It’s their time to shine

Soldiers from 38th LRS Company of the 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade prepare for certification

Phil Sussman/Northwest Guardian

A forward unit is preparing for an assault deep inside hostile territory. The assault team needs to know if its target is still on the objective, but weather conditions and difficult terrain make using a high-tech intelligence platform impossible.

It’s time for Long Range Surveillance Soldiers to shine.

The recently stood-up 38th LRS Company of the 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade spent last week training for just such a scenario.

Fresh from a month at Fort Benning’s Reconnaissance, Surveillance Leader Course, LRS Soldiers prepared for their June certification at Yakima Training Center with a weeklong pre-certification field exercise designed to hone their reconnaissance and surveillance skills.

“Hopefully, these (Soldiers) will ... refine their (standard operating procedures) and get their skills down so that come our June FTX when they’re actually getting certified, they’ll be successful,” said company commander Capt. Zach Corke, of the now full-strength LRS unit.

The three LRS detachments began the FTX with an isolation period, confined to billets on North Fort.

The 36-hour seclusion mirrored what they’ll experience in their next deployment.

Each detachment split into four teams of seven Soldiers to develop team-specific operation orders and commit to memory details about grid coordinates, radio frequencies, time lines and contingency plans.

For operational security the teams were barred from sharing information about each of their missions.

In a real-world scenario, “if one team were to get captured and interrogated by the enemy, they don’t have the information to compromise the other teams that are operating in their (area of operations),” Corke said.

Following a dismounted infiltration into sites along the southern training areas of Fort Lewis, each team reconned its objective to find cover nearby to set up a concealed surveillance site. Soldiers meticulously searched their areas for sites that would accommodate the 48-hour surveillance mission, close enough to observe without detection and far enough from roads and intersections to avoid exposure.

“Their whole goal during this particular operation is to have no interaction with the enemy whatsoever. They’re supposed to be (infiltrating) in a covert mode,” said Corke. “If they are seen by ... or engage the enemy, their mission is compromised and they have to leave their objective area.”

Alternate 5th Team Leader Sgt. Anthony Maddox and Spc. Brandon Booth of 1st Detachment spent the first 24 hours of the exercise at Myktina Landing Zone dug in beneath a swarm of bushes and trees. Ghillie suits and D-2 Stalker camouflage systems concealed them while they patiently waited for signs of enemy activity.

After a night spent fighting off rain and sleep, their disciplined surveillance paid off.

“At about 10 o’clock this morning, we had two trucks come up,” said Maddox. “The (opposition forces) had AK-47s and shovels. I couldn’t really see them ... but I could hear the clanking of shovels. I called my team leader ... to tell him that they’re emplacing IEDs, what they’re wearing (and) what kind of weapons (they are carrying).”

Maddox radioed the details to the 5th Team leader, Sgt. Ramil Preiksaitis, and four other Soldiers, positioned at a secluded “hide site” 250 meters from the surveillance site, who relayed the information to a company operating base using a ruggedized laptop computer connected to a high-frequency radio.

While some teams observed mundane illegal roadblocks and arms deals, others reported Kiowa helicopter landings and movements of suspected mortar firing squads.

Along with refining their surveillance skills, the LRS Soldiers came out of the exercise better understanding their roles within the teams.

“It builds you as a team, said Maddox. “Everybody knows their role and everybody else’s role. For myself and the team leader, we (need to be) sure that (the other team members) know what they’re doing.”

Preiksaitis, secluded from Maddox and his surveillance team, echoed the sentiments of his assistant team leader.

“It’s a good learning experience,” Preiksaitis said. “I’m getting to know my guys, they’re getting to know me and we are learning each other’s capabilities.”

Familiarity among team members will be vital to their upcoming deployment, when they will ramp up to conducting five- to seven-day missions in combat.

Although the Fort Lewis exercise provided realistic training, the true test for LRS Soldiers will come at Yakima Training Center, with its vast expanse and sparse vegetation.

“Yakima will be a more accurate depiction of what they’ll see once they deploy ... as far as terrain and how to camouflage themselves in that terrain,” said Corke.

The principles, however, do not change, said 1st Lt. Kyle Tarvin of 1st Detachment.

Leaders look forward to the June certification exercise at Yakima to refine their mission-planning processes while sharpening their surveillance and reconnaissance skills.

It is uncommon for a unit to deploy so soon after standing up, but the elite company attracted enough candidates to quickly achieve its 143-Soldier authorized strength. Nothing seems out of reach to the LRS company.

Key leaders will also use lessons they learn in Yakima and during their final months in garrison refining company procedures for future surveillance missions in Iraq.

“Surveillance is the bread and butter of this unit,” said Corke, “so by teaching them how to conduct static surveillance missions ... camouflage themselves properly and have the discipline to stay in that one spot for days on end ... they will be successful on any other type of recon mission they have to conduct.”