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FORT POLK, La. – What if deployed soldiers could look at a
village and read its atmosphere, its attitudes, identify the key
people, and predict behaviors, without stepping one foot into it.
4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) soldiers are
learning how to do this in the Advance Situational Awareness
Training or ASAT course.
This five-day training program,
conducted the first week of May at Fort Polk, La., is designed to
improve soldiers' ability to identify indicating dynamics in human
beings and their environments before an event happens.
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U.S. Soldiers with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain
Division, keep their eyes on the objective from an observation post
during Advanced Situational Awareness Training at Fort Polk, La.,
May 4, 2013. Soldiers of 10th Mountain Division used a wide variety
of optics to detect insurgent activity in a mock village. (U.S. Army
photo by Staff Sgt. Kulani J. Lakanaria)
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“ASAT is a tool to help soldiers read their environment
and people,” said Staff Sgt. Jimmy L. Schumacher, an
instructor writer with 2nd Battalion, 29 Infantry Regiment,
197th Infantry Brigade from Fort Benning, Ga. “In the Army,
all our battle drills are reactive; like react to contact
and react to an ambush. We want to get Soldiers to start
reading indicators to see the ambush before it happens. I
can maneuver on an ambush when I read the indicators and
become an attacking force instead of a reacting one.”
This concept is known as “staying left of the bang.”
“In (roadside
bomb) lanes the Army traditionally teach soldiers to look
for the actual round,” Schumacher said. “We teach them to
look for components and small indicators that normally get
overlooked. We teach soldiers how to stay left of bang.”
ASAT allows soldiers to read human behavior both on and
off the battlefield.
“It works everywhere,”
Schumacher said. “People are the same and that's what we
teach. You can't change human body language. You ask a kid
in the U.S., China or Africa how old they are they'll hold
up fingers to show you. We learn how to say no and yes the
same way. You can't hide it or change it. Stateside or
overseas, Afghanistan or Iraq, you see the same indicators.
If someone's up to something you can pick it up if you know
what you're looking for.”
Soldiers from many
different jobs and backgrounds within the brigade attended
the ASAT course.
“I would recommend this course to
all soldiers in 4/10,” said 2nd Lt. Samuel I. Burns, a
student at the ASAT course with Headquarters Headquarters
Company, 94th Brigade Support Battalion. “I've used this
type of training outside of my military experience. It could
save your life.”
“With todays Army you get a lot of
different MOSs on the battlefield,” Schumacher said. “Not
just infantry, even for people staying on the [forward
operating base] these skills come in handy. Soldiers will
interact with locals whether it is on the FOB or in the
villages. They can help prevent insider attacks or report
suspicious activity. On patrols it helps you articulate
incidents so you can put it on paper and explain why you
detained that person.”
“I've really enjoyed the course,
and I've learned a lot,” Said Specialist Janice C.
Middleton, an intelligence analyst with Alpha Company, 4th
Brigade Special Troops Battalion. “In the future I want to
see if I can get into the 22 day instructor course. I can
see this being very beneficial.”
Currently deployed
Soldiers have contacted ASAT instructors explaining how much
the course impacts their missions. “We've learned that the
program is very successful,” Schumacher said. “Forward
deployed soldiers who took earlier classes have told me that
they had been very productive in their environments. They
have been picking up the clues and making connections with
people. They are hemming a lot of bad guys up and ultimately
saving a lot of lives.”
By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kulani J. Lakanaria
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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