In 'the box' at Fort Irwin

Photo By Cynthia McIntyre | The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. holds a public tour of "the box" several times a year, including this one on Aug. 14, to demonstrate the center's high-tech capabilities as well as its realistic training scenarios. "The box" is the training area itself, complete with a Middle Eastern village and authentic role-players, mock firefights and explosions, and an after-action review by the officers and enlisted to evaluate their decisions.  

BARSTOW, CA, UNITED STATES

08.27.2015

Story by Cynthia McIntyre 

Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow

U. S. Army Soldiers dressed for combat drove down the main street of Ujen, a fictional town with a Middle Eastern flavor. Dozens of tourists looked down from a viewing area at an open-air market with shopkeepers selling vegetables, pottery, and raw meat as the Humvees rolled through. Suddenly an explosion startled the onlookers, and the shopkeepers disappeared. From a second-story window a man wearing a keffiyah and ball cap took potshots at the soldiers, who had already stopped to return fire. An LUH-72A Lakota helicopter whirred overhead, while flames from the barrel end of the M16 rifles and smoke from explosions added to the chaos.

Instead of fleeing, the tourists took photographs and listened to a blow-by-blow description of the fighting from a loudspeaker.

This was what it was like on Aug. 14 during a public tour of 'the box' at Fort Irwin's National Training Center north of Barstow, Calif. The combat was a re-creation of 'free play' training that occurs regularly in and around this authentic-styled village that constitutes 'the box.'

The visitors ranged from a tourist from Spain, to military veterans and new Army recruits. They were first greeted outside the main gate by Col. Scott Taylor, the new Fort Irwin garrison commander, who gave a brief overview of the NTC's mission.

"We do 10 rotations a year out here," said Taylor. A rotation is when a unit comes to NTC from its home base, taking with it the vehicles and equipment necessary for the month-long training cycle, usually several months prior to deployment overseas. These rotations involve moving tanks and heavy equipment through the railhead at the Yermo Annex, Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif.

"Guys are living hard, they're eating MREs (meals, ready to eat), they're living in these rough conditions, and they're fighting," said Taylor. "It's a continuous battle. We call it 'free play' - the opposing forces can attack at any time. There's no restrictions placed on them. We do have rules of engagement."

Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Martin, commanding general, National Training Center and Fort Irwin, presented a briefing on why NTC is the Army's premiere training facility.

"The only reason we exist is to train and build brigade level (units)," Martin emphasized. "Think of 5,600 person organizations with about 2,200 vehicles. You can't do that where those units come from because you don't have the space, you don't have the capability we have here. We create an environment that's more complex than anything that exists out there, so that when they get to that fight they can not only adapt, they can prevail."

He said the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment plays the role of a professional opposition force. "The 11th ACR exists here to fight and win against the rotational training units that come. They create a very difficult environment for the rotational training units to win in."

The NTC uses about 600 observers, coaches and trainers who use high-tech capabilities that track every vehicle, record radio communications, look inside all of the buildings, and follow hundreds of Soldiers to allow a highly detailed after-action review.

"We can show a Soldier what they did so that we can focus on what went right, what went wrong, and how can we improve upon that," explained Martin.

"This is what separates us from the rest of the world for the most part. Nowhere else will you find in the Army where you can put the commander of a unit in the room where he can introspectively talk about his failures in front of his subordinates."

Martin extolled the "unmatched realism" of the NTC's urban battlefield - the role-players of Middle Eastern descent who play the parts of shopkeepers, imams, community leaders, and other civilians; the real-life amputees who wear moulage kits simulating torn limbs, complete with fake blood; and the sounds and smells ranging from chai tea to rotting human remains.

The training ends with a brigade live fire. "They use their real weapons systems; it increases their confidence," emphasized Martin. "We can drop anything the U.S. Air Force has, and we can shoot anything the United States Army has as long as it doesn't produce an environmental hazard."

After lunch in the dining hall, the air-conditioned bus took the visitors to Ujen. Armed combat Soldiers greeted them and led them through the village where shopkeepers, backdropped by Arabic style writing on the walls, aggressively hawked their wares. Cameras snapped away; there was no problem with operational security here.
Once the visitors were in the observation area, the combat scenario played out for about 15 minutes. Following the after-action report, visitors were allowed to fire the weapons. Even though it was like watching a polished Hollywood production, the undercurrent of meaning was always there.

These men and women will soon put their lives on the line in a real country, facing real bullets and grenades, and maybe watching people like themselves, or like the civilians that came to watch, suffer and die.

Fort Irwin is not your average tourist destination in the Mojave Desert. But it is one that is sure to leave a meaningful impression for those who tour 'the box.'

• Date Taken: 08.27.2015
• Date Posted: 09.02.2015 16:43
• Story ID: 175062
• Location: BARSTOW, CA, US