Strykers are latest in long line of soldiers to visit remote training center
Published Monday, July 21, 2008
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Stumble It!FORT IRWIN, Calif. — It’s a long and lonely drive to Fort Irwin and the National Training Center. A simple green sign off I-15 in Southern California between Los Angeles and Las Vegas points the way to the base, but there’s no indication of the 30-mile trip to come or of the premiere training facility that lies at the end of the road.
At the off-ramp there are a few houses and at the end of the road there is a truck driving school.
In between is only desert and sky as far as the eye can see.
The occasional white cross on the side of the road acts as a sort of morbid mile marker. There are are at least a half-dozen on the way. One dates to 1989.
At its gate, Fort Irwin looks like any other Army base, but in the desert beyond lies NTC and a completely different world.
The National Training Center opened its gates in 1981. Fort Irwin was picked as the site because its wide-open spaces, far from any populated area, were an ideal place to practice tank warfare.
“Back then, we would go to the top of a hill and just watch the tanks fight,” said Irwin spokesman Etric Smith.
The opposing force that “fights” visiting units was modeled after the Soviet army in both dress and rank — usually, the Soviets won.
When the first Gulf War broke out in 1991, Army brass credited the NTC’s desert training for the United States’ quick victory in Iraq.
With the leadup to the Iraq War of 2003, deploying forces also used the NTC to train, this time against an opposing force fashioned after the Iraqi army instead of the Soviets.
But since 2004, the training facilities at NTC have continued to evolve. There are now 13 thriving Iraqi villages on the base, filled with native Iraqi actors.
Rather than fighting an opposing force, soldiers now scan the villages for insurgents, trying to keep bomb materials away from them while winning the hearts and mind of the residents.
“It’s a different kind of enemy,” Smith said.
The first week a brigade comes to NTC, it takes over where the last brigade left off and begins to build its own infrastructure at the six forward operating bases.
After that, it begins to run counterinsurgency efforts in and around the villages, nicknamed “the box.” And they end the exercise by handing the facilities off to the next brigade.
It’s not smooth sailing — if they do something to upset a village, the townspeople will “riot” and refuse to give them information that could be useful to the brigade.
And as brigades continue to come through for their final training before deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan, the training facilities continue to grow and change as well.
“The commanding general’s vision is just phenomenal,” Smith said. “If they’re not building something, they’re tearing it down.”
Community Discussion
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It's shocking and admirable to see the DNM print truthful facts about NTC unlike last week when they printed and raised false hopes by saying the guys would only be in the box for 8 days.....
It wasn't just the DNM saying it was only going to be 8 days. My fiance told me the same thing. The Newsminer probably got their information from the same place everyone else who said it was going to be 8 days got theirs from. I've heard it from many other people as well. I've been told about three different days now when my guy will be getting back.
Yup they were right when they printed 8 days, 8 days for the MRE, what was not taken into consideration was the first 6 days of training that was also in the box.
well, in my experience, it's 2 weeks in and then 2 weeks out. Anytime you assume anything about the Army it always changes. The flights back are still up in the air too. *sigh* such fun.
Well, there's the right way, the wrong way, and the Army way.
My experiences were one week out prepping, two in training,and one out recovering and getting ready to leave.
redleg93, nice that they didn't come prepared to feed them for the entire time and that theyve blown their budget and then some huh? Indeed it is the right way, the wrong way, and worse, the Army way.
I havn't been an army wife for too long now, but I sure learned quick not to get my hopes up when they set a date. You'd think by now other people would pick up on this also.....
Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black......
No matter what you hear/read, think you heard/read, or are told...They are really home when you see them with your own eyes.
What does it take to figure that out?
Time tables change, extensions happen, an aircraft can break down, soldiers loose/misplace sensitive items. In short, crapola happens.
We adjust and accept these happenings and cope.....Or we get our hopes up only to have them stripped away, get cranky and point fingers and play the Blame Game.
It's the Army....The Mission comes first, and you roll with it, whatever that may be. I can't tell you how many times I have been reminded of that....LOL
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