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Adapting to Meet Demands of War
03/12/2007
Story by Sgt. Tony White
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
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| Sgt, Eric Villela, a squad leader from 3rd Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, communicates with his squad while pulling security at a checkpoint near the AD Dujal Monday. |
The Bradley Fighting Vehicle ramp door lowers with three Soldiers piling out, their hearts pumping. The squad leader positions them along the sides of the road to scan the orchards for enemies. It is a far cry from jobs they knew just a few ago weeks ago.
When 3rd Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment Soldiers, Sgt. Eric Villela, Spc. Anthony Navarro and Spc. Tommy Ryan arrived in Iraq their jobs did not put them directly in the enemies’ crosshairs. Yet six months after arrival, like many Soldiers in theater, these three infantrymen have found the key to success revolves around their ability to adapt to the demands of war.
“It’s a new job, it’s a change,” said Villela, a squad leader. “I was only in charge of four guys and now I am in charge of seven. It’s a big responsibility. I am trying to pick the brains of the other squad leaders, so I can bring these guys home and not have anybody hurt.
“You maneuver differently on the ground than when you are in a vehicle,” continued Villela, a native of San Antonio, Texas. “I have been mounted the whole seven years I have been in the Army. There are just different things you have to know. I am just really learning what to do now.”
Through the shuffling of personnel in a combat zone Villela, Navarro and Ryan have become entrenched in positions they are not accustomed to filling.
Villela and Navarro spent a good amount of their tour as Bradley crewmen, providing transportation and security for other infantrymen. Ryan came to Iraq expecting to serve his tour as a training room clerk. Now he’s working as a machine gunner, answering to his team leader, Navarro, with Villela leading them and five others as their squad leader.
“It might be on-the-job training and you can train all you want afterwards,” said Navarro, a team leader from Colorado Springs, Colo. “But you are still out there everyday and it (isn’t ideal) missing all of that training, but you still have a job to do. The only way to get better is to keep doing it. You can train all you want for Iraq, but it will never be like it really is here.”
“You need the good team leader, good squad leader, giving you encouragement, telling you that you are doing it right,” added Ryan, a native of Yukon, Okla. “If there is something you are doing wrong, they tell you and you work on it.”
Working together the Soldiers are adapting to each other, establishing a feeling of combat cohesion. The squad realizes the importance of understanding each other’s nuances because, when they make enemy contact, there must be a feeling of trust.
“I am trying to build that with our guys,” Villela. “It’s hard though, but you just have to get used to it. But that is just the way it is sometimes. You have to get used to how people work and try to fit in.
“It falls back on combat cohesion,” Villela concluded. “You build confidence, knowing this guy knows what he is doing and you know this guy has your back. I know I was blessed with a good squad that was already trained up and I know they will do what they need to complete the mission.”
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