An Cosantóir

18 MILITARY OPERATIONS IN URBAN TERRAIN (MOUT) INSTRUCTORS COURSE MILITARY OPERATIONS IN URBAN TERRAIN (MOUT) INSTRUCTORS COURSE By Sgt Sean McEvoy & Lt Joe Gunne Photos By Cpl Lee Coyle I am Sergeant Sean McEvoy, Course Sergeant for the MOUT Instructors course out of 1BTC Col- lins barracks. I have been in 1 BTC now for 6 years, prior to joining 1BTC, I served in the ARW for 5 years as an oper- ator in maritime. When I joined 1BTC, the one course I really had a lot of interest in doing was the FIBUA Instructors course (now MOUT), because for any member of the ARW, these types of drills are done on a daily basis. I went on my FIBUA Instructors course in 2016, I enjoyed the course, but I could see some problems with the drills that we were taught. If it wasn't for the fact that my past unit was the ARW I wouldn't have noticed problems in the drills. Once I completed the FIBUA Instructors course, my main focus was to have a look at areas that I could help im - prove going forward for the next course. What really jumped out to me on my course was bad weapons handling, not enough respect was given to a weapon that could end your life in one shot. MOUT Instructors course is open to every unit, so you could have some- one on the course who only operates their weapon once a year to do their ARP'S. Having so many variations of drills was a big problem in FIBUA, I saw some drills done that must have been straight out of a computer game because I couldn't make sense of them. When I'm instructing, I will always remind the students that in reality, the enemy forces will have live ammu - nition, so take cover when you can. It was drilled into me in recruit training, always treat blank ammo like the real thing; by doing this, your drills will be tight. When there is no real repercussion from not taking proper cover from someone firing blanks at you, some soldiers will take the easy option. In the ARW you use Simunition with weapons, it's the best training tool you can use in order to get everyone doing the drills correctly. Believe me, if there's cover you will be taking it quickly when the paint rounds are coming for you. I think with this type of course you always need knew locations, so I always try to get one or two new areas to operate in. If it's a training area that you are used to and you know every inch of it, well then you can't really test your drills. The MOUT course I just finished with, I managed to get Cleeves old cream factory in Limerick for the week, which was an excellent location to really test the students new MOUT drills. I set up a hostage rescue situation in Cleeves's factory, when you find yourself on a training exercise operating in Limerick city it really makes the exercise feel a bit more real. These types of training areas are ideal for the MOUT course because they are all about operating in Urban areas and all the obstacles that come with that. Once inside Cleeves factory, the students found that they had to deal with all types of obstacles, from moving across open areas to IED'S and reinforced doors. They had to use all their drills that they had been taught in order to get them safely to their objective building. When they finally took their last building and secured the factory, they went into (DIBUA) Defence in built up area. The students went straight into locking down the fac - tory area and posting a guard on the main gate along with having a QRF ready to go. Sgt Sean McEvoy Students Preparing for a High Level entry Breaching of an entry point Room Clearnce

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