Posted on 09/08/2009 6:38:37 PM PDT by SandRat
Staff Sgt. Timothy Wallace (center), an instructor assigned to Company B, 163rd Combined Arms Battalion, explains the need to be constantly on the lookout for Improvised Explosive Devices during a Counter-IED class on Camp Slayer, Sept. 6. Photo by Sgt. Joshua Risner, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
BAGHDAD — Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) are a deadly part of the landscape here, and it takes sharp eyes and keen knowledge of what to look for to stay out of harm's way.
Soldiers of Company B, 163rd Combined Arms Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, created a counter-IED class here designed to give a helping hand to Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers, Sept. 6.
According to Staff Sgt. Joseph Barnhart, an instructor assigned to Co. B, the three-day course covered search techniques, IED identification, IED components and reaction to an IED.
A search house challenged the IA's detection skills with various IED components and contraband hidden throughout the house and in the adjoining yard.
"The facilities here are designed for U.S. forces and any time you can get the Iraqi Army onto this base and utilize the training we use with our Soldiers, it's much better than what they have in sector," said the Seattle native. "It betters the IA by giving them realistic scenarios that they can't get without having to deal with the real thing."
The most important point that the Soldiers tried to impress upon their IA students was vigilance.
"You may not have the fancy camera systems that we have on our vehicles," said Sgt. Timothy Wallace, from Laurel, Md., assigned to Co. B, "but 90 percent of the IEDs we've found were spotted with something all of you have, the eyes of a Soldier."
According to Barnhart, another crucial aspect of the training was the effect it would have on IA leaders and the way they would teach their Soldiers in the future.
"That is something they're going to need to do once American forces leave - they're going to have to fall back on their leaders to train the Soldiers," he said. "And if we can show them the proper way to teach a class and spread the knowledge throughout their lower enlisted, it will help in developing the IA in the future."
The IA leaders now have a foundation of knowledge upon which they can build when U.S. forces are gone.
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