FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — The enemy — opposing forces — sits hidden behind berms with their rifles ready to fire on the American troops who are making their way through the area on a mission to defeat those very men who are waiting to strike fear into their hearts.
Farmers tend to their crop awaiting the sign of any American troops. With the first glance of any, they will take off running, signaling to the others that the Americans are coming. They take up arms behind their pre-planned positions, and they too wait to defeat those they despise.
The enemy forces patiently wait for the Americans to enter their kill zone. Their index fingers sit upon the trigger, waiting to fire the first shot in what could be a very enduring battle. They must be patient. They don't want to fire too early nor too late. They have to remain patient in order to catch the Americans off guard. They've got only one shot at eliminating their most hated adversary.
The first shots are fired; immediately the battle begins. The U.S. forces begin placing their men to counter the effort of the enemy forces. They set in support by fire positions and begin planning their attack to eliminate the opposing forces. The closer they get to the enemy, the more the opposition realizes they are truly outnumbered and don't quite have the firepower of the Americans.
This, however, doesn't seem to halt their ambition and will to inflict damage upon their hated enemy.
One-by-one, the U.S. Soldiers, who don black hearts upon their helmets and a fierce screaming eagle on their shoulder, eliminate the enemy. They continue to move forward and get closer to achieving their mission.
The enemy continues its assault, bounding backward to other set-in positions. The American forces, though, continue to move forward. They continue to get closer and closer. The enemy forces have now lost many of their men, and they are now truly outnumbered. There isn't much more they can do except surrender or give their lives in defense of their beliefs.
In the end, the U.S. troops — Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) — were able to successfully defeat the willful opponent. In the end, they were victorious.
This was all a part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Combined Arms Live-Fire Exercise, Nov. 14 — 22.
The exercise trained company, troop and battery units to properly plan, prepare and execute a combined arms company attack, thus creating adaptive leader teams who are ready for combat action.
Helping provide that training were those very men who acted as opposing forces; engineers from Company A, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion.
According to the commander of the opposition forces, Capt. Daniel Antolos, they wanted to illustrate a realistic, thinking enemy.
"A realistic OPFOR is very important. It needs to be stressed we will not be facing a paper or plastic target; we will be facing a bounding, thinking, constantly moving enemy," said Antolos. "For this we learn how to control our fires, weapon systems to employ, suppress the enemy, and how to create a situation we control as opposed to the enemy."
Those units going through the objective were given a mission to kill or capture high-value targets on the objective, while also eliminating hostile forces and deny insurgent reinforcement from a neighboring town, all through the use of CCA, indirect and direct fire capabilities.
With that, though, the OPFOR gave the infantry and cavalry units a challenge, surprising them at every angle with intense gun-fire and constant movement on the battlefield.
"In the end, we needed them to win, but on the other side, we gave them enough of a challenge to be confident in what they do, and execute precisely," said Antolos.
With their illustration of a very tough foe, the engineers playing opposing forces were able to provide the units very invaluable training because at this very moment, troops deployed to Afghanistan are conducting this very mission, said Maj. William Parker, operations officer, 2nd BSTB.
"The training provides insight to what to expect and how to be more of a thinking Army instead of a doing Army," said Antolos. "Combining those two things allows us to get ahead of the enemy in the event they surprise us."
Their ability to act as a very willing enemy gave all the experience as well as the knowledge to employ a wide-range of weapon systems against a very battle hardened and experienced enemy.
In the end, when called upon to deploy far from Fort Campbell, Ky., in a land foreign to many, the Soldiers of the Strike Brigade will be ready to face these very men who seek to only strike fear into their hearts. In the end, it will be them, the Soldiers of Strike, who will look into the eyes of this hidden enemy, engage in a fierce battle, and win.
| Date Taken: |
11.18.2009 |
| Date Posted: |
11.25.2009 10:18 |
| Story ID: |
41996 |
| Location: |
FORT CAMPBELL, US |
| Web Views: |
175 |
| Downloads: |
144 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
This work, OPFOR helps prepare Strike troops for future combat operations, by SSG James Hunter, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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