Training heats up for Armenian troops
Story and photos by U.S. Army Sgt. Samantha Parks
4th Public Affairs Detachment
W
ith their transfer of authority completed, the
Armenian coy hit the ground running and
turned up the heat with crowd and riot control
training.
don’t speak English, but a couple guys understood English
so they [translated],” Avtisyan said. “The most important
[part] is that my soldiers have fun.”
Armenian soldiers with Multinational Battle Group-East
participated in fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4.
For most soldiers, it was the first time they had experienced
the training with molotov cocktails.
“It’s [my] first time and it’s very interesting,” said Armenian
Jr. Sgt. Seerek Hrhalutyunyan. “I’ve seen [fire phobia
training] before, but never [participated.]”
This Armenian rotation had only been in Kosovo for less
than a month.
“This is the second big training [event], the first one was
the CRC training with [notional rioters],” said Armenian
Capt. Slavik Avtisyan. “This training is very important for
the CRC because nobody knows what we are going to face
when we see the crowd.”
Fire phobia training consisted of crawl, walk and run phases.
Each phase began with a demonstration by Portuguese
soldiers and then built on the previous phase’s instruction.
Soldiers began by practicing as individuals with water
bottles. The training progressed to using molotov cocktails
and responding to them as squad and platoon size elements.
“We should do [the training] as much as we can because we
should be ready at all times when we are here,” Avtisyan
said. “We don’t know when they will need a quick reaction
force and we should be ready.”
Avtisyan explained it is important to conduct the platoon size
element training because that is the size that would respond
during a CRC event.
“We should do platoon training to understand each other and
to know what we should do in each situation,” Avtisyan said.
Avtisyan said the training was a little difficult for some of his
soldiers because of the language barrier.
“It is a little bit difficult for my soldiers because most of them
A Portuguese soldier corrects an Armenian soldier on his form during fire
phobia training at Camp Slim Lines Jan. 4. Armenian soldiers spent the
day practicing crowd and riot control techniques when facing molotov
cocktails.
(left) Portuguese soldiers demonstrate how to react to a molotov cocktail
in a platoon size element during fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines
Jan. 4. Portuguese soldiers demonstrated and trained the Armenian coy,
who recently arrived in Kosovo.
PG 23