Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Sierra A. Melendez | Pfc. Lawrence T. Pearson, an automatic rifleman, Company C, 1st Battalion, 178th...... read more read more
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FORT POLK, La. - It not uncommon for an Army National Guard unit to have their annual training, a two-week or more period where guardsmen brush up and test their warrior and occupational specialty skills, in one of many military training centers located around the world.
For Company C, of the 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment headquartered in Chicago, the same holds true for their 2016 training. The unit was tasked with completing their annual training, or AT, requirements at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana, for the better part of February.
Their rotation is unique in that they were tasked to take on the role of Geronimo, the elite urban fighting training unit of the 1st battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment. The purpose of Geronimo is to provide American and allied troops with realistic opposition forces during rotations in ‘the box’, the 14-day force-on-force fighting scenario created to better prepare troops for situations they may encounter in the battlefield.
The Soldiers of Company C spent the past few months training for this rotation under the impression that they would be blue force, or friendly forces. They didn’t find out until they arrived to Fork Polk in early February that they would attack blue forces.
“We spent the last few of our drill weekends with the end state being ‘how can we defeat the enemy’,” said Staff Sgt. Devin Waterstradt, platoon sergeant, 2nd platoon, Company C, 1st Bn., 178th Inf. Reg. “Then we get here, and we find out we are the enemy. We weren’t prepared for it, but it has helped us think on our toes.”
Waterstradt said it has created a challenging and exciting experience wearing a hat so different than what they normally do.
“You know, you always conduct these rehearsal drills to create that muscle memory,” said Waterstradt. “But now we’ve had to reverse that muscle memory. It has definitely been interesting.”
Although Company C, is portraying the enemy, their leadership has turned this into a unique opportunity to give their unit a perspective that many others do not get exposure to.
“It has completely changed our way of thinking,” said 1st Lt. Jonathan K. Logemann, platoon leader for 2nd platoon, Company C., 1st Bn., 178th Inf. Reg. “My hope is that we take this new train of thought, and use it to put ourselves two-steps ahead of the enemy in a real world scenario. We’ve lived like them, we’ve thought like them, and now we can use this to defeat them.”
Performing a 180 on their instilled way of Soldiering has posed some challenges for Logemann and his platoon along the way.
“We’ve had to force ourselves to get into the mindset of an insurgent,” said Logemann. “It’s second nature for us to exercise U.S. Army doctrine, so it’s been a constant reminder to get back to, ‘no, you’re the enemy’.”
Roleplaying aside, Waterstradt says he is just grateful for the realistic training his Soldiers have been exposed to.
“A lot of these guys haven’t deployed yet,” said Waterstradt. “Training here has given them a taste of what it’s like to patrol a village or look out for suspicious activity. Being in the Guard, we don’t get a lot of it and I wish we could do things similar more often.”
Spc. David Garcia, an automatic rifleman with the company, was a man of few words when asked about the training thus far.
“It has been a lot of fun,” said Garcia. “It’s been really good training for us.”
| Date Taken: | 02.22.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.02.2016 17:56 |
| Story ID: | 190900 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LA, US |
| Hometown: | CHICAGO, IL, US |
| Hometown: | FORT JOHNSON, LA, US |
| Web Views: | 248 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Behind Enemy Lines: 1-178th Infantry use OPFOR as unique training tool, by SFC Sierra A. Melendez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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