3/1/A-CO, 1-2IN - Alpha Company, First Platoon, Third Squad

Present outside of combat unit

1LT J.Drake

Objectives

• Clearing buildings
• Squad Attack
• Break Contact

Accidents

N/A

Areas of Strength

• Clearing buildings

Areas of Weakness

• Team Leader not keeping his men accounted for, leaving behind one who was downed.
• The squad did not space themselves out and did not provide 360 security after dismounting a Stryker, and instead bunched themselves up in a hostile area.

Suggested Improvements

N/A

Mission Summary

Today's drills consisted mainly of learning basic manouvers. First we discussed the fundamentals of clearing a building, going over how to stack up, what to look out for when stacking up, and then went over the process of breaching a room itself. We also discussed how to provide rear security when clearing a building as well as how to move up stairs. Once everyone was on the same page me and three other experienced soldiers demonstrated how to clear a building with everyone watching. Afterwards we had one team have a try at it with me and PFC P.Liwa assessing and adjusting them to make sure they are doing everything right. Once they finished clearing the building we had the other team do it too until everyone had a try. Afterwards we moved onto a barracks-sized building and had both teams clear it out, making sure they had someone watch the stairs and the hallways as rooms were being cleared one by one. Once everyone had a dry run we moved on to a live-fire exercise where both teams had to clear a building with hostiles, which both teams did with no casuaties.
Afterwards we discussed how to initiate a Squad Attack, going over why might it be initiated and what each team will do, as well as what to do after the enemy position is eliminated. We also discussed Breaking Contact and why that might be initiated and what to do during it.

After the training segment we pushed into the town of Dubrovka which had enemy forces occupying it. We had two teams plus a Stryker element supporting them move into the town, with one team clearing one stretch of buildings in the town and the other team clear the other stretch. The idea was that both teams would have practice in clearing buildings however because of the map, most of them were unenterable. Regardless, when both teams cleared their sectors they converged on the last uncleared compound. One team took fire from a BTR within that compound however they managed to destroy it and the other team pushed inside the compound and cleared it out. Once it was clear we placed C4 on enemy armour found within it and destroyed it. Afterwards we called an ENDEX.

Overall Sentiment

POSITIVE