{"id":517,"date":"2023-08-20T00:07:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T00:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=517"},"modified":"2023-08-20T00:07:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T00:07:05","slug":"challenge-fuels-transition-for-armys-newest-infantry-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=517","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Fuels Transition for Army\u2019s Newest Infantry Soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FORT BARFOOT, Va. \u2014 A few times each year, the Virginia National Guard\u2019s 1st Battalion, 183rd Regiment, Regional Training Institute, conducts an 11B Infantry Transition Course.<\/p>\n

Some of the Soldiers who attend the course, all junior Soldiers and noncommissioned officers, want to test themselves. Others are fulfilling childhood dreams or chasing promotion opportunities. Whatever their reason, their goal is singular: to earn the 11B military occupational specialty and leave Fort Barfoot with a blue infantry shoulder cord.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not an easy MOS, but it is a very rewarding one at the same time,\u201d said Sgt. 1st Class Brian Cook, a long-time cadre member at the 183rd RTI.<\/p>\n

During the course, Cook and the rest of the cadre put Soldiers, who arrive as engineers, medics, intelligence analysts and mechanics, through three rigorous weeks of infantry training. Soldiers gain proficiency on weapons, improve their land navigation skills, learn how to communicate and move effectively across a battlefield. The days are long and often made more challenging by sweltering heat and humidity.<\/p>\n

The challenge of becoming an infantryman motivated many of the students as they worked their way through the course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I wanted to become an 11B is because I like to put myself to the test,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Patrick Powers, a 91B wheeled vehicle mechanic in the Virginia National Guard. He said the course would also help prepare him for his next challenge, U.S. Army Ranger School.<\/p>\n

Sgt. Allison Stanton, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division as a 35F intelligence analyst, was also there to challenge herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to become at 11B because it\u2019s really the only MOS that I felt was out of my comfort zone,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like the whole job would be very challenging for me, so that\u2019s why I chose it.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Spc. Alexander Wyatt started his military career as an infantryman in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was discharged due to an injury but rehabilitated himself and worked on an ambulance while out of the military. When he joined the Army, he returned as a 68W combat medic but felt pulled toward the infantry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to become an infantryman because it\u2019s always been a dream of mine. I just always had the itch to still be an infantryman, and I finally scratched that itch,\u201d Wyatt said. He\u2019s now assigned to the 75th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Spc. Steven Schmidt drove across the country to attend the infantry transition course. He started his military career as a medic.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my time in the military, I\u2019ve met all sorts of people with different MOSs, but the 11Bs stood out to me in their brotherhood,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cI\u2019ve always believed that going through difficult times is what brings people together, and I think 11Bs go through that more than any other MOS. I just wanted to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the most recent course came to a close, after the Soldiers hauled themselves, their gear and their weapons through the forests, roads and fields of Fort Barfoot, after they tested their endurance with a timed 5-mile run and sent thousands of rounds down range from a variety of weapons systems, they gathered near a small pond. The cadre, decorated with an assortment of badges, tabs and scrolls, formed a corridor through the water. Tired and dirty from days spent in the field, the students were called forward into the water, guided through the protected passage formed by the cadre. Then, dripping pond water and steaming in the midday sun, they worked their way to the top of a hill.<\/p>\n

The immersion and ascent served to mark the transition from what they were before to what they had become.<\/p>\n

On top of a Fort Barfoot hill on July 26, 2023, 22 Soldiers received their blue infantry cords and officially became the newest infantry Soldiers in the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n

By SFC Terra C. Gatti, Virginia National Guard Public Affairs Office<\/p>\n

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FORT BARFOOT, Va. \u2014 A few times each year, the Virginia National Guard\u2019s 1st Battalion, 183rd Regiment, Regional Training Institute, conducts an 11B Infantry Transition Course. Some of the Soldiers who attend the course, all junior Soldiers and noncommissioned officers, want to test themselves. Others are fulfilling childhood dreams or chasing promotion opportunities. Whatever their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":519,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions\/519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}