Soldiers Learn Survival Skills at Jungle Training Center

US soldier training at the JTC. Source: Hawaii News

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — On a hilltop nestled deep in the Wahiawa jungle, Staff Sgt. Jeff Bermudez, US Army reminded his students, laden with gear and rifles, that despite their imminent task to rappel down a 60-foot drop to flatter ground, they’re lucky.

“A little while ago, it was raining, and this ground would’ve been slicker than goose grease,” he told his trainees, who eyed the rope and small tree they’d soon rely on to buffer gravity.

Bermudez, a cadre instructor, teaches hasty rappel in addition to several other courses, including communications and how to counter improvised explosive devices, at the 25th Infantry Division’s Lightning Academy Jungle Operations Training Center, which is almost two years old.