Spc. Lucas Nieddu finished the 27-question land navigation test.  He seemed pleased with himself.

"The hardest part of the day for me so far has been getting up," he said with a big, confident smile.  "But hey, we're getting the hard part of our work done early."

Nieddu - along with Pfc. Travis Stewart, Pvt. Justine Prine, Spc. Jamie Olivo, Spc. Nick Nicholson and Spc. Randy Ascar - had gotten up early one morning last week to do what is standard operating procedure for the 3rd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment.

These six Soldiers comprise Charlie Company's 2nd Detachment, Team 2.

An integral part of the 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade (BfSB), 3rd squadron was reactivated last October.

The squadron's mission is to conduct information collection, target acquisition and interdiction operation in support of unified land operations at the Corps level. There are only two other units like it in the Army.

To remain mission ready, the squadron constantly hones its skills through the use of simple but effective training scenarios in preparation for the myriad of contingencies it may confront.

"We look for our deficiencies, and then we train to overcome them," said Lt. Col. Mark Aitken, the squadron's commander, as he worked alongside his troopers. "And we've got some future training planned that will definitely benefit the unit and the Army."

Eighteen teams comprised of six troopers apiece began their day before the sun thought about rising. 

"They'll run a mile-and-half," Capt. Chris Freeman, 201st BfSB, said as he watched the squadron assemble. "Then it's off to facing a number of challenges designed to sharpen their skills."

The run completed, each team member had to break down his or her M4, successfully transmit a radio message, perform battlefield first aid and then call in a helicopter for a medical evacuation.

"We're doing pretty well on time; we're moving right along," Stewart volunteered as maps, protractors and tests were handed out.

Yes, they were.  Then Team 2 began to work on the aforementioned land navigation test.

Judging from the time it took Nieddu and his teammates to complete the test, it definitely taxed their abilities.

The sun was up by now.

So was getting up early the hardest thing he had done?  

"No," Nieddu replied as we began the run back to the start point.  "This test was tough, but we'll learn from it and just keep getting better as we go along."