Italian soldiers move as a team through a molotov cocktail during ?re phobia training at Camp Slim Lines July 25. The training included individual, team, squad and company movement techniques to ensure soldiers safety. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Samantha Parks, 4th Public Affairs Detachment)
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Soldiers ?rst practiced without a baton or a shield. Portuguese trainers tossed water bottles to simulate a molotov cocktail until they saw soldiers understood the proper techniques. They then moved on to actual ?re and trained as individuals, teams, squads and platoons. “We learned how and what we must do when the people [at riots] shoot molotov cocktails at us,” Demkowicz said. “The guys for the Portuguese units tell us what we must do to protect the body.” The biggest challenge for any multinational cross training is the language barrier, Costa said. “We usually take the company commanders or platoon leaders to pass the information to their soldiers and we repeat [training] as many times as possible until we see that they understood what we were saying and are performing the techniques correctly,” Costa said. He added that ?re phobia training is a
vital part of crowd and riot control training because of past incidents in Kosovo. “It has become very important that the troops know how to react when confronted in a situation like this,” Costa said. “Although there aren’t any recent incidents with [molotov cocktails], it’s well known that they happened, so it’s better to be prepared.” Portuguese Army Maj. Guoao Ferreira said the day’s training was very important because it allows soldiers of different countries to share their tactics, techniques and procedures. “Each event is another opportunity to learn from each other,” Ferreira said. Instructors teach a universal method for responding to molotov cocktails as an individual, but it can change when moving as a unit, Costa said. “When we go to collective training, we try to adapt the techniques to the way the CRC team moves or acts as a unit so there
will be slight changes, but only in team procedures,” Costa said. For Demkowicz, the day was signi?cant because he had never experienced this type of training. He admitted it was a little scary. Costa said part of the training is to overcome the fear of ?re and the soldiers participating did a good job doing that. “They were kind of apprehensive in the beginning, but now that they’ve seen its easier than it looks, they are getting more con?dent and performing better each time,” Costa said. To overcome the fear of ?re, Costa had one simple piece of advice: trust that these methods