Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [113]
“I spent a lot of my youth in camps like this,” the civilian instructor tells me. He’s a grizzled man of indeterminate age.
“Camp construction and defense was almost a lost art,” Master Sergeant Wyman says with an easy smile and a touch of respect in his voice. “Fortunately, we still have a few old dogs like Howard here to show us how it’s done.”
The civilian instructor grins. “It’s always nice when something you knew and did way back when is of some use to the new generation.”
Every so often, one of the candidates would come over to where we’re sitting to ask a question. Usually, it was directed to the retired Green Beret. I had to suppress a smile. Nothing pleases an old warrior more than being sought out by a young warrior. I’m speaking from experience here.
The 18 Charlie class had spent a total of seven days in the classroom and the shops at Fort Bragg before coming to Camp Mackall for three days of hands-on construction. In those seven days, they received instruction in all aspects of construction—from pouring foundations to installing corrugated metal roofing. Classes include construction design, reading blueprints, masonry, electrical wiring, concrete, structural calculations, and material management.
“We hand the student construction teams a set of blueprints,” Wyman says, “and they have to take it from there. They have to develop a list of materials to include type and grade of lumber; the quantities of nails, bolts, and fasteners; how many bags of concrete; the amount and gauge of wiring; and so on. We begin at Fort Bragg, staging the materials and building the trusses. Then we come out here and put it together.”
Master Sergeant Wyman came from 7th Group. As a Special Forces engineering sergeant, he’s built houses, drilled wells, and constructed bridges all over Central and South America as well as in Afghanistan. Wyman is a lead instructor with Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, and he’s in charge of teaching building and construction techniques to the 18 Charlie candidates.
“I can identify with these kids who are just coming into the Army and Special Forces in the X-Ray Program. I was one of them.” In the early 1990s, there was an X-Ray-like program that took soldiers from basic training and assigned them to the groups in kind of an apprenticeship. Then they were sent to the Q-Course. “Every once in a while one of my cadre sergeants will get down on the X-Rays for not understanding the Army way of doing things, or that they’re too green to train for Special Forces duty. I remind them I’m an X-Ray, sort of, and ask them if they have a problem with me wearing a Green Beret. That quiets them down in a hurry.
“When they get out here to Camp Mackall,” Wyman continues, “they do it all, and they do it strictly to federal building code—pour foundations, set joists, frame in windows, set trusses, hang doors, and pull wires. Some of these kids have never handled a saw or used a level. I’m not sure they even teach high school shop any more.”
The buildings literally go up before our eyes. “They seem to be working well and without a lot of direction,” I observe.
“We have a few ringers in this class to go along with the guys who have never driven a nail. About fifteen of the X-Rays were journeyman carpenters before they signed up, so we have some talent and experience on this job site.”
Two candidates who are new to the construction business are Sergeant Aaron Dunn and Sergeant Daniel Barstow. “The last thing that I built was a birdhouse for a Cub Scout project,” Dunn says.
“This is terrific,” Barstow declares as he takes his tool belt off for the last time. “We learned how to build things; now we get to learn how to blow them up.”
After the buildings are finished, the class secures their building tools and turns their attention to the camp defenses. For another two days, they build wire obstacles, bunkers, sandbag shelters, and fighting positions. The Charlies work closely with the Bravos on base defense projects. They then return to Fort Bragg to begin their demolition