2004-10-06 - 3:39 p.m.
In the course of my search for a job for when i get out of the army (Jan 18th muthafuckas!) I've come across a company called Anteon. Anteon is one of the dozens of contractors hired by the US Military for various tasks, such as manufacturing weapons or supplying food or water. Anteon recently acquired a contract with the Army to train soldiers in combat operations. Air Force and non-combatant Army personnel on Fort Carson (and I'm assuming other installations) will be trained by civilian Anteon personnel on how to operate in a combat environment. Why the army feels the need to hire civilians to do this rather than simply have us infantry train these soldiers is beyond me, but that's besides the point of this entry.
According to the flyer that Anteon put out to recruit ex-soldiers as employees, the soldiers being trained will be taught the following:
Conduct Troop Leading Procedures
Conduct Overwatch/Support By Fire
Take Action On Contact
Conduct A Tactical Road March
Defend March Elements
Safety/Weapons Status Training
Combat Lifesaver Techniques
Recon
Range Safety
PMI
Familiarization Live Fire
Reflexive Life Fire
Target Discrimination
......Some of these areas are very good ideas to train non-combat experienced soldiers on. Such as the Combat Lifesaver Techniques. This consists of basic first aid for burns, fractures, shock, open chest wounds, head wounds and abdominal wounds, and is something that all soldiers should know prior to deploying.
Familiarization Fire basically means going to a range and shooting the weapons just to get used to it. Also a good thing for soldiers who don't normally take part in combat. Remember that this program is intended for soldiers like cooks and mechanics and finance clerks, some of which may have not even held a weapon since basic training.
What is lacking here is a training program to teach these soldiers about the reality of combat in the type of environment they'll be going to. The days of wars being fought in open land on far away battle fields are long over. Todays wars are fought on city streets, inside buildings, and amongst civilians. The Anteon training program completely lacks any kind of MOUT (military operations in urban terrain) training or any kind of training in how to deal with guerilla warfare.
Reflexive fire consists of soldiers standing on line firing their weapons at targets anywhere from 10 to 30 meters away, the idea being to get the soldier used to the action of raising the weapon, flipping the safety switch and firing in one smooth and quick motion. This is all fine and dandy, but it's a simple task anyone can learn, and a civilian training program is not necessary for it.
There are several ranges on Fort Carson on which soldiers can practice MOUT. We have small towns set up for soldiers to practice moving down city streets, clearing rooms and buildings and stairwells. These are the skills that soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq need. The walls of the buildings on these ranges are bulletproof so soldiers can practice raiding buildings firing live ammunition without the fear of a friendly fire incident. Soldiers with no previous combat experience or training should be practicing these skills every day for months before deploying, but instead anteon is going to train them on things like reflexive fire. This is what your tax dollars are going to people, paying civilian organizations to do jobs that the army could easily do itself, and those civilian organizations aren't even providing the training that soldiers need.
The army has developed a system that we call Sim Rounds. Sim Rounds are paint rounds which are fired through an M-16 or M4. Getting hit with one doesn't feel too good and you'll have a nice bruise the next day, but other than that they're completely harmless. So, essentially a unit of soldiers would go to a MOUT range with the Sim Rounds, be split up into two teams, "the good guys" and "bad guys" and basically go play army. This is by far the best type of training any soldier could recieve prior to going into a combat environment. It teaches soldiers how to move in urban environments without getting hit and the proper methods for operating inside of buildings. It also provides the soldier with somewhat of an experience of what it feels like when bullets are really flying at you, since the Sim Rounds are actually coming your way and hurt quite a bit when they hit as opposed to the army's old system which essentially was laser tag.
However, Anteon does not have any type of Sim Round exercise listed in their training program, and from what research I've done they have no intention of adding this training to their program. Of course, the Sim Rounds aren't cheap, and God forbid that this civilian organization should have to take the slightest decrease in profits in order to improve their training program and save lives. How inconsiderate of me to even think that the people at the top of this company should risk their seven figure salary to keep soldiers alive. If their is anyone from Anteon or any other defense contractor reading this right now, please accept my sincerest apology. Go enjoy your Rolls Royce. I'll send you a list of all the people who died so you could have it later.
As anyone can see from reading my last several entries, today's army is having quite a few problems with poor spending of funds and poor training. This is not a completely hopeless problem. If any of you actually care, write to your congressmen addressing the problems that you have read in this diary. Demand a change. The military is not run by Colonels and Generals, it is run by congress. Should the issues that the military is suffering from be brought to their attention, then they can be solved resulting in a more effective military, fewer expenses for the government and therefore fewer taxes on civilians, and a safer world for soldiers and their families. I strongly encourage anyone reading this to take action and speak with thier congressmen. You'd be suprised how much difference your voice can make.
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