First came a test at the firing range, which they had to complete after an exhausting march. The 250 soldiers of the 10th Mechanized Battalion of the Dragoons from Świętoszów trained their fitness and prepared for combat operations.
In the morning, on the first day of training, company commanders received combat orders. Shortly afterward, the subunits set out on what is known as a tactical and live-fire circuit. This time, however, the mechanized troops did not travel in armored personnel carriers. The infantry fighting vehicles remained in the barracks. The squads and platoons carried out all tasks while covering long distances on foot. The training was planned at three facilities: the infantry combat firing range, the tactical exercise area near the barracks, and the Świętoszów tactical training area.
Night shooting. Fire from the side
The soldiers left the garrison and had to cover several kilometers to report to the infantry combat firing range. They marched with full military equipment, including weapons, magazines, helmets and gas masks. In addition, each carried a 20-kilogram backpack containing all the equipment needed to survive in unfamiliar terrain, such as a sleeping bag, sleeping mat, change of clothes and drinks. It was important for the entire subunit to cover the distance in the shortest possible time. There was a reason for this. The commanders of the 10th Mechanized Battalion of the Dragoons wanted the soldiers to take the shooting test while tired. Not everyone found it easy to demonstrate accuracy when struggling to catch their breath and their hands were shaking from exertion.
During the three-day training, the mechanized troops returned to the firing range several times. On the first day, after dark, they practiced situational shooting at unilluminated targets using night vision equipment. Each soldier then fired at five targets 30 meters away, with only 10 seconds to hit them.
While the mechanized troops were conducting fire, the battalion's marksmen practiced the procedure for calling in fire support on the battlefield. They had to contact command by radio, indicate the position of their own subunit and provide the precise coordinates of important enemy firing positions that the artillerymen from the support company were expected to destroy.
On the second day of training, the firing range also hosted classes for commanders at various levels from the battalion. A basic Level A BLOS course on combat and the safe handling of weapons was conducted (BLOS is an acronym for weapon, barrel, surroundings, trigger). Accuracy was less important here than the ability to handle a weapon properly: appropriately checking its loaded status, loading it safely, not moving the barrel in any direction other than toward the target, and adopting various firing positions. The class was led by Second Lieutenant Paweł Gromadzki, commander of the battalion's reconnaissance platoon, who had previously completed Level A, B and C BLOS courses at the Land Forces Training Center in Poznań.
The following night, the mechanized troops returned to the firing range once again. This time, the squads fired from the cargo bed of a moving vehicle. The exercise scenario assumed that the vehicle carrying the soldiers would suddenly come under fire. The soldiers sitting closest to the attackers then had to open so-called side fire.
Fitness and good preparation
During the three-day training, the mechanized troops faced various tests. In addition to topography training, they practiced putting on filter-ventilated protective clothing, digging a foxhole for a prone rifleman and providing medical assistance to the wounded. To pass the last task, they had to apply a tourniquet to a wounded person's thigh on the battlefield within 30 seconds.
Once the mechanized troops had completed all the tasks, they could rest. “The temperature dropped below zero at night. I slept on a sleeping mat, in a sleeping bag, and it was quite bearable,” said Private First Class Marcin Pawlak after spending one night in the forest.
The commanders acknowledge that the three-day training was intended to test the soldiers' fitness. “We wanted to improve our subordinates' physical fitness and psychological endurance in various difficult situations,” explains Captain Dawid Semerjak, acting deputy commander of the battalion. The officer admits that they also checked whether the soldiers could prepare to survive several days outdoors in winter conditions.