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FORT BLISS, Texas – 1st Armored Division recently completed the Warfighter Exercise 23-04, the culmination of a year-long train up for the division staff.
WFX 23-04 was a multi-national exercise conducted between April 18 – 27, which brought together multiple echelons of the military including U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force and elements of all three Army components operating across five installations and facilitated by Mission Command Training Program. The installations included Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Cavazos, Texas; Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
During the exercise, 1st AD deployed all division headquarters command nodes to Fort Bliss garrison and training areas in coordination with III Armored Corps to train, prepare and certify staff. The exercise placed all service members in scenarios and positions that challenged their intellect, mental agility and their ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment.
“The goal of Warfighter, like any other major exercise like this, is to make it as realistic as possible,” said Maj. Alexander Bowling, the 1st AD Simulations Officer. “This is a really good approach because that way we can make it challenging so that when we do see this, wherever the division goes, regardless of what the real-life mission is, we’ve given them repetition that’s as realistic as possible, which includes all the different warfighting functions, all the different tactical tasks, administrative tasks, and make it so that when we do this, it’s not the first time we’ve done it.”
Aside from 1st AD, the primary training audience for the WFX included the III Armored Corps, 1st Cavalry Division, 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, 36th Engineer Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade and the 89th Military Police Brigade. Other units that participated included elements of the British Army’s 3rd United Kingdom Division, the 1st Infantry Division and additional enablers.
1st AD participated as a 2030 Heavy (Reinforced) Division. This meant the division fought the battle and exercised mission command for large scale combat operations with some technology and capabilities not currently organic to the division. This required a lot of learning and integration of subject matter experts to develop plans and operations accordingly.
Within the division, the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division served as the Armored Brigade Combat Teams, the 1st Armored Division Artillery and Division Sustainment Brigade participated in their organic roles, the U.S. Army Reserve’s 244th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade served as the 1st AD CAB, the Arizona Army National Guard’s 158th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade served as the protection brigade, the U.S. Army Reserve’s 411th Engineer Brigade served as the division’s engineer brigade, and 1 AD’s Main Command Post – Operational Detachment augmented the division staff.
“This training is designed to test all elements of the staff, it is designed to get us ready for war, and it’s been a year in training and preparation for the division to get to this point,” said British Army Brigadier Richard Bell, the deputy commanding general - maneuver for 1st AD. “This has involved bringing in new people, integrating those people, training them, building a cohesive team and working together for one single purpose to make this division the most powerful fighting force in the world.”
One of the division commander’s training objectives for the exercise was to improve 1st AD’s ability to conduct multi-domain operations as an expeditionary command headquarters. So, 1st AD went a step further by integrating additional enablers to support that objective including 1st Information Operations Command, 71st Theater 1st Information Operations Group, 92nd Civil Affairs, 83rd Civil Affairs, 410th Civil Affairs, 344th Psychological Operations, 11th Cyber Operations, 10th Special Forces, 19th Special Forces, 3rd Infantry Division, Delta 7 U.S. Space Force and explosive ordnance disposal specialists.
The 1st AD exercised a Joint Effects Cell comprised of many of these units with over 90 service members executing effects requested in support of the division’s operations.
“In order to truly plan and execute multi-domain effects, the command needs to be enabled to plan, layer, and request effects that holistically affect the full kill chain from physical, information, to human (cognitive) targets. What we did during this exercise just scratched the surface,” said Lt. Col. Felix Figueroa, chief of effects for 1st AD.
During the exercise, staff coordinated between III AC, 1st CD and 3rd UK to sync operations and deny the World Class OPFOR opportunities for exploitation on the battlefield. This meant Soldiers performed 24-hour operations where all sections were challenged to develop plans, execute mission essential tasks, remain mentally alert to prevent insider threats, react to chemical strikes and halt enemy attacks.
Despite the challenges and rigor of the exercise, the division’s three command posts conducted a total of 10 jumps between them. The teams successfully handed off control of the fight to the designated command post as transitions occurred, enabling consistent and effective mission command for the duration of the exercise.
“We are training how we fight, all while preparing for future large scale combat operations, and we are getting real-time training on what we would actually do in a future conflict,” said Capt. Larkin Beamland, the 1st CD liaison officer.
Over 1,300 service members were trained from across the U.S. Army and joint forces. The Warfighter Exercise is executed by divisions every two years. It is the true definition of an exercise that trains Soldiers as they fight.
| Date Taken: | 05.05.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.02.2024 18:06 |
| Story ID: | 444653 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 186 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Warfighter 23-4: A Culmination of Exceptional Training, by SSG Jason Hammond, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
