Another unit of the 3rd Infantry Division readies for deployment to Iraq and to some degree, we all know deployment means danger when it comes to Iraq.
Training for and actually being in combat are two very different things. Which is why the Army is working to minimize that difference.....increasing the pace and putting more pressure on the soldiers.
News Three Military Reporter Alice Massimi witnessed that pressure this morning where soldiers know "playing like you practice"... can be the difference between life and death.
Truck after truck pulls up ...unloading the injured.
These soldiers don't waste time as they carry their comrades closer to treatment.
“Come on! Come on! I need the head to go that way,” yells someone.
Its coordinated chaos; a training exercise that's forcing soldiers to think swiftly on their feet.
From shrapnel wounds to head wounds, this Third Infantry Division Medical Company is being put through the wringer... all in preparation for deployment to Iraq.
“You always have to allow the enemy to have a vote in your planning and the way we prepare for combat,” says LTC Eddie Gillon.
It’s why Gillon says you need to prepare for the worst. In this case.... non-stop casualties.
“On any training environment in the military we always try to replicate as close as we can the conditions the soldiers would endure in combat,” says Gillon.
Not yet a combat veteran, Private First Class Dodi Komorowski has one word for the training... intense.
“The training has been absolutely fabulous, intense, but we've learned a lot,” says Komorowski.
When seconds can mean the difference between life and death, these lessons are priceless.
The Fourth Brigade Combat Team will head for the National Training Center in California next and then in July will deploy for a year to Iraq.
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