By MSgt. Bob Haskell, National Guard Bureau
Fort Polk, La. -- A blinding, ground-trembling explosion punctured the dark of a quiet, mid-October evening beside a small, remote lake in the heart of Louisiana. It was one more wake-up call for members of a Virginia Army National Guard infantry company rehearsing for their winter's peacekeeping duties in Bosnia and Croatia.
The citizen-soldiers in the 3rd Platoon learned a few lessons the easy way when a dark pickup truck slammed to a stop just outside their guard post, when two men bolted from the cab, and when the pyrotechnic package carried in the back lit up the night.
Take cover fast. Watch the tree lines for more enemy action. Get help for the casualties. And -- always -- stay on your toes. The next car bomb you encounter could be for real.
Athletes know that the harder they practice, the better they play their games. The same goes for soldiers preparing for duty in a tense part of the world where push among unfriendly ethnic factions can come to shove.
"The harder you train, the less you will bleed," said Sgt. Ambrose Hawk, the platoon's fire support NCO, of the realistic dress rehearsal the 147 members of Charlie Company from Leesburg, Va., experienced for a few weeks among the pine forests of Fort Polk, La.
That is the 300-square-mile home of the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center, a finishing school where light infantry soldiers who have learned combat skills at such places as Fort Benning, Ga., put their training to some practical tests.
That is where the National Guard company from Virginia's 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry and four Army Reserve military police companies from New York, North Carolina and Florida finished their training on Oct. 19 before embarking for Bosnia to replace active Army units on Joint Guard peacekeeping duties.
Five months after beginning the mobilization process at their armory in northern Virginia, the Charlie Company soldiers commanded by Capt. Michael Patterson were cock-sure confident they were ready to replace an active duty company from the 10th Mountain Division and guard a battered bridge across the Sava River -- especially after six weeks of seasoning at Fort Polk.
Controlling civilians on the battlefield, dealing with the media, protecting each other, keeping that vital bridge secure and open to military traffic between Hungary and Bosnia, and guarding the tent city that other deployed soldiers call home were among the peacekeeping lessons stressed by nearly 50 First U.S. Army trainers who put the Virginia soldiers through their paces during long days and nights in Louisiana.
"They have put us through more intense training and worse-case scenarios than we think we'll even encounter over there," said 1st Sgt. Bennie Dancy, a 24-year Guard and Reserve infantry veteran who saw Vietnam as a young soldier with the 101st Airborne Division. The training at Fort Polk included three different weeks when operations ran 24 hours a day.
Like most of his men, the 53-year-old Dancy has a civilian life. He lives in Capital Heights, Md. He has worked for the Metro transit authority in Washington, D.C., for 30 years. Now, like all of his men, Dancy is focused on soldiering.
"We have improved tremendously since we've been here at Polk," Dancy said. "The squad leaders have really improved in their troop-leading procedures."
"Infantry skills are perishable. You use them or you lose them," observed Ranger-trained 1st Lt. Charles Mussi as darkness crept over Engineer Lake during his 3rd Platoon's final night in the field. "Here, we could put our knowledge to use. We got back to peak proficiency.
"The constant pressure has been similar to officers candidate school and Ranger school," Mussi added. "You need that to get people's minds right. It's critical in potential combat situations for people to be focused."
The timing could not be better.
-- Defense Secretary William Cohen and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis Reimer, among others, are stressing the importance of integrating National Guard and Reserve troops into the Total Force.
In a Sept. 11 memorandum, Cohen called on Defense leaders to eliminate "all residual barriers -- structural and cultural," to effective integration of the reserve and active components into a "seamless Total Force ... as we move into the 21st century."
Reimer attempted to rebuild bridges with National Guard leaders in Albuquerque, N.M., in September and has stated "I want to bring all components together and leverage the great strength and capabilities that each component has."
-- Charlie Company knows it is under the military microscope as the first reserve component infantry company mobilized for foreign duty since Indiana Army Guard Rangers were sent to Vietnam in 1968.
-- The Bosnian peacekeeping force has been cut back and is becoming more dependent on reserve components at the same time that President Bill Clinton and Cohen are debating the prospects of prolonging this country's commitment for stabilizing eastern Europe beyond next summer.
-- The duty can be diplomatically challenging now that NATO forces are more aggressively seeking out war criminals and have seized control of television towers in the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia.
-- Their leaders are determined to bring these National Guard soldiers home alive when their nine-month tour is done.
"I don't care what they put us through here at Polk. We cannot afford to lose one man," stressed the historically-minded Mussi. He knows how devastated many Virginia communities were after the state's 29th "Blue and Gray." Division suffered massive casualties while hitting Omaha Beach on D-Day in June 1944.
"If anything happens to one of these men, I'm going to have to answer for that on that homecoming day when we go back to that armory in Leesburg," Mussi said.
Observer controllers, the trainers, at Fort Polk believe these Virginia Guard soldiers, who also belong to the 29th Division, are ready for this challenge.
"They've developed some pride here. They have just shined," said Capt. Chris Forbes, the trainers' operations officer. "If the training is solid, when situations occur the training kicks in."
That's what the Virginia citizen-soldiers such as Cpl. Fernard Strowbridge are counting on.
"If we run the drills so many times, it builds discipline and endurance," said Strowbridge who mans a Dragon anti-armor missile. The former sprinter on the Marine Corps track team knows the benefits of practicing hard.
"This training has been difficult," said Strowbridge, "but it keeps you very much on your toes."