s kind of like leaving a family when you think get out.”

Brigade leaders expect the promise of an infantry centric mission to help with soldier retention.

IN THE FIELD

While 2nd Platoon rested for lunch, the soldiers grumbled about the heat and the bugs, but each cracked a smile while telling tales from the field.

As for keeping up their infantry skills, “We’ve always done a little bit of it,” Sgt. Scott Jones of Malvern said as he wiped the stinging sweat from his eyes. “But it’s nice to get back home [in the field]. I didn’t want to sit behind a desk. That’s not why I joined the Army.”

With a pause, he looked around at his buddies and cracked, “But today I think I should have stayed behind a desk.”

Staff Sgt. Jeremy Harris of Batesville said they had all joined the infantry for the promise of an infantry mission, rather than for a generic security mission.

“Otherwise it’s like going to college to be a teacher and never getting to teach,” he said.

“See, we’re proud of that,” Jones said of being an infantryman, as he sat in the dirt in 100-degree heat with no hope of a shower. “We worked hard for that. We come out to the woods for that.”

Many of the platoon’s soldiers will be eligible to get out before the deployment.And without a bonus being offered for re-enlisting, there’s less incentive to stay in. Just five years ago, an infantryman could be offered upward of $20,000 for a six year enlistment.

“I do it for the people sitting around me,” said Spc. Auston Hudson who moved to Arkansas from Chicago.

“You’re family,” Jones added.

“Even though sometimes you all are disrespectful, rotten ...,” Harris quipped with a laugh as his platoon-mates tossed pieces of their lunch at him.

Spc. Joshua Cook of Malvern will leave the brigade in two months, his enlistment complete.

“I’ll be back ... I’ll be back,” he said. “I just decided to take a vacation from it for a while.”

Harris said everyone has thought about getting out. Repeat deployments take a toll on civilian employers, families and soldiers.

“If these guys deploy,” Jones said, “I don’t have a choice.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/23/2010

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