JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
"Welcome to the Octagon," said the instructor as the first group of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) students entered the eight-sided room, housing a reconfigurable vehicle tactical trainer at JBSA-Camp Bullis, Texas.
The students who will soon go on to their follow-on training at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. spent February 8 at JBSA-Camp Bullis learning about convoys, urban tactical procedures and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to get a taste of what ground troops experience during combat.
The students will provide direct support, such as close air support and over watch, to troops on the ground once they are operational in their assigned RPA airframe.
"Everyday [ground troops'] lives are at risk while deployed," said Capt. Gary, 558th Flying Training Squadron instructor. "[We] appreciate our brothers and sisters in arms and we need to do the best job we can [to help them come home safely.] We owe them that."
The group started their day in a reconfigurable virtual tactical trainer, a 360 degree virtual world with mock weapons and vehicles. The trainer simulates convoys, allowing the group to work through challenges such as Humvee engine damage, medical evacuation procedures, small arms fire, and calling in close air support.
The second lesson took the group to the IED range where an explosives ordnance disposal expert explained the ingenuity and implementation of IEDs. Students then walked through a field with simulated IEDs to experience how difficult it is to spot a device once it is in place.
"By the end of the walk a lot of us had set off the mock IEDs," said 2nd Lt. Mo, an RPA pilot student and former U.S. Army infantryman. "We would have died or sustained severe injuries had we taken that same walk downrange."
The IED course reinforced the importance of his new job as an RPA pilot, according to Mo.
"Even though I'll probably never be able to spot an IED once it's in place, I can help by identifying the enemy actively planting devices or by locating abnormalities in the road that the guys on the ground are patrolling."
In the final session, the students were organized into fire teams of four to practice clearing. Even though these students will likely never storm a building they learned the importance of clear communication in a combat environment and how much help RPAs can bring to an unknown situation.
"When ground troops are engaged in combat they have to keep moving through an area," said Gary. "When a ground team enters a building, they may not see a combatant run out the back door to avoid capture. They may not see that a non-combatant just picked up a weapon, making that person a combatant...but the RPA aircrews can and they can relay that information back to the ground troops."
According to Staff Sgt. Dustin, a basic sensor operator student, "RPAs give ground troops an advantage by helping them look one or two steps ahead. The more information they have, the better they can respond."
When the students finally start RPA operations they can reflect on the day at Camp Bullis to help them better support troops on the ground.
"I'm thankful for the opportunity to visit Camp Bullis for training. For us, we have gone through many simulations today and realized just how important it is to get this right the first time. In real life, you don't have the luxury to reset and try again. This field training will help us understand the ground troop mindset," said Dustin.