More Airmen complete combat training at Fort Dix Published May 11, 2007 By Ryan Morton Fort Dix Public Affairs FORT DIX, N.J -- Fort Dix has been extremely busy with Soldiers rolling through the installation for pre-deployment training. In fact, Fort Dix is one of the leading mobilization centers in the country as more than 97,000 Soldiers have mobilized and demobilized since Sept. 11, 2001, with many more to come. But now, with the Global War on Terrorism in full swing, other branches of the military are being asked to step forward and help the cause as well. Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have trained and continue to train at Fort Dix, too. In fact, right now there are dozens of Airmen on the ground training for GWOT support missions, including nine who are preparing to go to Iraq to perform a broadcast-based task. These particular Airmen are from the American Forces Network. AFN is the military's primary broadcast network affiliate that supports and offers programming to the military forces overseas. The training they have performed at Fort Dix is unlike anything they have done before. On this day, they participated in weapons familiarization training. The artillery-piece: the mother of all machine guns, the M-2 .50 Caliber machine gun. The armor-piercing capability this weapon has makes it very unique and one of the most feared and respected weapons the military has. "The M-2 is very intense," Staff Sgt. Nicolas Kurtz, AFN, said. "It was awesome to use. When you fire it, the first few rounds really send a massive jolt through you, and the adrenaline just kicks in right through the roof. It's very exciting, and I think everybody had a really good time out there." Sergeant Kurtz works for AFN Japan at Yakota Air Base. His AFN broadcast personnel feature Airmen stationed in all areas of the globe from various bases such as Ramstein and Spangdalem in Germany, Aviano in Italy and Incirlik in Turkey. This crew is going over to work for AFN Iraq. They will produce a daily command information newscast called "Freedom Journal Iraq." The focus of the stories will be on Iraqi rebuilding, field hospitals and other types of missions associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom. They will also do CI radio shows featuring music and news and will perform tasks wherever else they are needed. "The training is surprisingly tough. We've never really done it before, but it's a good experience for us," Sergeant Kurtz said. "We really didn't know what to expect, especially with the big storm. It's been very challenging with very good first-hand instruction from the trainers here. We're working really hard and things are going very smoothly."