If you have no combat experience, the only way to get it is in combat. Stupid article.
Not the best way, though: usually you pair new guys with blooded, experienced NCOs if there's any chance at all of combat, particularly combat with a larger force. Infantry combat is not one of things where you throw somebody into the water to see if he can swim. I am a combat veteran and Thank God we had Korean War combat vets to guide us through those first firefights.
It makes me wonder what the heck the leadership in the chain of command was thinking. Either no one expected contact or somebody screwed up, big time.