Liberty warriors bring HEAT

Published Aug. 17, 2012
By Staff Sgt. Neil W. McCabe
77th Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Liberty Warriors of the 77th Sustainment Brigade learned to survive truck rollovers on Humvee Egress Assistance Trainers Aug. 11 at the National Guard Training and Training Development Center, part of the brigade's two-week Operation Sustainment Warrior exercise at the National Guard Training and Training Development Center here.

The most important thing the Soldiers learn is to remain calm, said Sgt. Gregory T. Melartin, a supply sergeant with the brigade, who led the training. "Stay calm, cool and collected under any circumstance."

The native of Spring Valley, Minn., said he has three years as a civilian trainer of HEAT instructors, but this is his first time actually giving unit-level training to the Soldiers themselves.

The OSW exercise, which takes Soldiers through a variety of Warrior tasks typical of the preparations for an overseas deployment, began Aug. 5 through 19.

The other purpose of the exercise is for the 77th SB to establish a "proof of concept" for the rest of the Army's Reserve components, said Col. Joyce Junior, the brigade's commander.

Other units have sent observers In addition to visits from general officers and Army ambassadors to OSW to pick up best practices and lessons learned, she said.

Exercises like OSW are how the reserve components sustain their ability to contribute whole Army's missions, she said
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Soldiers climb into one of three Humvee cabins suspended on giant mechanical rotisseries for the HEAT sessions. A trainer at a control panel puts them in motion once they are strapped in
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The trainer is both talking to the crew through speakers inside the cabin and watching the crew on two monitors at his control panel throughout the "trip."

In the beginning, the trainer rocks the Humvee into very steep tilts, then he puts them into a full upside-down rollover. Once they realized they are going to flip, the Soldiers all call out, "Rollover! Rollover! Rollover!"

Their next task is to secure the gunner, who is standing with his head and torso exposed in the Humvee's gun turret.

"The gunner can be ejected or be halfway through a roll and fall on top of somebody or fall on top of the roof," Melartin said.

The crewmembers hang inside their straps until they disengage, right themselves when the truck stops and exit the Humvee in a combat-ready posture.

As a deployed Soldier, Melartin said he has never rolled in a Humvee or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected truck because of preparation and training. "Training is always better than winging it." More than 250 Soldiers from the brigade headquarters components and down trace units will complete the training during the exercise.

"So far, the training has been spectacular," Melartin said.

The Soldiers are enjoying the experience overall while they learn, he said. "They're having a blast. They're giving me little tips and tricks they're picking up -- and I've heard them all before, but I tell them, 'That's awesome.'"

"I just got back from Iraq, so for Soldiers who have not been deployed downrange, it's very good training, so far," said Sgt. 1st Class Dennis S. Painter noncommissioned officer-in-charge for the exercise.

The platoon sergeant with 275th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Fort Lee, Va., said he hopes all the Soliders will take what they learned at OSW back to their units to share with those weren't able to attend the exercise.

Painter said training exercises like OSW are the best way for the Army Reserve to keep its deployment veterans sharp and its new Soldiers up-to-speed.

This is the way to sustain the reserve components as a working part of big Army, said the Chicago-born platoon sergeant.

If other units held similar training exercises, it would help the force get ready for the additional annual training time, such as the possible increase to seven weeks which is being considered at the Pentagon, he said.

"The concept is good. Bring it back next year," he said.
Charlie's senior officer 1st Lt. Gerard P. Sullivan said the egress training is going very well for his Soldiers.
"They're having a lot of fun with it," he said.

The training also provides new Soldiers a chance to meet others from their own and different units, he said. "The old saying is that we are all 'Army sisters and brothers,' well it's all true."

Spc. Joel E. Machado, who serves with the 619th Transportation Company, Auburn, Maine, said he is impressed by the training at the exercise. "It is way better than what we received before our own deployment to Iraq."

Machado, who grew up in Lynn, Mass., said "Before, we did not get do to things like this.

It's good to see that the experiences from all our deployments are being put to good use, so other Soldiers have the experience, too."

Staff Sgt. Hardeep S. Saini, said he came to the exercise with other Soldiers from Baltimore's 313th Transportation Battalion.

Saini said the level of training is a huge upgrade from what he received before his own deployment to Iraq in 2003 and 2004, and even better than the mobilization training his unit received for their 2011 deployment to Camp Bagram, Afghanistan. "It's just awesome."

The staff sergeant, who calls Fairfax, Va., home, said during the HEAT training and throughout the exercise, he has reminded junior Soldiers to take advantage of the training at Operation Sustainment Warrior.

"I basically tell them to absorb as much as training as they possibly can," he said. "You never know where you are going to be at."

"It's a lot of fun," he said. "It's not too often that you get the opportunity to go upside-down and have stuff hit you in the head. You just have to remember in the back of your head that it is also a lifesaving technique."

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Liberty warriors bring HEAT