Junior xo« Seiderssighfs.in hisSlOpeduring training at Camp Mackall, an installatian at Fort Bragg, N,C" for the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Advanced Individual Training Course held Dec, 2-7, The course taught the trainees skills needed to survive terrorist attacks. -Courtesy of xotl Seiders Inaslithering position, junior Scott Seiders partici– pates in a field-shooting exercise geared toward helping soldiers practice what they learned in the classroom during the Civil Affairs PYSOP course Dec, 2-7, "I feel the real-world consequences [the instructors[ teach here ore the most applicable to what [soldiers) will all go through," Seiders said . -Courtesy 015<011 Seiders a,different kind of learning Junior tokes semester off for civil affairs training P ush.ups in 30-degreeweather, 4 a.m. wake~up calls and 12 hours ofclasses were all part of jun ior Scott Seiders'life in special operations civil affairs training. Seiders participated in a th ree-mo nth (raining camp during (he fall semester at an installation in Fort Bragg, N .C., in (he civil affai rs and psychological operations advanced indi– vidual tra ining course. Seiders joined the Army Reserve in 2002 and came to Harding since (here was an Army uni t in Nonh Little Rock. After talking to his recruiter, Seiders began work in civil affairs in 2005 fa research different coun– tries and their economic standings, facts, customs and important cities for his commanding officers. Seiders said his job in civil affairs was to go to dif– ferent countries and protect the locals by denying support to the enemies. Trai ning was di vided between 12-hour in-class sessions at the Special Operations Academic Facility and in urban operadons where the soldiers learned skills needed for their time spent in the infanrry. Seiders said the most difficult pan about the three-month rraining was the field-training exercises where his unit participated in a five-day exercise. Seiders' unit was put through mock deployment in which they used their SOAF knowledge to run fake missions. "We lived in a barbed-wire compound and mis– sions were sell( down to our laptops at the operations center," Seiders said. The rraining exercises allowed Seiders' unit to research a made-up country, negotiate with soldiers from other units who were role-playing, and run from an ambush with more than 100 pounds of gear. "The last day of the [training exercises], we had to come up with our own plan to recover several Hum-Vees," Seiders said. "We turned in a plan [to our commanding officers]' but that wasn't the plan we execured. n Instead o f negOtiating with the enemy, Seiders' unit pulled up with their weapons out and jumped into the Hum-Vees. "We were about to leave when the ro le-play– ers started to shoot,n Seiders said. "'There were so many movie momenrs; there was one guy who was jumping in the car while shooting a machine gun one-handed. The insrrucrors were a li([le [mad] and started shooting flares at our hood. It ended up that we lost all eight vehicles." Seiders said he found the transition back ro Harding to be difficult. "Being at school is almost harder [than camp] because you have ro be disciplined for yourself," Seiders said. "When I was in training, the drill sergeanrs were d iscipline for me. It wasn't like 'Am I going to get lip?' it was, 'There is no other option.' It's hard to be in charge of my own life again, but I do like getting to sleep more." ·Kotie Ullimon
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