Stryker Brigade News

The insurgents were due for a rude awakening by a shotgun blast to their door and the events that soon followed; a barrage of highly trained Infantrymen on the assault under a dark, arctic night sky. Some of the doors were locked, but this did not pose a problem for 2nd Squad Leader, SSG Nicholas as he used the dynamic entry door ram to knock down the first door. His squad cleared the first building within minutes and entered the second building by blowing the lock off with a shotgun. 3rd Platoon also used the quickie saw to cut through a chain link fence and entered the courtyard in front of the insurgent’s safe house.

Over the first two weeks of February 2005, TF 2-1 completed numerous night live fire exercises at the newly developed Arctic Village Live Fire Maneuver Range. Despite the frigid temperature that sometimes dipped below -38 degrees, the steely eyed killers of TF 2-1 continued to hone their combat skills. CPT Park, who was the OIC of the exercise stated, “We have to constantly monitor the temperature and ensure that we adjust the training plan to minimize the Soldiers’ exposure to the cold temperature.” Aside from the warm up tents, Strykers were used to keep the Soldiers warm between iterations The units were on a "reverse cycle" for the duration of this exercise to maximize the hours of limited visibility. Each day started at 1500hrs and ended at 0500hrs. The night operation exercise trained TF 2-1 squads, sections, and platoons on the proper use of their night vision equipment and many of the dynamic entry tools that were recently issued to the unit. Platoon Leader, 2LT Jeffers stated, “This training provided us the opportunity to verify established SOP’s and identify shortcomings in our night-fighting abilities. From this we will be able to tailor future training in order to ensure that we are prepared for the upcoming deployment. All in all, this proved to be a very useful exercise.”

The main focus of the training was to enter and clear a building during limited visibility using night vision goggles or tactical lights. This was the Task Force's final collective training event in preparation for a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) and company live fire exercise. Platoon Sergeant, SFC Edwin Brooks states, “It was much needed training in order to prepare us for what we will face in Iraq.”

When the dust cleared, Soldiers of Arctic Legion completed 74 live fire iterations with no accidents or injuries. All squads and platoons were able to complete live fire iterations.