Texans tackle torrential tides: Guardsmen get geared up for war game

Photo By Michael Vanpool | Spc. James Hansell and Spc. Paul Clay, satellite transportable terminal operators with the communications section of the 36th Infantry Division, perform operational checks on the satellite during the division's Warfighter exercise, June 11. In the weeks before the exercise started May 29, the soldiers in the communications section positioned the satellite, strung nearly five miles of ethernet wire, and set up a secured network. Guardsmen with the intelligence and operations sections also prepared the area for the exercise, so that that the staff could have maximum time during the combat simulation. (Texas Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Michael Vanpool, 36th Infantry Division Public Affairs//Released)  

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

06.11.2015

Story by Sgt. Michael Vanpool 

36th Infantry Division (TXARNG)

FORT HOOD, Texas – The field was empty, except for a few tents. As far as the Guardsmen knew, it was safe to begin work. Dozens of Soldiers of the 36th Infantry Division, Texas Army National Guard, wired the tents and prepared the infrastructure for the division’s combat simulation known as Warfighter at Fort Hood, Texas.

The clouds attempted to thwart their efforts as it dropped millions of its liquid invaders on the field, and across the state. The sky shot bolts of pure electricity, attacking unsuspecting targets on the ground.

“There were tornado warnings and so much rain,” said Spc. Michael Queen, a joint network node operator with the communications section, 36th Infantry Division. “We would have to run inside during that and wait to finish the work.”

The daily thunderstorms and threat of flooding did not deter the Soldiers, whose mission had to be completed before the rest of the division staff would arrive May 29. Queen and other Guardsmen with the communications, operations, and intelligence sections got everything set in the weeks before so that the area would be ready for Warfighter.

"We pretty much worked off and on for 24 hours a day to make sure it was ready when everyone got here," said Spc. Dylan Peacock, with Warfighter support in the operations section of the 36th Infantry Division.

The support team transported 16 large and 18 medium deployable rapid assembly shelters (DRASHs), 12 sets of generators, and a literal ton of cables from Camp Mabry in Austin to the Mission Command Training Complex on Fort Hood, said Sgt. Juan Ponce de Leon, with Warfighter support for the 36th Infantry Division.

Before everything was moved to Fort Hood, the Warfighter support team set up every tent, started every generator, and inventoried every piece of equipment.

“Everything was built completely before to make sure it was all good to go," Peacock said. "We did a full setup to work out the kinks so that everything would be when they got here."

The DRASHs were erected to guarantee refuge from the elements for the Warfighters, but that was only step one. The exercise relied on a secret communications network so that the computers and their operators could be in constant contact.

The Soldiers of Signal Company, Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 36th Infantry Division, created the network prior to the division's command post exercise in April. All of the computers and workstations were connected by nearly five miles of Ethernet wire hung along the inside walls of the tents.

If the support team hadn't performed the hard work, "it would take at least two, maybe three, days to do if everyone was helping and it all went right," said Ponce de Leon.

Throughout the month of May, the support team stayed at Fort Hood to polish the final intricacies of a preparing for a division-wide exercise. That was when the sky revolted and betrayed the Soldiers who were confined to the ground below.

Power proved to be the biggest hurdle. The computers and various system required extensive energy, Ponce de Leon said. The support team maintained the generators and power cables and fixed any problem that occurred with them.

Every morning, the advanced echelon would awaken, after a deluge of rain fell throughout the night. The grounds of the Mission Command Training Complex would greet them with freshly-made mud.

"It would rain all night, then the sun would be out with 100 percent humidity," said Peacock. "We muscled through it though."

The high-powered ultraviolet rays from our solar mother tried in vain to absorb the moisture from the soft, sticky mire.

Fortunately, the ditches prevented the tents, radars, and trucks from drowning in a barrage of rain as waterways flooded in the Lone Star State.

"The work needed to be done whether or not it was raining," Queen said. "We all worked hard to make sure it was ready."

The morning of the May 29, the 36th Infantry Division staff arrived to their shelter tents to see wires strung and hear the burr of generators. A little mud and a few puddles were the only remnants of the battle against nature.

• Date Taken: 06.11.2015
• Date Posted: 06.12.2015 16:50
• Story ID: 166462
• Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US