Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Kris Bonet | Pfc. Michael Bryers, an automatic rifleman with 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment,...... read more read more
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OROGRANDE, N.M. (March 22, 2018) – The blue sky is an image that has plenty of meaning to infantrymen. Underneath the desert sun of Orogrande Range Complex, a blue sky means that God loves the infantry. However, it wasn’t love these infantrymen were ready to give their opposing force waiting 15 kilometers northwest of their position.
Soldiers with 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, participated in a simulated firefight at the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility in Orogrande March 22, 2018.
The firefight was part of Iron Focus 18.1, a major training event designed to prepare 3rd ABCT for an upcoming National Training Center rotation at Fort Irwin, California.
“The mission today is to attack and seize the village of ‘Zambraniyah’ in order to defeat ‘Donovian’ aggression in our area of operations,” said 1st Lt. Iván Martínez, the battalion logistics planner for 4th Bn., 6th Inf. Regt. “Our line companies are ready to conduct this attack and seize the objective. They’ve been instructed to do so with violence and aggression.”
The 4th Bn., 6th Inf. Regt. “Regulars” had support from 1st Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment; better known as the “Death Dealers.” An approximate total of 28 Bradley Fighting Vehicles were ready to convoy out in a serial formation, dismount at the city and attack from east to west. The trip would take three hours to complete.
“They’re using the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System gear to simulate realistic engagements,” said Martínez. “For vehicles and personnel that have MILES that may be malfunctioning, we have observer controllers that are adjudicating kills on the battlefield.”
At the CACTF, the empty streets, totaled vehicles and silent buildings concealed the fact that squads of Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division who acted as the OPFOR, crept around every corner ready to open fire. This was day three of waiting for the attack.
And then it happened. Approximately at 3:00 p.m., Bradleys began engaging the OPFOR from the southeast. The “Rifles” from 3rd Bn., 41st Inf. Regt. took casualties immediately as the OCs began adjudicating the simulated kills on the battlefield. MILES gear on the Soldiers could be heard making its peculiar sound, which alerts the combatant that they are a casualty. When this happened, Soldiers sat on the ground and took their helmets off as a sign that they were out of the fight.
“We were aggressive coming up to the objective,” said Staff Sgt. Jaime Quintero, a platoon sergeant with Company B, 4th Bn., 6th Inf. Regt. “Then we started taking heavy contact, so we started doing maneuver drills.”
The mission for Quintero’s platoon was to seize control and clear a three-story building on the east side of the city, while another platoon acted as the support-by-fire element on the northern end of the city. When Quintero’s platoon reached their objective, they immediately dismounted the Bradley and began clearing the building.
“They cleared the first floor pretty good,” said Quintero. “Once they started getting to the second floor, they started taking more casualties. We were expecting heavy resistance, but not quite as large as this one.”
As Quintero’s platoon worked to achieve their goal, 2nd Lt. Michael Dancona, an OPFOR platoon leader with B Company, 3rd Bn., 41st Inf. Regt., had his platoon defend a building at the northern end of the town.
“We were tasked to set an engagement area development in the north side of the CACTF,” said Dancona. “Our role was to engage as many Bradleys and dismounts as we could and we ended up knocking out eight Bradleys using AT-4s. Having a very easily defendable building, along with working AT-4s and MILES, that definitely helped us.”
Once the exercise reached the end, Soldiers had an opportunity to assess the effect this realistic training had on their performance.
“A firefight like this one prepares my guys for the real deal because it actually shows them what to expect when everything just doesn’t go right,” said Quintero. “How to adjust from the hit, and continue the mission until it’s finished.”
By giving leaders like Quintero and Dancona the opportunity to train in a realistic and tough exercise such as this, 3rd ABCT helped them meet their goal of operating in an environment where they could shoot, move and communicate effectively. Leadership, adaptiveness, readiness, effective communication, and many other aspects that make a unit successful were tested with this exercise.
“This is definitely the biggest firefight I’ve ever been in just because of the amount of firepower they had compared to us,” said Pfc. Michael Bryers, an automatic rifleman with Company B, 3rd Bn. 41st Inf. Regt. “A firefight like this makes you calm even if you’re getting shot at. It still makes you think and do what you’re trained to do. It boosts confidence for sure and honestly it just brings everybody together.”
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.30.2018 14:59 |
| Story ID: | 271265 |
| Location: | OROGRANDE, NM, US |
| Web Views: | 118 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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