Work is a blast for 1-15 Inf. Regt. Soldiers

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, learn how to make a window charge in a demolition class Feb. 9 as part of the battalion, Team Leader Course at Forward Operating Base Echo, Iraq.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and the 8th Iraqi Army Division, prepare to place and detonate their window charge during a demolition class Feb. 9 as part of the battalion, Team Leader Course at Forward Operating Base Echo, Iraq.
Sgt. Robert Morrell, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division places his window charge during a demolition class Feb. 9 as part of the battalion, Team Leader Course at Forward Operating Base Echo, Iraq.

Story and photos by Staff Sgt. Natalie Hedrick, 3rd HBCT Public Affairs Office

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ECHO, Iraq – “This is the only thing I was looking forward to,” said Cpl. Sean Taylor, Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, in between the series of explosions.

Taylor was on day nine of the 15-day 1-15 Inf. Regt. Team Leader course which began Feb. 1 at FOB Echo. He, along with fellow “Can-Do” Soldiers and two Soldiers from the 8th Iraqi Army Division, was completing four days of demolition training.

“When they get done with these classes, I guarantee most of them will say this is the most fun they’ve had in the course,” said Staff Sgt. Robie Stricklin, an engineer from Company E, 1-15 Inf. Regt.

Open to Soldiers new to the team leader position, the course allows Soldiers to test their skills in areas like demolition, mechanical breach, shotgun breach, reflexive fire, technicalities of different weapon systems, communication, and first aid. Students also learn the roles and responsibilities of several positions in the noncommissioned officer corps.

“It gives team leaders a chance to reaffirm training and new skills to improve the organization and accomplish the mission,” said Staff Sgt. Conrad Slyder, from Company B, 1-15 Inf. Regt.

“This course is a compact version of everything we joined the Army to do,” Taylor added.

The Team Leader Course is designed to expose new team leaders to variety of military occupational skills; including infantrymen, medics, mechanics, and military policemen. Many of the students agreed the demolition were their favorite piece.

“The other stuff we get to do every day,” Taylor, an infantryman said. “We don’t get to do stuff like this every day.”

Slyder agreed, “The demolition is my favorite because we get to blow stuff up. I’ve never done that before.”

Private Hassan Badder, one of two 8th IA Division Soldiers going through the course, found he was treated no differently than the American Soldiers he trained beside. Badder said he thought the Team Leader Course was very exciting and, since he was one of the few from his unit to go through the course, felt confident in taking what he learned back to his fellow Iraqi Soldiers.

The Team Leader Course was only one of the many opportunities Soldiers from the 8th Iraqi Army Division were able to train with their American counterparts.

Several feet away, under the protection of a maintenance bay, three 8th IA Division drivers were elbow deep in grease and oil.

“My drivers need to improve their levels of training,” said Maj. Hussain Aziz, commander of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 30th Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division. “With the help of Coalition Forces, they learn the correct maintenance of vehicles; especially humvees.”

Aziz said the Soldiers from the 1-15 Inf. Regt. are training his Soldiers on new technology that could benefit his unit.

Aziz feels confident that his Soldiers will be able to take their new found knowledge back to their unit’s. Stricklin, with what he taught during the Team Leader Course agree.

“These skills are definitely one’s they can teach their Soldiers,” he said. “It’s important they know this stuff.”

Command Sgt. Maj. Radhi, 8th Iraqi Army Division, sees the importance of noncommissioned officers, Iraqi and American alike, taking what they have learned to train their Soldiers. He explained in the old Iraqi Army, there was no such responsibility for the corps.

“One of our main focuses now is to educate the officers on the role of the NCO in the Army,” he said. “We are trying to give more responsibility to our NCOs. We are trying to model them off the NCOs in the U.S. Army.”