GRAYLING, Mich. — Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Welsh, British Army took advantage of new training opportunities at Northern Strike to strengthen warfighting abilities between allies and prepare for the modern battlefield.
“[Training at Northern Strike] has enabled us to train in a way we wouldn't be able to in the UK,” remarked Lt. Col. Mark Adams, commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion Royal Welsh. “This environment offers so many assets, so many more people. It offers a level of complexity that is hard to replicate.”
The 3rd Battalion Royal Welsh typically trains with a force of around a hundred troops. By increasing the size of their force through integration with soldiers from the United States and other allies, the Royal Welsh were presented with the opportunity to move and communicate in new ways. Fortunately, the training ground of Northern Strike offers opportunities in both of these areas.
During a day of urban combat training, Royal Welsh soldiers used helicopters to rapidly enter and leave the simulated battlefield, practicing how troops could be moved by air during combat operations.
“For a lot of them (Royal Welsh), it’s their first time on a helicopter,” said Lt. Col. Adams. “It’s been a fantastic opportunity for them.”
Moving around the battlefield using aviation assets is not just for morale, though; it is one of the reasons Northern Strike exists: the ability to integrate cross-domain teams in a common training exercise. Cross-domain training offers all involved teams the opportunity to train in a more realistic way. For some, such as some of Lt. Col. Adams’ soldiers, it is the first time they get to experience that realism.
Once the helicopters took off and they were left in an urban combat environment, though, novel training opportunities for the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion Royal Welsh were not over. The whine of drones overhead offered a near-constant reminder of the evolution of warfare.
“We’ve got a lot more to learn,” said Lt. Col. Adams. There is an obvious learning opportunity present in “the way that we start to integrate drones into everything we do, both find drones and strike drones and how we react to being in a drone threat scenario.”
Exposure to drones on the battlefield changes how soldiers fight, forcing them deeper into cover and inside of buildings. When the Royal Welsh moved from building to building, their eyes and weapons were not only trained forward, but also upwards.
As far as the larger picture of the ever-changing modern battlefield goes? Lt. Col. Adams put it simply: “Gotta adapt, always gotta adapt.”
In addition to exposure to helicopters and drones, training at Northern Strike offers another key opportunity: trust-building. Training with allies is important.
“When we deploy with partner coalitions, we need to know how each other works, how to trust each other, how to communicate, said Lt. Col. Adams.
The kind of trust needed on the battlefield cannot be built via emails and conference calls. The ability for the soldiers of the Royal Welsh to train alongside allies in Michigan offers an opportunity for real trust to be built in a complex multi-domain environment.