FORT HOOD, Texas
» When the Hawaii Army National Guard begins its second
combat tour in Iraq and Kuwait later this year, it will have
the benefit of wartime experience and several months of high-tech
training.
Brig. Gen. Joseph Chaves, who took the 29th Brigade Combat
Team to Iraq in 2004, told the Star-Bulletin that technology
will give Hawaii's 1,700 citizen soldiers an advantage.
"Training is a lot more sophisticated," said Chaves,
who was promoted to commander of the Hawaii Army National Guard
after the brigade returned home in April 2006. "The training
is much more realistic."
Simulation training at Fort Hood and Schofield Barracks ranges
from marksmanship to learning how to drive in convoys, reacting
to roadblocks and spotting roadside bombs.
In simulators at Fort Hood, soldiers can climb into four virtual
Humvees and drive any route in Iraq or Kuwait. Trainers can
plant roadblocks or launch insurgent attacks on the convoy,
and their occupants have to react.
That training will benefit brigade members who will escort
military and civilian convoys from Kuwait into Iraq as far north
as Mosul, said Brig. Gen. Gary Hara, assistant adjutant general.
Two units of the 29th Brigade - the Army Reserve's 100th Battalion
and the 1st Squadron, 299th Cavalry - have been assigned convoy
duties. The 100th Battalion will work out of Camp Virginia,
while the 299th Cavalry will guard military convoys leaving
Camp Arifjan, both in Kuwait.
Staff Sgt. Randy Tone, who will be on his third deployment,
said the virtual-reality training "helps my crew to know
what to expect and how it is supposed to react in situations
like when it is attacked by an IED (improvised explosive device).
"It's a wake-up call for them," added the 1988 Farrington
High School graduate, who has been in the Guard for 20 years.
As a vehicle commander, Tone sits in the right front seat and
is in constant communication by radio with the other vehicles
in the convoy.
During yesterday's training session, which simulated an evening
convoy run, his cab was illuminated in green, replicating the
picture painted by night-vision goggles.
Sgt. Anson Locquiao, a 31-year-old chef from Kauai, said his
experience in Balad and his training have prepared him.
"I've seen it," said Locquiao, a 1995 Waimea High
School graduate, referring to the threat created by homemade
bombs. "We've trained for it."
Nearly 85 percent of the brigade soldiers have experienced
at least one combat tour.
For this deployment the 29th Brigade, augmented by 500 soldiers
from the Oklahoma Army Guard's 45th Fires Brigade, has been
designated as Task Force Lava Thunder.
A farewell ceremony will be held here tomorrow, attended by
several island politicians, including U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka,
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie and state Sen. Mike Gabbard.
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