Train as you fight

Photo By Maj. Cody Gallo | Spc. Samuel Hyer, a sniper from 1st Battalion 184th Infantry, 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, identifies a high-value target during an area reconnaissance training mission to the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Center near Pickel Meadows, Calif., during annual training held June 7-21, 2014. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Samuel Hyer)  

CAMP ROBERTS, CA, UNITED STATES

06.10.2014

Courtesy Story

79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. – After flying for an hour and a half, two UH-60 Black Hawks touch down in a mountain meadow at almost 9,000 feet elevation. A scout sniper element from 1st Squadron 18th Cavalry moves out quickly from the LZ and disappears into the sparse vegetation. Within hours one of the snipers has eyes on the high value target, and they report back via tactical satellite radio to their Squadron Tactical Operations Center, which sits over 186 miles away, requesting engagement criteria.

For the Soldiers on the ground they might as well be in the mountains of Afghanistan as opposed to the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Center nestled high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Pickel Meadows, Calif. Soldiers from 1st Squadron 18th Cav, as well as 1-160th and 1-184th Infantry Battalions, got a taste of what it was like to operate in a rugged and unforgiving environment during annual training in June 2014.

Scout snipers from the three units were airlifted either by UH-60 Black Hawks or a CH-47 Chinook helicopter from Camp Roberts, Calif., to the LZ in order to conduct area reconnaissance for a 24-hour period.

“This has been the best training mission I’ve ever been on,” said Spc. Samuel Hyer, a sniper from the 1-184th Inf. “We appreciate the leadership giving us the freedom to use our judgment while we were up there on our mission.”

“Our leadership had this idea for a while now, and we started planning the training back in January 2014,” said Maj. Bobby Britton, civil affairs officer, 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. “A lot of preparation went into this operation such as written exams, scouting out the ranges, and coordinating aircraft to get our guys up there.”

Each of the three scout elements had a high value target that they were challenged to recon and gather information on. The remote landscape offered a perfect scenario for reconnaissance missions similar to the type that the Soldiers may be challenged with overseas. A lot of coordination behind the scenes needed to be done to get the operation off the ground, literally and figuratively.

“The Pickel Meadows operation is a perfect example of how the Brigade can resource subordinate commanders’ training,” said Col. Jeffrey Smiley, commander of the 79th IBCT. “We look for synergy, areas we can exploit to achieve multi-faceted training, and this operation allowed us to train aviation infiltration and exfiltration operations, our reconnaissance squads, and our maneuver and intelligence functions all at once through a deliberate targeting process.”

The multi-echelon training event engaged the brigade targeting working group, and the battalion-level intelligence sections along with the maneuver elements to develop a concept of the operation (CONOP) that exercised the complete targeting process, which cycles around the actions of decide, detect, deliver, and assess.

“The operation was a perfect example of using a single opportunity to train the entire Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) enterprise,” continued Col. Smiley. “This maximizes our training dollars, builds teams and uses our limited resource in the most productive way.”

“Operations such as this require intensive mission planning,” said Hyer. “Our leadership and our guys did an outstanding job preparing us for the challenges of operating in the cold weather and high elevation.”

Safety of the men was a top priority since the planning phase, and according to Hyer, the medic ensured the safety of his team by carrying IV’s in case severe dehydration occurred. Hyer went on to praise the support his team got from the 1-140th Aviation Battalion for providing the airlift and highly trained pilots that got them to their LZ, as well as the prior intelligence collected and imagery they were provided.

This was the first time the 79th IBCT has undertaken a mission to the MWTC, but the benefits of doing it again are already evident.

“This prepares our Soldiers for any type of conflict, they did a great job up there,” continued Britton. “We’d love to do it again and add some new elements to it such as a night insertion and elongate the time on station up there to two or three days.”

The Army challenges its Soldiers to be proficient in their individual warrior tasks and skills for the sake of the men fighting next to him. This training evolution was a prime example of how the confidence and knowledge of each man benefited the entire team and ultimately led to success in a multi-echelon collective task.

• Date Taken: 06.10.2014
• Date Posted: 06.27.2014 14:35
• Story ID: 134725
• Location: CAMP ROBERTS, CA, US