Defense

We Went Inside A Major National Guard Training Exercise To See How The Modern Army Prepares For War

Joseph Lafave Contributor
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I was lucky enough to be invited to spend some time the with 2-108th Cavalry Squadron, 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) of the Louisiana National Guard for five days to get a look at the Army’s Exportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC). Here’s what I learned about how the modern Army trains for war:

Every Training Event Builds On The Previous One

The 256th IBCT, nicknamed the “Tiger Brigade,” is made up National Guard soldiers organized into several battalions and squadrons. Their status as Guardsmen means that the majority of the soldiers are only able to train one weekend a month and the two weeks a year during annual training.

XCTC provides opportunities to hone the abilities of individual soldiers and fire teams, as well as provide the senior leadership the ability to practice their command and control skills.

Most Army training follows the sequence of “crawl, walk, run,” and that philosophy is certainly evident at XCTC.

During the first week of the training, the individual battalions train at the fire team and squad level, sending anywhere from four to twelve soldiers down Situational Training Exercise (STX, pronounced “sticks”) lanes to shoot at targets and practice skills like breaking from contact and bounding overwatches.

A Soldier with Charlie Troop, 2-108th Cavalry Squadron waits to run a STX lane at XCTC (Photo: Joseph LaFave/The Daily Caller)

A Soldier with Charlie Troop, 2-108th Cavalry Squadron waits to run a STX lane at XCTC (Photo: Joseph LaFave/The Daily Caller)

Once the soldiers on this smallest level of the organization have shown proficiency in small unit tactics, the training shifts to larger exercises at the platoon and company level, or about 50–150 soldiers. At this level, training becomes more specialized depending on the type of mission each unit is responsible for completing.

For example, the unit I was embedded with — the 2-108th cavalry Squadron — is a reconnaissance unit. Their mission is to find the enemy and observe their movements.

Other units in the Tiger Brigade, such as the 1-173rd Infantry Battalion, is designed to close with and destroy the enemy. Each training evolution at this level was designed to test the battalions on their main combat functions.

Soldiers of the 1-173rd Infantry Battalion clear a helicopter landing zone at XCTC(Photo: Joseph LaFave/The Daily Caller)

The culminating event at XCTC is the three-day Field Training Exercise (FTX), which is a simulated brigade-sized mission.

This year, the Tiger Brigade’s mission is to find and eliminate a chemical weapons facility and prevent the opposition forces (OpFor) from escaping with crucial manufacturing parts.

For this FTX, the 2-108th Cavalry will lead the way, scouting for the enemy, destroying defensive targets with a variety of weapons, and facilitating the air assault of the brigade’s infantry battalion into the chemical weapons facility. Once on the ground, it’s the infantry’s job to secure the facility and hunt down the remainder of the enemy.

To maximize realism, each soldier is equipped with the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) gear, which utilizes lasers and blank rounds to simulate combat.

When hit with an enemy laser, the MILES gear sets off an audible screech and disables to soldiers weapon. The soldier must then be brought to the rear, and the gear must be reset. The MILES gear is also equipped with GPS tracking, which allows the XCTC facilitation staff see in real time the location of every soldier on the battlefield.

After each engagement, commanders can review the data and evaluate their performance.

Specialist Rob Dove, a machine gunner in the 2-108th Cavalry Squadron wearing the MILES gear on his Kevlar helmet (Photo: Joseph LaFave/ The Daily Caller)

It is during the FTX that the skills the soldiers have perfected over the two weeks will be brought together and used to complete one very complex assignment.

The Training Is Customizable

For this year’s XCTC, the OpFor are representing a “near-peer” force, meaning they have similar weapons and capabilities as the modern U.S. Army.

Depending on global threats, however, commanders can change the composition of the OpFor to mimic any enemy force, ensuring that soldiers are as prepared as possible for real combat.

Camp Shelby, where the Louisiana National Guard’s XCTC is taking place, is over 130,000 acres in size and contains several urban training areas consisting of mock towns and villages that can be changed to look like anywhere in the world.

In its current configuration, the villages all resemble Middle Eastern hamlets and are inhabited by groups of Arabic speaking role-players, making it seem as if one is in Mesopotamia instead of south Mississippi. The commanders can even make the areas smell like different parts of the world to ensure realism.

On a moments notice, however, the urban training exercise areas can be changed to look completely different, ensuring that the training is geared towards current threats.

One of Camp Shelby's mock villages complete with role players (Photo: Joseph LaFave/The Daily Caller)

One of Camp Shelby’s mock villages complete with role players (Photo: Joseph LaFave/The Daily Caller)

Management And Relationship Building Skills Are Just As Critical As Combat Abilities

The National Guard is a unique component of the U.S. military. Although these soldiers complete the same basic and job training as their active duty counterparts and are held to the same standards, they only have about 40 days a year to train.

The limited amount of training time makes it hard for Guard commanders to test their staff. XCTC maximizes the amount of training that can be accomplished in a short period.

While basic combat skills are vital to the Brigade’s success — both in real life and in training — the management and planning skills are just as key, and in some ways, are harder to train for.

Officers of the 2-108th Cavalry Squadron conduct a "war game" exercise to plan for the FTX (Photo: Joseph LaFave/ The Daily Caller)

Officers of the 2-108th Cavalry Squadron conduct a “war game” exercise to plan for the FTX (Photo: Joseph LaFave/ The Daily Caller)

XCTC’s large size and high level of complexity offer the Tiger Brigade “tremendous flexibility” to grow the mission planning and analysis skills of the leadership staff, says Colonel William Rachal, the 256th IBCT commander.

In a state like Louisiana, which is consistently under threat from Hurricanes and other severe weather, National Guard soldiers know training is not just theoretical and that they could be called upon to perform high-level tasks such as search and rescue or urban security at a moments notice.

Being able to practice designing, planning, and executing a large mission is part of why XCTC is so essential to the National Guard’s mission. XCTC may be the only opportunity the leadership has to test themselves before they are called to respond to state-wide emergencies.

Despite Advanced Technology, Everything Still Rides On The Backs Of The Soldiers.

The MILES Gear, computer programs, advanced communication systems, and mission planning software are all important assets that give the Guard a distinct advantage over other forces throughout the world; at the end of the day, however, it’s up to the individual soldiers to go out and complete the mission.

Soldiering isn’t an easy task in the best of conditions, but for the majority of the XCTC, the temperatures soar well past 100 degrees, and a high humidity level compounds the heat. In the weeks before the final FTX, the Brigade’s medical staff treated more than one hundred soldiers for heat-related injuries.

“That’s one of the hardest parts about being out here,” says Specialist Rob Dove, a machine gunner in Headquarters Troop, 2-108th Cavalry Squadron. “It’s not just the heat, its the side effects of the heat like skin rashes and dehydration that make it especially challenging.”

It’s easy to let the glitz and glamour of the MILES technology blind you to the individual soldiers.

As one senior staff member from the Brigade told me as we were touring the exercise’s command and control center, “This is where the story is,” and to some degree, he had a point; the monitoring and mapping systems are amazing in their own right.

But unless the National Guard has men and women willing to train hard and perform under stress in extreme temperatures, the best technology in the world isn’t worth a damn.

Soldiers of Alpha Troop, 2-108th Cavalry Squadron prepare to conduct a live fire exercise at XCTC (Photo: Joseph LaFave/ The Daily Caller)

This fact is not lost on Colonel Rachal.

While speaking to me during an interview, Rachal said the performance of his soldiers is “a testament to the quality of the individuals in the National Guard. They leave their families, friends, and employers to come to do this high-level training, and then return to home as contributing members of our society.”

Rachal and the rest of the commanders in the 256th take great pride in commanding Guard soldiers, and the close-knit atmosphere that is unique to Guard units means many of the soldiers have formed friendships that have lasted for years. Events such as XCTC make those relationships stronger.

“The best part about being out here is just talking to the guys, and getting to spend time with people I wouldn’t normally meet,” says 22-year-old Private First Class Quintavian Salone, an infantryman assigned to HHT Troop, 2-108th Cavalry Squadron.

Private First Class Quintavian Salone takes a breather after a day of training (Photo: Joseph LaFave/The Daily Caller)

Private First Class Quintavian Salone takes a breather after a day of training (Photo: Joseph LaFave/The Daily Caller)

At the end of the training, the soldiers of the Tiger Brigade will be more prepared for their next challenge: their upcoming rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana in 2019.

JRTC is an extended FTX that will certify the Brigade as “combat ready” and will prepare the 256th IBCT to be deployed overseas into harm’s way. The brigade is expected to deploy in 2020, but the exact location of their deployment is still unknown.

Joseph Lafave