Red Currahee Soldiers assault village during NIE

Photo By Luis Deya | Soldiers from Dealer Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment (Red Currahee), 101st Airborne Division patrol a training village Oct. 5 during a ground assault training exercise in New Mexico. The 506th was at Fort Bliss testing communications equipment as part of the Network Integration Evaluation 16.1.  

EL PASO, TX, UNITED STATES

10.05.2015

Story by Staff Sgt. Corinna Baltos 

U.S. Army North

MCGREGOR RANGE, N.M. –The village of Zamania was quiet late in the afternoon of Oct. 5. Local men loitered in the streets and in stores. There were no women or children around. Earlier that day the locals killed a squad of U.S. Soldiers sent to conduct reconnaissance of the village, and they were expecting more.

A lone figure walked into the town, she was an outsider. As she approached the center of town a group of approximately 30 men assembled in a loose formation in front of her and began chanting, “Allah Akbar,” and “Death to America”. As she stared at them she smiled as she heard the sound of Valkyries riding in the form of helicopters from 1st Battalion 506th Infantry Regiment, (Red Currahee). The mob realized that this figure was Al-Mumit, the bringer of death. Hoping to stay away from her clutches they scrambled for cover in the buildings and began to fire their weapons in a futile effort to down the helicopters and stop the onslaught of American Soldiers that would soon overwhelm them.

This was the scenario that played out in the New Mexico desert during one of the last evaluations of Network Integration Evaluation, or NIE 16.1. More than 9,000 U.S. and coalition Soldiers participated in NIE 16.1, which was held Sept. 25 to Oct. 8.

“For the last few weeks the 506th has been testing the communications equipment, so this exercise will allow them to test both their tactics and the equipment in a real world situation,” said Sgt. 1st Class Leander Williams, one of the observer controllers of the exercise.

During the assault most of the communication was done through hand signals and yelling. However, thanks to technology the Soldiers were able to 'see' what was happening to their Soldiers and relay messages back and forth from those on the ground to the commanders away from the fight.

Leaders used an end user device attached to their body armor, which enabled them to see the location of their Soldiers, and see if they were alive or dead.

Despite being less organized the enemy put up a good fight, but at the end of the day, due to superior communications, tactics and man-power, Red Currahee took the village and achieved their objective.

• Date Taken: 10.05.2015
• Date Posted: 10.08.2015 15:21
• Story ID: 178497
• Location: EL PASO, TX, US