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YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER, Wash. – The obstacles were built, the fighting positions were dug, and every detail of the attack was planned out. There was just one thing missing - the troops.
Leaders of 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, demonstrated their defense-building skills to the I Corps deputy commanding general, Maj. Gen. Lloyd Miles, during a walk through their defensive tactical exercise without troops Oct. 20, at Borden Springs Drop Zone here.
“The reality is this: we have got some gaps in our ability as an Army because … we have focused on counterinsurgency almost exclusively for the last 10 years and not focused on full spectrum operations at the other end of combat operations,” said Miles. “This is really one of the first brigade combat teams, probably Army-wide, beginning to focus on the combined-arms maneuver end of full spectrum operations.”
All October 4th Bn., 9th Inf. Regt., and other soldiers assigned to 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, have been conducting training in full spectrum operations as part of Exercise Raider Fusion.
Company A, 4th Bn., 9th Inf. Regt., spearheaded the TEWT and provided the example to other battalions within the brigade of how such a defense is set up.
“It was really for the leadership to explain [and] teach [the other units] the seven steps of engagement area development and what a defense looks like on the ground,” said Capt. Keirn Brown, the A Company commander.
The entire exercise started out on a map, he said.
Brown and the 4th Bn. staff laid out the positioning of the defense first on a map, then on the actual terrain.
“It’s one thing … to go through a class in a classroom setting and be taught how to build a defense,” he said. “It’s a completely other experience to come out here on the ground and actually build it yourself, integrating the obstacles, the terrain, the indirect fires, the direct fires and just positioning forces.”
Once the defensive positions were decided on, the soldiers of A Company built an engagement area where the unit would take on its hypothetical enemy.
With help from the 38th Engineer Company, the soldiers spent nearly 36 hours setting up obstacles including a concertina wire fence, and dug fighting positions on multiple hilltops, concealing vehicles, weapons systems and two-man teams from the enemy on the ground below.
During the tour of the site Miles shared insight with Brown about defenses and provided advice on additional refinements that could be made.
“What you learn in defense is you’re constantly improving your positions,” explained Brown. “Just because we are set here doesn’t mean we’re done; you improve it until the enemy comes to you.”
After all their hard work, soldiers of the unit gained more experience on establishing a defense, something Brown said not many in the unit knew how to do beforehand.
“We’ve now built it and we know what it takes to build one,” sad Brown. “If we’re tasked to do that again, it’s something we have now in our kitbag.”
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 10.24.2011 14:57 |
| Story ID: | 78932 |
| Location: | YAKIMA, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Troop-less exercise teaches defense, by Kimberly Hackbarth, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
