101st conducts live fire training in preparation for Iraq

The exercises come just two months after Pfc. Gregory B. Wertz, 19, was killed while training with the 2nd Brigade Combat team on how to clear buildings of enemy insurgents.

Troop leaders say realistic live-fire training is necessary because soldiers must train as they fight. But, every vehicle during a live-fire exercise carries a soldier whose sole task is to ensure safety is a priority.

“Convoys are some of the most dangerous things these soldiers will do. (Accidental deaths) are always on our mind,” said the battalion operations officer Maj. Dan Koprowski.

The live fire training involves avoiding roadside bombs, known as Improvised Explosive Devices, are the No. 1 killer of troops in Iraq.

Spc. Mandy Watson, an intelligence analyst with the 4th Brigade Troops Battalion, also will see duty as a Humvee driver after she deploys for the first time to the Middle East. Watson said the training will hopefully help her return home alive.

“This is a lot more stressful,” Watson, 21, said of the convoy live-fire training she and others in her battalion received Tuesday. “You’re actually using live rounds in close quarters (mock villages). It will prepare me for what to do with the sights and sounds and being able to react.”

Cpl. Kevin Presgraves, a military police soldier with the 4th Brigade Troops Battalion, will be the convoy’s “point man,” the first soldier who must communicate information to others in the convoy on his first deployment to Iraq.

“As the point man I have to make the right calls and make the right decisions,” Presgraves said.

Watson thinks a little anxiety is healthy as they train to head overseas.

“All of us will be nervous,” she said. “It’s what’s going to save our lives.”