By Staff Sgt. Ange Desinor
3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office, 4th Infantry Division
Infantrymen with Company C, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, mount an M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during a combined arms live-fire exercise at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Aug. 4, 2017. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Ange Desinor)
GRAFENWOEHR TRAINING AREA, Germany — Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, conducted a week of company live-fire exercises in preparation for the “Iron” Brigade’s participation in U.S. Army Europe’s Combined Resolve IX exercise later this month.
Each of the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, combined-arms battalions’ maneuver companies took on different roles during training lanes that melded the agility of mechanized infantry with the brute force of M1 Abrams tanks during the exercise at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, July 29, 2017 to Aug. 4, 2017.
“The training was based off of what we would have to do as a battalion during a combined-arms breach,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Butler, 1st Bn., 68th Armor Reg. “Each maneuver company has a very specific task that they would be performing.”
During a final iteration Aug. 4, Company A served as the primary breaching company, Company B was a secondary breaching element and Company C was the assault element pursuing the remnants of a conventional enemy force.
Soldiers dismount an M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during a Company C, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, combined arms live-fire exercise at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Aug. 4, 2017. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Ange Desinor)
“We constructed a company combined arms live-fire exercise (CALFEX) that replicated each phase of an operation that normally would happen concurrently. Each company focused on its piece of the mission, essentially, when it comes to a combined arms battalion breach,” said Butler.
The CALFEX was developed and evaluated based on the Army’s recently implemented Objective T training standard, which provides greater granularity of a unit’s deployability by objectively balancing the art of command with metrics that calculate individual and collective levels of readiness.
“The training was one of our mission essential tasks. It allowed us to maintain mission readiness and prepare us for upcoming exercises so that we can come out of Atlantic Resolve fully trained,” Butler said.
Soldiers with Company C, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, clear buildings during a combined arms live-fire exercise Aug. 4, 2017, at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Ange Desinor)
Since arriving to Europe in January as part of the regionally allocated land force for Operation Atlantic Resolve, the “Silver Lions” Battalion trained heavily at the company level during the spring, when its armored companies were disbursed across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The deterrence mission in the Baltics allowed the companies to train with multinational allies and partners. The battalion consolidated to Germany in June, and the CALFEX provided the Silver Lions with an opportunity to finally train together.
During the exercise, for example, Company A conducted the breach training for the first time as a company.
“The Soldiers performed exceptionally well,” said Capt. Chase Rahm, commander of Company A, which serves as the primary breach element for the battalion.
An infantryman patrols through the woods before breaching obstacles during a combined arms live-fire exercise at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Aug. 4, 2017. The Company C, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Soldiers were preparing for the “Iron” Brigade’s participation in U.S. Army Europe’s Combined Resolve IX live-fire exercise later this month. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Ange Desinor)
“We’ve always been tasked as the breach company for 1-68. Our ability to accomplish the mission aggressively, move into the breach, executing breach operations and moving to a follow-on objective was very well done,” said Rahm.
Butler said the training will ratchet up during the Combined Resolve IX brigade-level live-fire exercise at Grafenwoehr Training Area, where the Silver Lions will be expected to maneuver and fire quickly as an entire battalion.
But prior to mass maneuvers, the CALFEX provided tank and M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle crews to iron out any final wrinkles. In particular, adapting to the terrain was a main area of emphasis.
“It’s important to rehearse before going out through the lanes,” said Sgt. Jared Wilkinson, a tank commander and section sergeant. “There’s a lot of terrain features — vegetation, high ground, etc. — which provided a challenge to get through. We rehearsed days prior, maintained communication on the battlefield and met the commander’s intent.”
Butler concluded: “This has been some really great training. I’m very proud of the … battalion, and we are going to show how lethal this battalion is when you put the elements all together and operate with the whole Iron Brigade, culminating in the Combined Resolve IX live-fire. We are really going to show U.S. Army Europe what the best armored brigade in the U.S. Army is all about.”