The tan-colored Humvee stops on the one-lane dirt road in the shadow of a mountain, with a good 50-foot drop to the vehicle’s left.
Three soldiers, armed with black rifles equipped with grenade launchers, jump out of the armored vehicle and patrol the steep ravines, looking for hiding places and possible explosives.
Several minutes pass, and Command Sgt. Maj. Kemp Freund sighs.
“They’re taking too long,” said Freund, sitting in a Humvee behind the troops. “You stand around that long, [and] people will know you’re here.”
The troops pile back into the Humvee and move down the twisting mountain road. The Humvee drives over a buried drainage pipe without stopping to take a look.
“If that pipe is clear, someone can pack an [improvised explosive device] right in there,” Freund said.
Fortunately for the troops, they’re highly unlikely to find an IED hidden in the back roads of the Western Maryland mountains, although they had to imagine they were really driving through the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan.
Tuesday’s simulation was meant to prepare 18 Guardsmen for their next mission: being embedded with the Afghan National Army and teaching their soldiers how to fight against insurgents.
They will deploy from Maryland this upcoming week for additional training before heading to Afghanistan for a year-long deployment.
“We want them to be as prepared as they can be, but nothing here in this state is going to match the experience they will have in Afghanistan,” said Freund, who served in Afghanistan in 2007.
Most of the Guardsmen heading out are experienced soldiers, many of whom already have done a tour in Iraq.
Others are seeing their first deployment to a combat zone.
“I actually have no apprehensions. They’re paying me to do a job, and I’m looking forward to the experience,” said Staff Sgt. David Evans, of Baltimore City.
Afghanistan is still an active war zone, military officials say. Army Sgt. David Paquett of Rising Sun died this past week while patrolling a base in Afghanistan.
Even with the danger, some of the soldiers seemed unfazed about their first trek into a war-torn country.
“I have no expectation, that way I’m not disappointed or surprised when I get there,” said Capt. Kirk Black, who is also a member of the Baltimore City SWAT team. “I kind of already know what a war zone looks like.”
TRAINING
The Guardsmen are in their third week of training at Camp Baxter, deep in the mountains about 11 miles southwest of Hancock near the Maryland-West Virginia border.
The training first had the Guardsmen traversing through steep mountain roads and trails.
But the bulk of the training was learning how to navigate an 18,000-pound armored Humvee through narrow, winding mountain roads while being mindful of possible areas of ambush.
Each Guardsman drove the armored vehicle down the winding mountain road, which had hairpin turns and was barely big enough to fit the massive vehicle.
The Guardsmen also had to practice reconnaissance, marking potential areas for hidden IEDs or enemies, as well bottleneck areas prone to possible attacks or congestion.
Later this week, trainers are expected to hide in the woods and throw water balloons at the Humvees to simulate an IED or rocket-propelled grenade attack, so the soldiers can practice handling an assault.
This training is a bonus. While the Guardsmen will report to Fort Riley in Kansas next week for the bulk of their training before deployment, the Maryland Guard wanted its soldiers to have additional training driving through mountains — a terrain the soldiers are not expected to find in Kansas.
SOLDIERING
The Guardsmen wore their full gear during the drills and carried unloaded rifles and handguns.
Each soldier will wear a 57-pound body armor jacket, which provides good protection but is certainly heavy and restricts movement, especially when moving their heads from side to side. Add ammunition, water and other supplies, and the jacket can weigh up to 70 pounds.
Their helmet is much heavier than a football or hockey helmet.
“After wearing it for a few days, you get used to it, and it’s better to have all this weight than catching two in the back,” said Sgt. Tom Busche of Frederick.
The Guardsmen stopped training shortly after noon to eat lunch and were given the staple military field ration — the MRE, or Meal Ready-to-Eat.
In a small brown package, soldiers get a main course of chili, omelets or beef and beans, snacks, beverage mixes, chemical packets to heat food and drinks, bread, salt, pepper, sugar, gum and coffee.
Most of the items in the meal are tolerable to the palette. Antacids are not included.
A group of soldiers eating MREs looks more like elementary schoolers at lunchtime. The Guardsmen were swapping cookies for candy, and giving away jams and cheese packages they didn’t want.
No one touched the cheese omelet, as many of the Guardsmen said its consistency tests one’s gag reflex.
Some of the MREs contain up to 2,000 calories, and Army officials have said the meals are designed to provide much-needed energy.
“They’re a lot better than they were five years ago, but they’re still MREs,” Black said.
The laughing and joking at lunch ceased when the soldiers climbed into the M-1151 Humvees, which carry five soldiers, including one who operates an armored turret on the vehicle’s roof.
The vehicle has thick armor, and the interior is lined with foam. The windows are blast-proof. While the armor is intended to deflect explosions, it limits visibility.
On the more narrow parts of the mountain road, the edge of the cliff cannot be seen from the side window.
“It takes all of us to operate this thing,” Busche said. “The turret operator helps me look ahead, and the guys to my right help cover my blind sides.”
The vehicle’s armor is a significant upgrade from what soldiers and Marines first used in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thin plastic or Kelvar doors had to be rigged by soldiers with steel plates to provide added protection.
Because the vehicle had no air conditioning while driving around in 130-degree heat, the doors were sometimes completely removed.
“The doors being as flimsy as they are wouldn’t do you much good anyway,” Freund said.
The newer Humvees have air conditioning; but according to some Guardsmen who have operated the vehicle in combat conditions, the air conditioning is usually the first thing to go.
SERVING THEIR MISSION
As the Guardsmen gathered at a parking lot near the C&O Canal Trail to go over their training route, a woman riding her bike down the trail waved to the soldiers.
“I certainly feel safe now,” she said.
Freund said the Guard is known more for its state missions, such as disaster relief, than its federal ones.
There are 65,000 members of the Air and Army National Guard activated, according to the Department of Defense’s August report.
“It’s the greatest fallacy of the Guard, that we’re not used more often to help the military,” Freund said. “We have more assets across the country than the reserves.”
About 120 members of the Maryland Guard returned from Iraq in April, having earned several awards for their efforts to operate a major international base in Baghdad.
And now more than a dozen Guardsmen will be lent to the U.S. military’s efforts in Afghanistan. While the Guardsmen are still learning how to detect potential IED hot spots, the instructors believe they will be ready.
“We’ll be as ready as we’ll ever be,” Capt. Black said.
NATIONAL GUARD
- Total activated: 65,000
- Total Maryland activated: 450
- Total activated since 9/11: 349,000
- Total Maryland activated since 9/11: 8,100
- Total causalities in Afghanistan: 13 dead, 43 wounded in action
- Total Maryland causalities in Afghanistan: 1 dead, 2 wounded in action
Source: Maryland National Guard, U.S. Department of Defense
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