on-force exercise area, following a nonstop deployment flight from Fort Bragg. All told, nearly 1,300 paratroops of the Devil Brigade would drop in a mass twilight jump, just before dark on the 12th. However, the O/C team and the OPFOR had a few surprises in store for Colonel Petreaus and his troopers. These folks have a special place in their hearts for airborne units, and they had heard about the brigade’s exploits in Royal Dragon. By any standard, it was going to be a challenging couple of weeks for Devil-6 and his troopers.
JRTC Live-Fire Area, Friday, October 11th, 1996
John Gresham and I decided to go down a little early to look over the live-fire training that the platoon from 1/504 was going through. We arrived in time to see the last two days of their training. You need to know that U.S. infantry likes to work at night whenever possible. The night darkness is like a stealthy cloak for them, reducing casualties and making life difficult for enemy units that don’t have the kind of third-generation night-vision goggles (NVGs) that U.S. forces are deployed with. When equipped with systems like the PVS-7B NVGs, the PAQ-4C target designator, and the other night systems that I described in the fourth chapter, our troopers are easily superior to any infantry in the world. However, all the technology in the world won’t keep you from taking casualties if you fail to apply proper infantry tactics and principles to your operations. So the live-fire operations at JRTC are designed to teach the benefits of such tactics and principles, and of keeping national casualties down (and, of course, the players safe!).
The operation scheduled for this day had actually begun the night before at about 0700 hours/7:00 AM. In this particular scenario, the infantry platoon from the 1/504 was scheduled to assault a simulated enemy trench/bunker complex at 0400/4:00 AM.
The complex, which is wired with a variety of pyrotechnic devices and pop-up/out targets, is designed to resemble the ones used by Iraq in 1991. Roughly triangular in shape, it has firing bunkers at the corners and along the trench lines, and multiple strands of defensive wire and simulated minefields defending it. Set in a dense wooded area of the Fort Polk range, this is an obstacle designed to inflict the maximum of casualties (simulated, of course!) on the assaulting infantry unit. This morning’s live-fire problem involved a long (roughly 2,000-yard/meter) hike through total darkness (no moon!), over broken terrain, then an assault on the strong point from two directions. When the platoon’s fire had reduced the strong point enough, an engineer squad would blast an opening through the minefield and wire barricades with a long string of bangalore torpedo demolitions. These are sections of metal pipe packed with explosives that can be clamped together, shoved under an obstacle or barricade, and then detonated to blow open a lane for assault troops to enter safely.
At 0330/3:30 AM, John and I arrived at the departure site in the care of Ms. Paula Schlag, the Fort Polk media relations officer assigned to help us during the coming deployment. Also escorting us would be Lieutenant Colonel Walt Wilson and Captain Mike Dominqus of the JRTC Live-Fire Division. After each of us had donned a Kevlar helmet and flak jacket (for safety, as you will see!), we fell into line behind the command section of the company, and began to grope our way forward to the assault site. This was tougher than it sounds, because there was almost no light to see the person or ground in front of us, and the terrain was quite rough. Also, there were other distractions, like two batteries of M119 105mm and M198 155mm howitzers firing
By 0600 hours/6:00 AM, the platoon (with Paula, John, and myself, and our escorting officers in tow) had reached the line of departure, about 100 yards/meters from the simulated bunker complex. By this time, the artillery barrage on the objective had stopped, and the assault was just minutes away. When everyone was under cover, the left and right flank of the assault opened fire on the bunker/trench complex. As soon as the troopers opened fire, the O/Cs turned on the firing simulators in the bunker complex, and there followed a scene of absolute pandemonium. For about ten minutes, the 82nd troopers laid down a withering fire on the corner bunkers, with M203 grenade launchers firing illumination rounds to keep the view of the complex clear for everyone.
Suddenly, we were all ordered facedown into a ditch, and there followed a loud “shoosh,” then a loud bang. This was a live AT-4 antitank rocket being fired into one of the bunkers. Several minutes later, a second rocket was fired from the other flank.
While all this was going on, their squad of combat engineers was placing their bangalore torpedoes under the wire. Once again, we were told to “Get Down!” and this time the whole earth rumbled and shook. The bangalores had blown open a 10-foot/3-meter-wide gap in the mines and wire, and now the assault could proceed. We could see and hear the assault troops heading up into the complex, since by this time the first pink glow of dawn was breaking. All through the trench complex, troopers were carefully clearing the ditches, shooting pop- up/out targets wherever they appeared. In less than eighteen minutes it was over, and the O/Cs had called “Cease fire” to all involved. It took a few more minutes to verify that all the weapons had been “safed” before we could go up and look over the remains of the complex.
The quiet following a “battle” like we had just seen is a bizarre sensation, almost unwelcome in its emptiness. Nevertheless, we eagerly climbed though the Bangalore breach, and began to look around. The artillery had done an impressive job, caving in several trenches and damaging the bunkers. Everywhere, razor-sharp shrapnel marked the deadly remains of the barrage. Best of all, when the assault troops had gone in, they had suffered only six estimated casualties, only two of which were KIA.[55] Now, while this may not sound great, it actually is an excellent measure of the performance of the company. They had, in short, taken a heavily fortified position with maximum force and minimum casualties.
The O/Cs assessed this as something of a textbook performance (“standard setting,” in their words), though not all such exercises go quite so well. The following morning, during a simulated road march with a logistics convoy, the commander of the airborne escort, mounted in Hummers, seemed to have forgotten almost everything that he had been taught about road-march security. Vehicles hit mines regularly, and a truck bomb that had not been looked at was responsible for some valuable lessons being learned… the kind that can save lives! With this last live-fire exercise, the activity around Fort Polk rapidly went forward to get ready for the drop of 1st Brigade the following evening. As for John and me, we got some sleep before what was going to be a couple of long days.
JRTC/Fort Polk, Saturday, October 12th, 1996
The drop of the 1 st Brigade was scheduled for 1815 hours/6:15 PM that evening, so we had some time to get briefed on the coming scenario. For this rotation, known as JRTC 97-1 (this was the first JRTC operation of FY- 97), the first five days would be devoted to what was called the “low intensity” phase with the initial action directed mostly against guerrilla forces; then the scenario would transition to a “hot war” with the brigade fighting against a more powerful and numerous motorized and armored force from a neighboring foreign country. The basic scenario had a friendly host nation, suffering from a guerrilla insurgency, asking for U.S. forces to pacify its territory. Later, the neighbor state sponsoring the insurgency would actively invade the host nation, causing a general outbreak of war. We were briefed on the specifics of the scenario by the O/C staff in what is known as the “1600 Briefing Room,” after the time of the daily situation briefing that is held in the headquarters building. Following the briefing, John and I were driven out to the exercise area in a Hummer by Major Jim Beinkemper, the head of the Fort Polk Public Affairs office. He took us east along what is known as Artillery Road, out to the drop zone and dirt airstrip where the brigade would arrive in about an hour. At the southern end there is a small control tower and fire station, where we would watch the drop.
