Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Klutts | U.S. Army Cpl. Ryan J. Moore, a team leader with A Company, 1st Battalion, 509th...... read more read more
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FORT POLK, La. - For more than 10 years of war, Geronimo Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne) were the resident opposing force at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La.
There they learned to create mock-up improvised explosive devices, strap fake suicide bombs to their chests, and create chaos with fast ambushes and faster escapes – all in an effort to train brigade combat teams heading to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now, the complexity of a training exercise at JRTC is much greater.
Lt. Col. Matthew Tackett, commander of 1st Bn., 509th Inf. Reg. (A), said that in the new decisive action training environment, units have to navigate through a web of key players: a host nation government, foreign police and military units, all working among a divided civilian population in a simulated foreign country.
To do so, brigade combat teams must work with other U.S. elements, like federal agencies and special operations forces.
“My job is to do everything I can to desynchronize their fight, harass them, and push them as close as we can to failure,” said Tackett, a Boston native.
As training evolves for the units that visit JRTC, so must the opposing force they fight.
“Basically, I’m the senior bad guy. I get a task and purpose to win just like the brigade does,” he said.
Flanked by concertina wire and a demolished pickup truck, Tackett explained why his unit was the “most hated battalion” in the U.S. Army.
Geronimo Soldiers are used to being the underdog. They are routinely outnumbered 4-to-1 as they go up against light and airborne brigade combat teams from across the Army.
What they lack in numbers, they make up for in their unique composition that includes a near-peer military, insurgent cells that carry out guerrilla warfare, and a crime family that corrupts the government.
The near-peer threat replicates a foreign force with combat capabilities similar to the U.S. – infantry, armor, aviation, special operations and cyber to name a few. Tackett said the near-peer opposing force tests all of a brigade’s assets.
“If they synchronize all their enablers, a brigade combat team can win every single time,” he said.
Geronimo’s capabilities allow them to attack the brigade on every front, including a battle for information. Using what Tackett calls “red media,” the opposing force creates blogs and a notionally state-run newspaper to sway the public and deceive the brigade’s leadership.
Geronimo also employs hackers to stress the importance of a unit’s security in cyberspace.
For large-scale battles, planners at Operations Group create a scenario that includes the opposing force’s resources and a general timeline while Geronimo Soldiers decide how to attack.
“The one big thing that we’ve got going for us is that we usually don’t have our hands tied,” said 1st Sgt. Joshua Morgan, company first sergeant for B Company, 1st Bn., 509th Inf. Reg. (A).
Morgan said he and his Soldiers look for weaknesses, like a unit that rushes through a danger area or Soldiers asleep on guard.
“When we see things like that, we hit ‘em with everything we’ve got to try to teach them a lesson, and hopefully people leave here learning the right thing,” he said.
Tackett said that if a unit is going to fail, it’s better to happen at JRTC than in combat.
“In the year I’ve been in command, we have seen brigades getting better, and that’s based off the lessons I think they’re sharing across the Army,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.23.2014 10:26 |
| Story ID: | 127219 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LA, US |
| Hometown: | BOSTON, MA, US |
| Web Views: | 3,399 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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