EL PASO, Texas - On a pitch-black night in a simulated village infantrymen are under attack by insurgents during a real-world simulated exercise called Iron Focus. Attack Company, 4/17th Infantry Regiment, a part of the Buffalo Battalion are involved in a series of attacks coming from inside the village mosque.
“He’s running outside of the mosque! I’m engaging. He’s wearing white man-jamies with an AK-47. If we can’t fire into the mosque, then we need to get our ANA in there to clear it.”
“Hey listen! We are going to make a diamond formation and get our ANA in the mosque so they can clear it,” said Sgt. Josh Gaudette as he explains the situation over the radio to his leadership.
Suddenly Gaudette declares he has been hit. He suffered simulated bullet wounds to his leg and shoulder.
Attack Company has been in contact with the enemy for two hours now and they were only able to secure the mosque. Hostile fire continues from the surrounding houses as Attack Company splits in to three-manned teams as they secure the neighboring homes.
It is close to midnight and finally they cleared all of their objectives.
Only four hours later the Attack Company received their new orders to secure another village on Fort Bliss's training grounds.
Iron Focus is the largest training exercise in a decade for Fort Bliss. Its goal is to better prepare soldiers for their upcoming deployments of future operations in Afghanistan.