Engineer helps protect training area through firebreak mission

Before live-fire training can safely continue, Soldiers must help reduce the risk of fires spreading across the training area.

For U.S. Army Cpl. Kamarion Moore, that meant supporting range control during a firebreak exercise at the Novo Selo Training Area in Bulgaria. Assigned to 3rd Platoon, 571st Combat Engineer Company, Moore helped clear terrain designed to limit the spread of wildfires in an area where repeated military training can quickly turn dry vegetation into a safety concern.

A firebreak is a cleared path through vegetation that helps slow or stop a fire’s movement by removing fuel from its path. On a training area with active ranges, heavy equipment and live-fire events, that work helps protect both the force and the land they train on.

“Basically, just cutting through the forest to prevent forest fires,” Moore said. “By creating these firebreaks, we’re helping range control lessen that risk. It protects the training area and makes it safer for other units training.”

The Tallahassee, Florida native has served in the Army for four years and said the decision to join came from growing up around military service. His stepfather served in the Marine Corps, and that family connection helped shape his own path into uniform.

“Family’s a big part,” he said. “I grew up in a military family, so that’s really why I joined.”

Although Moore serves in a combat engineer company, his specific military occupational specialty is 12N horizontal construction engineer. Rather than focusing solely on demolition or breaching, his work centers on equipment and earthmoving, skills that become especially important during missions like creating firebreaks.

The job put him around machinery he had not previously operated and gave him a way to step outside what felt familiar.

“I wanted to do something different and out of my comfort zone, ” he said.

That willingness to take on unfamiliar work became part of what he enjoys most about the engineering field. During missions like the firebreak exercise, horizontal construction engineers can use heavy equipment to move earth, shape terrain and support broader training objectives.

“My favorite thing about this job is being able to operate the heavy equipment, like the dozers and dump trucks and stuff like that,” Moore said.

The 571st Combat Engineer Company arrived in Bulgaria in April for a rotation expected to last about nine months. While much of the Army’s overseas training is often seen through live-fire ranges or maneuver exercises, support work such as firebreak construction plays an important role in keeping those events safe and sustainable.

“With all the ranges and training going on out here, it’s easy for fires to start,” he said. “For us, it's really important to come out here and cut through the ranges to prevent as much fire spread as we can.”

For Moore, the engineer field also offers practical skills that extend beyond the Army and that is part of what makes the career field valuable for Soldiers considering their options after service.

“It’s a good experience, because you do jobs that can be applied to civilian life,” he said. “With us, we get the opportunity to dig with heavy equipment, so if you’ve never done that before, that’s a great trade to have.”

Moore said he is taking his Army career one contract at a time, but he has considered staying in long enough to retire. For now, the focus remains on the work in front of him: supporting the mission, learning his trade and gaining experience he can use in or out of uniform.

When asked what he would tell someone thinking about joining the Army, his answer was simple.

“Give it a chance,” he said. “Try something new.”

For a Soldier who joined to follow a family example and chose engineering to push beyond his comfort zone, the firebreak mission in Bulgaria offered a clear example of what Army engineers bring to the field: practical skill, heavy equipment experience and the ability to keep training areas ready for the units that depend on them.