Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 29th Infantry Division (Light) got down and dirty at Fort A.P. Hill this week as part of their two-week annual training.

The 29th, an Army National Guard division, was one of the units that stormed Omaha Beach June 6, 1944. It was inactivated in 1968 but was reactivated as a light infantry division Sept. 30, 1985, with National Guard units from Maryland and Virginia. The division was reorganized in October 1996 and units from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey put on the "Blue and Gray" Division's patch.

As part of their two-week annual training, the soldiers of the regiment went through a division exercise at Fort Pickett, Va., then traveled to A.P. Hill for the second week.

While at A.P. Hill they went through annual range-qualification and physical-training tests, but also had the chance for what Sgt. 1st Class William Puskar called "the fun stuff, the adrenaline-rush events" like survival training, training in small-boat operations and simulating an ambush using live ammunition.

"That's the stuff the guys come in for -- the stuff that makes this job great," Puskar, platoon sergeant for 1st Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, said.

Training for war as a light fighter pushes soldiers to the limit, according to Maj. Robert A. Hunt, commander of the "Stonewall Brigade's" 1st Bn. 116th Inf., but he said the quality of his soldiers is equal to any unit in the Army, active-duty or reserve-component.

"We have a lot of college students and former active-duty soldiers, some with combat experience, and their intensity is incredible. They want to come here and get a lot done, and I can tell you that even the most-junior soldiers here really push the senior leaders," he said.

"And that's good, that keeps everyone -- from the team leader to the senior staff -- on their toes. That's the way it should be," he said.

Good realistic training is the key to a soldier's success if called on to fight for real, he added, and Hunt said his soldiers expect realism in everything they do.

Having that commitment to realism is paying off Hunt said. The exercise was evaluated by soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.

"The [evaluators] came in and right off gave us feedback, and it was positive. I think they were impressed, and that means a lot coming from them. And the guys just fed off that. ... I think we've made great strides in the National Guard in the last six years or so, and we're starting to get a lot more respect from the active-component soldiers," he said.

According to Staff Sgt. Mark McGhee, of Company B, 1st Bn., 116th Inf., realistic training also has an impact on morale -- allowing soldiers to feel the recoil of an M16, or the ground shake after a claymore mine explodes.

He said the more exposure troops have to that, the less of a shock it is in combat, and it's up to the non-commissioned officers to ensure the troops are ready for anything.

"After all, they aren't here for us, we're here for them, and that's something no NCO can forget," he said.

As light infantry, or light fighters as they call themselves, the men of the 29th ID (Light), have a one primary mode of transportation according to Puskar, and that's their feet.

He said that there is a difference between any light fighters and their brothers-in-arms in the mechanized forces. "These guys are self-sufficient out there in the field," said Puskar, a veteran of combat in Grenada with the 82nd Airborne Division. "Everything a light fighter has, he carries on his back, so there's not a lot of extraneous stuff carried with us. We have a saying, 'Travel light, freeze at night,'" he said.

For 2nd Lt. Michael Gilligan, Puskar's platoon leader, there is no doubt about what is the best job in the Army. "Light infantry is the only way to go," the 22-year-old said. "It's a challenge every day, but at the end of a day, after all the rounds have been fired and the guys are all back safe, you can look back with pride at having humped several kilometers and accomplished the mission, and [you] have a lot of pride," he said.

Training in high heat and humidity, sometimes rehashing training they get every month, isn't always glamorous, but the thrill of going out with the platoon and conducting a mission is what brings it all together, Puskar said. "This is like a brotherhood. We really bond out here," he explained.

After an exercise in which his platoon air inserted by UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, then executed a live-fire ambush, 20-year-old Pvt. Adam Herstine, an assistant M60 gunner in 1st Platoon, Company C, 1st Bn., 116th Inf., summed up why he enjoys his duty in the 29th. "The Army is the only place you get paid to do things like this, and it's a real rush."