Bulldogs maintain combat readiness with Iron Focus 18.1

Photo By Staff Sgt. John Onuoha | OROGRANDE, New Mexico - Infantrymen with 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, observe opposing force (OPFOR) troops from an observation point during Iron Focus 18.1 field training exercise here March 22, 2018. Iron Focus 18.1 FTX is designed to prepare 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, for National Training Center rotation 18-08, and it enables the commander to focus leadership, training and resources on improving 3rd ABCT’s combat readiness to meet future contingency requirements. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. John Onuoha)  

OROGRANDE, NM, UNITED STATES

03.29.2018

Story by Sgt. John Onuoha 

24th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

OROGRANDE, N.M. (March 19-29, 2018) – Soldiers with the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, conducted Iron Focus 18.1 field training exercise March 19-29 at the training site here.

Iron Focus is designed to prepare the “Bulldogs” for the upcoming rotation at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. The exercise enables the commander to focus leadership, training and resources on improving 3rd ABCT’s combat readiness to meet future contingency requirements.

“I would say it is designed for just that; to test the capabilities of the units,” said Staff Sgt. Nathan Jackson, an infantryman with 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1AD, who participated as part of the opposition force.

This is the most significant training event to support and prepare Soldiers in the division for future operations, said Maj. Wesley Knight, a military intelligence officer and an operations planner for Iron Focus 18.1 with 3rd ABCT.

Training during Iron Focus allowed Soldiers to refine their skills in urban warfare, combined live-fire exercises, helicopter-integration during missions, management of indirect fire, maneuvering on the battlefield, closing on an objective and seizing the target, said Jackson.

As an armored brigade, 3rd ABCT's combined arms training exercise involved Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, field artillery assets and attack helicopters.

Soldiers practiced how to tactically maneuver through villages that contained insurgents, effectively removing them from the area while ensuring the safety of the local population, said Sgt. Joshua Powers, an infantryman with 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 3rd ABCT, 1AD.

After each mission, units assessed their faults and used them as a learning tool, Jackson said. They simulated a realistic combat environment to ensure Soldiers understood the importance of resilience in combat.

“It’s good to test the mettle of both units in the same area,” Powers said. “Because at one point, if stuff starts kicking off, we are all going to be deployed together.”

Despite how challenging Iron Focus 18.1 was, Soldiers at every level were able to learn something valuable from the Observer Controller Trainers (OCT) evaluation.

“You go through life thinking you are great,” Knight said. “When you look in the mirror, you see yourself but when you have someone else looking at you, they can see the good, the bad and the ugly, and they can highlight those for you.”

Powers said the variety of training offered during Iron Focus 18.1 was his favorite thing about it. It also taught Soldiers the value of flexibility and camaraderie in combat.

“For a lot of these guys, this is the first time that they’re getting to do this, and they are beyond motivated to be out here,” Powers said.

• Date Taken: 03.29.2018
• Date Posted: 03.29.2018 17:56
• Story ID: 271159
• Location: OROGRANDE, NM, US