Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Klutts | U.S. Army Spc. Jake M. Ciesynski, a team leader with 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry...... read more read more
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FORT POLK, La. - According to a U.S. Department of State estimate, roughly 6.8 million Americans live abroad. But what happens when security deteriorates?
U.S. forces, led by the Department of State, have assisted in the evacuation of American citizens from foreign countries before and at various scales – nearly 15,000 personnel from Lebanon in 2006 to 120 from South Sudan in 2013.
In April, U.S. Army Soldiers worked with federal agency role-players and the U.S. Air Force to evacuate noncombatants from a notional country at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La.
The evacuation training was part of a broader decisive action training exercise used Army-wide to test a unit’s ability to simultaneously conduct offensive, defensive and stability operations while providing defense support to civil authorities.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Michael King, director of interagency training at JRTC, said the scenario starts with an endangered U.S. consulate, where the Department of State, Agency for International Development, the U.N. Office of Civil Humanitarian Assistance and others typically operate in a foreign country.
Amid an uprising against the host nation government, local guards left their posts. The consul general called the Department of State for help.
To provide short-term and immediate security, a detachment of Green Berets and a small support unit of less than 100 Soldiers from 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) deployed from Fort Campbell, Ky., to the consulate.
Since special operations forces are not designed to conduct sustained, large-scale operations – enter more than 4,000 Soldiers with Task Force Yukon, predominately comprised of paratroopers with 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division.
“I believe that the way things are going in the world right now this could be a very real situation for any of us,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Beliel, a squad leader with B Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment (Airborne).
Beliel and other members of Blackfoot Company established an emergency evacuation center inside a hotel near the consulate. U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers with 407th Civil Affairs Battalion, including Spc. Alex Lind, assisted the infantrymen.
The exercise was Lind’s first training experience with a conventional force unit like 4-25 IBCT (A).
He said, “There’s a lot going on and it can get over your head sometimes. But just realizing the big picture…it’s kind of cool.”
Dozens of civilian role-players assumed fake identities for the scenario. U.S. travelers, Brits and Pakistanis on business along with others waited around the hotel for a medical and security screening prior to evacuation.
“Without the role-players, we don’t have that organic, natural feel,” Lind said. “These guys come in here, they bring a very serious level to it. Each person is different. Each person is unique and they all have their own story.”
A civilian protest, enemy artillery and a notional heart attack all added to the complexity of the scenario, testing new leaders like 2nd Lt. Paul C. Warner, a platoon leader with Blackfoot Company.
Warner and his unit rehearsed noncombatant evacuation operations before the exercise, but the civilian role-players at the Joint Readiness Training Center added a human dimension to the task.
“With the state department and the actual role-players, they’re throwing us curve balls, keeping us on our toes and they’re not letting us off the hook when things are getting tough,” said Warner, a Castleton, N.Y., native.
Warner smiled as he walked down the last line of evacuees, checking names off his list as he verified their baggage. A hundred yards ahead, a C-130 from the 19th Airlift Wing out of Little Rock Air Force Base, Ala., started its engines.
Though finished with evacuations, the paratroopers with 4-25 IBCT (A) were less than four days into a 14-day exercise. Within a couple hours, medics face a measles outbreak, the city prepares for an enemy attack, and successful evacuations become a win of the past.
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.17.2014 15:36 |
| Story ID: | 126478 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LA, US |
| Hometown: | CASTLETON ON HUDSON, NY, US |
| Hometown: | EAGLE RIVER, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 968 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Paratroopers train to evacuate noncombatants, by SFC Christopher Klutts, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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