Pfc. Aaron Espejo, infantryman, Company B, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, provides security from a doorway Aug. 28, 2016. (Photo by Spc. J.D. Sacharok)
By Staff Sgt. Ange Desinor
3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office, 4th Infantry Division
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Normally a summer trip to California is a welcome reprieve for anyone.
But when the destination is the Mojave Desert, just south of Death Valley, for roughly four weeks of immersive battle training, the itinerary calls for intense action rather than relaxation. That’s exactly what Soldiers with 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, took on during their National Training Center (NTC) rotation at Fort Irwin, California, from Aug. 22, 2016 to Sept. 11, 2016.
“We just returned from a very successful NTC mission,” said Maj. Nick Sinclair, 3rd ABCT executive officer. “Our mission at NTC was to attack and defeat a near-peer adversary in order to allow a notional free and sovereign country to reclaim its land.”
Soldiers assigned to 588th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, set up a perimeter defense during Decisive Action Rotation 16-09 at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin Calif., Aug. 28, 2016. (Photo by Pfc. Michael Crews)
“Iron” Brigade units — most notably powered by Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and mobile Paladin artillery — jumped aggressively into a scenario that featured four distinct battle periods. The fighting phases included area defenses, attacks, counterattacks and movement to contact, all within a harsh desert environment akin to many recent combat settings for decisive-action training.
“The purpose of us going down there was a culminating training event in order to prepare us for future deployments,” said Sinclair.
The brigade already had shown an ability to lean forward and adapt to changing battle scenarios during Iron Strike, a three-week field exercise in the Fort Carson training area in July. That followed a stepladder approach to training, beginning at individual Soldier levels at the end of 2015 and building up to the full brigade exercise.
It also followed a year’s worth of training in Kuwait that ended in October, although Sinclair said the unit had seen key personnel changes since then. The brigade also has been preparing for an entirely different mission set that steers away from counterinsurgency to a decisive-action fight against a similarly equipped peer.
Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, return fire while clearing an urban area during Decisive Action Rotation 16-09 at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., Aug. 29, 2016. (Photo by Spc. Kyle Edwards)
“From November 2015 through August 2016, we executed that train-up and transformation, including getting new leaders along the way. So whenever you have that change, it requires that six to nine months training preparation in order to get the brigade ready,” he said.
“It was a new mission set for most of us,” said Sinclair. “When I first joined the military, it was called full-spectrum operations. It was high-intensity conflict — armored formations maneuvering against other armored formations, combat in a combined arms fight with close-air support, field artillery and other support assets.”
Consequently, NTC was more of a proving ground than a training center in order to see how well the unit had evolved in the past year, Sinclair said, adding, “In my estimation, we were very successful.”
The training also paid off at the ground-troop level, said 2nd Lt. Ryan McGovern, tank platoon leader, Company B, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, adding that his Soldiers were more focused in a realistic combat environment.
Among the training his platoon participated in was a brigadewide, surprise night attack to regain a city that had been seized by hostile forces. Part of the scenario called for avoiding collateral damage to oppressed civilians and their homes.
“Although this training is a bit different, I feel that it was a success. My Soldiers knew what they had to do and executed,” said McGovern, still covered in dust and sitting with his crew under the shade of their tank a day after the night attack.
Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, conduct a combined-arms breach during Decisive Action Rotation 16-09 at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, Calif., Sept. 5, 2016. While at NTC, the brigade was involved in decisive-action training to include area defenses, attacks, counterattacks and movement to contact to prepare its Soldiers for future missions. (Photo by Sgt. Tia Sokimson)
The Iron Brigade’s NTC rotation focus on a more traditional battle meant opposition forces from Fort Irwin’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment threw their own armored power at 3rd ABCT during daily, kinetic and large-scale battles.
“This was something that most of us had to revisit,” said Sinclair. “(Counterinsurgency operations) was challenging because it’s much slower. The rhythm is much more deliberate while decisive action is much faster. So we had to learn how to do that once again.”
The brigade also learned to be more unpredictable.
“We got used to having a stationary brigade headquarters on (forward operating bases) and hard-stand structures that never move,” said Sinclair. “You don’t have that luxury in a decisive-action fight. You have to be mobile and expeditionary, pick up everything you have and move it across the battlefield at a moment’s notice.”
Consequently, the brigade commander, Col. Christopher R. Norrie, and other key leaders spent time leading up to the rotation trying to solve that problem. The solution was reducing the size of the brigade footprint to increase mobility.
During NTC, for example, the brigade headquarters jumped its tactical assembly area to new locations almost every other day. Rather than operating tactical operations centers out of big tents, the brigade and battalion headquarters had a more agile approach like operating out of expandable vans.
An M1 Abrams tank crew assigned to 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, fires a round while conducting an area defense during a live-fire exercise during Rotation 16-09 at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., Sept. 9, 2016. (Photo by Sgt. Ernesto Gonzalez)
“Big tents take a long time to set up, take a long time to jump. If the enemy sees it, the enemy can attack it,” said Sinclair. “But we are more mobile.”
The brigade also proved more undetectable.
“We were much better camouflaged,” said Sinclair. “The (opposition forces) never found us. The brigade tactical operation centers are usually a higher pay-off target for the enemy.”
Staff Sgt. Brett Davis, a squad leader with Company A, 588th Brigade Engineer Battalion, said NTC meant realistic training for a relatively inexperienced squad. This included the final live-fire attack that called for performing obstacle breaches using Bangalore torpedoes while other platoons used mine clearing line charges (MICLIC) to support the brigade’s maneuver battalions.
“It really went flawlessly, there were no hiccups. The MICLIC came up, raised right up and fired on the first go to clear the whole lane, including mines and concertina wire. So all we had to do was fill in the tank ditch and push through. It was smooth and easy, and quick,” Davis said.