KILLEEN, Texas (FOX 44) – Over 4,000 soldiers are involved in the wet gap crossing training, with a process of securing beach head and establishing security needs to ensure all personnel and heavy machinery make it to the other side.

“My platoon will be up here in the woods. We will establish all the security needs, 4 to 8 and other units to bring… tanks, any engineer assets we might need on the north side,” says First Platoon Sergeant Lucas Amyx.

Wet gap crossing directly impacts large scale combat operations, many units stationed in Europe practice this type of crossing repeatedly.

“Half of my platoon is mechanized. So I’m out here with basically two squads. So it’s a challenge as a platoon sergeant to how do I facilitate what needs to be done with essentially half the size element,” says Sergeant Amyx.

Fort Cavazos has been planning this operation for three weeks. Including operations and trop lead procedures to ensure each man and woman knows their position in the objective.Crossing over bodies of water is not typically for the army — but necessary training for versatility.