Tomahawks use exercise as training in urban war

Matt Smith/Northwest Guardian

There are few places Soldiers can train that offer the realism of what it is like to walk through the neighborhood streets of Iraq. One place that does provide troops that heightened sense of anything can happen at any time is the Southern California Logistics Airport, formerly known as George Air Force Base.

And 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, in combination with training at Marine Corps bases at Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton, took advantage of the vacant base during a three-week training event.

George AFB opened in 1943 and remained a vital base for Air Force training until it fell victim to the mass closures of military installations in the early 1990s.

When it was shut down in 1992, the base not only left behind more than 20,000 feet of runway, but also a large neighborhood full of homes.

Since its closure, the homes, which are scheduled to eventually be demolished, have served as a training ground for urban warfare. Because the buildings will be removed, troops are allowed to cause necessary damage to them as they would down range.

While at SCLA, companies were given the chance to work on both platoon- and company-level exercises.

When companies first arrived at SCLA, they were put through a daylong training event in which the abandoned neighborhood was full of role players posing as Iraqi citizens, police and insurgents.

The simulated situation was insurgents had moved into the town. Each company commander was to meet with the Iraqi Army battalion commander and hatch a plan, through an interpreter, to rid the town of the insurgents in a joint effort.

Platoons were sent on patrols through out the area during the day and would eventually have to react to fire in concert with their IA counterparts.

The day’s two big events were the explosion of a VBIED in a crowded marketplace and the taking back of an overrun IP station.

The Marketplace

As Soldiers and the IA with them arrived at the marketplace, everything seemed fine. Soldiers walked around and greeted civilians and checked out some items for sale strewn out on tables.

Without notice, a small red car came racing into the middle of the market and detonated a simulated VBIED, causing a large ball of flame to spew off the trunk.

Now things got crazy.

Insurgents in windows of the surrounding buildings opened fire on the Soldiers and IA down below, simulated RPGs and incoming mortars went off. All the while, Soldiers were trying to tend to injured role players who were elaborately done up to add a sense of realism; some had deep gashes on their faces, some had rebar through their legs, some had glass stuck in their heads and arms. One role player, who was an actual double below the knee amputee, had his legs made to look like he had just lost his legs in the blast and fake blood gushed from his limbs as he screamed in agony and shook as if going into shock.

After the Soldiers had neutralized the insurgents and attended to the wounded civilians and it seemed as though things were calming down, a suicide bomber exploded a vest and wounded a Soldier causing more commotion in the market.

The IP Station

In the only true company-level exercise at SCLA, each platoon descended upon an Iraqi police station that had been taken by insurgents who were dug in deep trenches outside the station and in surrounding houses.

Each platoon from the company cleared the area around the IP station while a few squads were sent into the station to clear it of insurgents. As they came to the front of the building, Soldiers found the head IP officer had been gruesomely killed as a K-Bar type knife had slit his throat and blood had splattered all over the ground and surrounding wall.

After retaking the station, Soldiers and IA pushed through the building and continued to clear buildings to the station’s rear while trying to avoid simulated RPGs that zoomed toward them on wires and caused explosions.

After clearing the IP station area, the exercise was complete. Companies remained at SCLA for an additional two days to break down their performances and work on their weak points.

This exercise at SCLA was the first time any of the three line company commanders had commanded their units as a company. Comanche Co. commander Capt. Klint Kuhlman said the training there was a good first step at preparing his platoons to work in concert together smoothly.

“That was the first time a lot of us leaders were on the battlefield at the same time talking to each other,” he said, “supporting each other and really got the opportunity to talk to each other on the radio and recognize when he calls and says he needs assistance, he needs it now or I have a little bit of time to support him, or this is what my commander’s voice sounds like on the radio and when he sounds like this I need to get him the information now.”

For Pfc. Chris Sargent of 1st Ptn., B Co., it was the company mission on the IP station that stuck out the most in his memory. “It’s pretty lifelike,” he said. “It was really cool.”

Private Toran Vietta of the same platoon said he enjoyed not having to worry about breaking things as his squad moved through the housing developments.

“We got to be as aggressive as we would be searching a house in Iraq,” Vietta said. “We got to turn stuff upside down and got to actually kick in doors. They said they would actually try to hide stuff behind dressers and stuff. So we got to kick stuff over and be as aggressive as we wanted to be.”

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