Bold Quest 09 begins today, and units and personnel have been arriving over the past week to prepare for the two-week capability assessment. Air Force Staff Sgt. Joe Laws and I spent the evening before its kickoff with soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division as they fine-tuned their nighttime fighting abilities.
The warfighters, members of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, engaged in a night-time stress shoot, using laser sights and night vision goggles to put live rounds into targets in pitch-black darkness.
Pvt. 1st Class Andrew McGrew, a radio operator with C Company, said the lack of depth perception that comes with using night-vision devices, coupled with obstacles laid out on the course, combine to put the “stress” in a stress shoot. But he told me that training like this is fun and the reason he joined the Army.
Everybody gets pumped up for stuff like this. It’s good training … We’re shooting live rounds. We’ve got cool weapons. Every kid grows up wanting to be right here
Sgt. Jeremy Whitlock, a team leader with C Company, told me the stress shoot was an essential piece in preparing his soldiers for the types of situations they could face when they deploy to Afghanistan next year.
You’re going to get fatigued, especially in the terrain over in Afghanistan, so to be able to hit targets while you’re under stress, you know, while you’re out of breath … that’s what wins the war.
Interested is seeing the photos Staff Sgt. Laws took of this high-speed training with his night-vision adaptor? Click here.
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