 Firefighters from the Illinois Fire Service Institute, based at the University of Illinois, came to Fort McCoy to train U.S. Army Reserve firefighters. The first few days of their training was in the classroom. They learned how to read their gauges, fuel their trucks, and how to operate their equipment. We've got some soldiers in the class that are getting ready to be deployed, and so they will be responsible for providing protection for both the bases that they're going to operate at and also their flight lines and buildings. Most state-side fire departments on Army installations are contracted out to civilian firefighters, but in deployed areas, the military has their own firefighters. This class was important for these soldiers because many of them had never seen these trucks before this class. So they do several aspects of training, including learning how to drive the apparatus, learning how to pump it, learning how to utilize the mobile water supply apparatus to deliver water from in areas where they don't have fire hydrants or may not have good water supplies to the... The soldiers finally got in their trucks and learned how to operate them. Everything from driving to operating the water cannons. After the familiarization, they then put everything they learned to use. They drove the trucks, came to a stop, fired their water cannons at a decommissioned chanoog. After that, they drove around and then sprayed the helicopter as they were moving. Oh, it was fun. It was really fun learning how to, like, move a turret to it and, like, while you're driving. It was harder the first time, but the second time you got the hang of it, it was actually pretty easy. Oh, I'd recommend it. If you could be a firefighter, be a firefighter. After this class was over, the firefighters were fully certified and are ready for deployment. Reporting from Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, I'm Sergeant Bill Washburn.