Relax, this battle is only a test; Idahoans prepare for real war

FORT POLK, La. – Relax, loved ones and family members. It was just a battle exercise.

But the 109-soldier Bravo Company of the 116th Cavalry Brigade “lost” more than half its men in an intense firefight with Iraqi insurgents who infiltrated the simulated Iraqi village of Sadiq at Fort Polk.

The exercise was part of the Idaho National Guard’s 10-day series of war games meant to test the Guard troops against one of the Army’s best training forces in preparation for their mission in Iraq.

The 116th continues the exercises through Wednesday, when stateside training ends and the Idaho Guard gets ready to leave in December for Kuwait and Iraq.

In this exercise, Bravo Company played the role of underdog to Fort Polk’s collection of combat Army veterans who’ve fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and serve as the “opposition force” in such training exercises.

The Guard’s role was complicated by orders that forced the unit to take heavy “casualties.”

Offering a challenging enemy force is part of Fort Polk’s goal of providing demanding, realistic training for troops headed to Iraq. Soldiers and their enemies may be outfitted with high-tech equipment that makes the games a military version of laser tag.

But the post prides itself as the nation’s most realistic facility for training troops in anti-terrorism warfare, and to that end, has created small Iraqi villages that are staffed by villagers, who, in many cases, are real Iraqi natives and who – at least in the exercises – speak and understand no English.

The exercise began with a simple mission for Bravo Company: Deliver water to the village at about 9 a.m.

But almost immediately, the company “lost” its commanding officer, Capt. Mitch Smith of Burley, when an improvised bomb exploded. A firefight with Iraqi insurgents erupted right after the explosion, and soldiers had to recover the dead, rescue the wounded and fight back against an enemy who held all the advantages.

“I think what they were giving us was a worst-case scenario, just getting our guts stomped, and seeing how we reacted,” said Spc. Wesley Jones of Jerome, who survived the village firefight with a superficial injury.

The insurgents could hide in the dense, brushy forest that was nearly impenetrable for the soldiers’ laser-equipped rifles. The insurgents also could hide in the village among the civilians, which forced the soldiers to engage them at close quarters.

The soldiers had to simultaneously fight the enemy while protecting the village and pacifying its people.

“You get some idea of what those Marines felt like in Fallujah,” 1st Lt. Jon Frye of Eagle said, referring to the Iraqi city where U.S. forces have battled insurgents.

Frye, Bravo Company’s second in command, took over as commanding officer after Smith was killed in battle. He spent the day and night toting a heavy radio and talking to soldiers.

Throughout the battle, the situation became increasingly grim. Nearly all his platoon and his squad leaders were killed or wounded by gunfire, leaving many young soldiers to fight a more battle-tested opponent.

The exercises at Fort Polk are different than the training the 116th received at Fort Bliss, Texas, because most of what happens at Polk is unscripted, said Command Sgt. Maj. Henry Chin of the 116th.

About 1,600 Idaho Guard members are part of the 4,000-strong 116th, which trained in Texas in June and July until relocating to Louisiana for this month’s final exercises.

At Fort Bliss, Chin explained, soldiers were given classroom training then were sent out to practice what they’d learned in controlled situations. At Polk, they are participating in dynamic war games, where anything can happen.

“Over here,” he said, “it’s a situation you have to work out while you’re on the ground.”

Still, the Idaho soldiers were clearly frustrated by the sly enemy, which was adept at using their “Miles gear” — the special laser equipment on weapons and body harnesses that signal when someone’s hit with a rifle’s laser beam. The soldiers who play Iraqi insurgents at Fort Polk used experience, terrain and Miles gear to their advantage. The insurgents wear no helmet sensors, which allowed them to stick their heads out windows or conceal their bodies in thick brush, shoot at the soldiers and keep their laser-sensing harnesses protected. The Guard members wore Miles gear on their heads as well as their bodies.

“I don’t want to say they don’t play fair, but they weren’t playing by the rules we were playing by,” said Spc. Jones, the Jerome citizen-soldier.

“You can shoot their heads all day, but you can’t kill them,” said Spc. Sidney Hanks of Egin Bench, near Rexburg.

One Fort Polk veteran said the outcome was no surprise. Of 111 training exercises he has watched at Fort Polk, public affairs specialist Ray Barnard said, the visiting team has never beaten the opposition force.

“These guys pride themselves as being the toughest fight outside real bullets,” Barnard said. The battle scenario is not meant to be a game with each side keeping score.

“There are no winners and losers – this is a teach, coach and mentor situation,” Barnard said.

The key to the Guard’s last stateside training is to give soldiers experience and lessons they will carry to Iraq, Command Sgt. Maj. Chin said.

“I think they’re a lot more street smart, and when they get over there they’ll keep their heads together and work together,” Chin said.