The weather for today: sunny with high of 107 degrees and winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour, so if you are not careful you can dehydrate, burn up and get blown away, all at the same time.

     I could still remember my first visit to the NTC, a little over 20 years ago, a young SPC with the 82d Airborne Division, a rifleman in an Infantry squad. I remember my platoon in single file "humping" our large rucksacks, up and down those mountains in the middle of the night. These memories made me appreciate once more the great job that Soldiers are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan during today’s global war on terrorism in Southwest Asia. The NTC provided then and continues to provide now realistic, challenging conditions for training. I had a special interest for this visit last summer since I was about to observe combat service support (CSS) Soldiers conduct combat operations.

     We had been driving close to 50 minutes when my driver, who was the post command sergeant major’s driver (and my driver for the day), pointed ahead. Four Corners came in sight. The observer controllers (OCs) were already there, looking at maps, talking on their radios and waiting for me. The call sign for the OCs is "Goldminers" and identifies them as the trainers at the NTC. The OCs had been alerted to my visit on short notice, and they were very professional (and kind enough) to jump through the traditional hoops to make the proper arrangements. I had told the Goldminers neither to change nor stop any training because I didn’t want to become a training distracter - and they didn’t.

CSM Jose L. Silva with F Company Soldiers After a Successful Training Scenario

    Once we arrived and dismounted, I was greeted by the master sergeant who is Goldminer 40: the Forward Support Battalion (FSB) Sergeant Major Trainer. Goldminer 40 took me to the briefing area, a sand table drawn on the desert floor, complete with terrain features and scaled-down Soldiers, vehicles and equipment. Goldminer 40 introduced me to Goldminer 30: the captain who is the Tactical Signal and Staff Trainer for the Goldminer FSB Trainers. Goldminer 30 was the designated briefer on the training events for the day. The unit had conducted live-fire exercises that morning and was preparing to conduct a dry-fire exercise to prepare for the afternoon live-fire under a different scenario.

     The mission for that afternoon: F Company (Forward Support Company) 3/69th Armor, 3d Infantry Division will conduct convoy operations to deliver parts and supplies to a forward base a few miles north of F Company’s location. The convoy had these eight vehicles: one command and control (C2) HMMWV, one M-113 (personnel carrier) with M2 50-caliber machine guns, an M-88 (medium track recovery vehicle) with an M2, two Light Medium Tactical Vehicles (LMTVs), two cargo HMMWVs and one LMTV wrecker for recovery operations. The convoy route would take them through the two villages of Pefferton and Fefferville. The intelligence update stated that no enemy activity had been reported in the past but to be aware that the villages were unstable due to the political situation of the region. F Company had to be ready for the worst-case scenario.

A sand table drawn on the desert helps Soldiers and leaders understand terrain.

     As noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in the convoy conducted their precombat inspections, I was being briefed on my location within the convoy, last vehicle at a safe distance as an observer. Goldminer 40 was to be by my side (to provide positive control, safety and additional directions if needed). An hour or so after my sand table briefing, we were moving out. Order of movement as planned, tactical dispersion as rehearsed, weapons at the ready and expecting the unexpected, we continued toward our first village.

     Riding in the back of a convoy is no fun at all. Visibility can be hampered by the amount of dust generated by the vehicles in front of you and creates the hazard of getting too close or too far from the vehicle in front of yours. This "accordion" effect can jeopardize the tactical configuration of a moving element because fields and concentration of fires depend on the integrity of the convoy as a whole.

Logisticians dismount and take defensive positions at Fort Irwin, California.

     As we entered the outskirts of the village of Pefferton, the terrain became rockier and less sandy, which meant more visibility for the convoy and less dust entering our windpipes. Small huts were dispersed along our right and left flanks. "Villagers" peeked out of the doors and windows. Others were sitting around small tables along the road and posed no visual threat to the passing vehicles. The piles of broken and abandoned furniture littering both sides of the road gave the impression that something had happened, but no one in the convoy was going to stop and ask. We cleared the village in less than three minutes. I knew this was a training event, but for some reason I was actually relieved that nothing had happened. That’s how realistic the NTC felt. Now we were heading to the next village, and I knew that this time we were going to get busy. The opposing forces (OPFOR) were somewhere in the village, waiting and looking forward to "letting us have it."

     Fefferville was a short distance from Pefferton, maybe three miles. Just like the first one, the second village looked strangely quiet and deserted. We entered the Fefferville to witness the same scenario: small huts, trash and abandoned furniture. One thing that was missing was the folks sitting around the tables. By the time I figured that out, I saw the first of three flashes followed by three detonations coming from our two o’clock. Three rocket-propelled grenades had been fired. The grenades hit two vehicles, and another vehicle was destroyed by an improvised explosive device (IED).

     I told my driver to back up and move to a different location because I wanted to see the action from a different perspective. In the process of starting the relocation move, we ran into another group of OCs watching the ongoing battle. We dismounted, and introductions and handshakes followed. Among the OCs were a lieutenant colonel who is the Senior Logistics Training Officer for the Operations Group, and the major who is Executive Officer (XO) for the Forward Support Battalion. The battalion XO is also responsible for running the convoy live-fire lane. "This is the first time we have dismounting logisticians," the XO said. "They must be able to find, fix and destroy the enemy."

Urban training at the National Training Center includes a new tunnel complex.

     The NTC training environment is under constant change as lessons learned from Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom are implemented. The Soldiers going through this village or "lane" were experiencing the conditions they might encounter while conducting convoy operations in Iraq or Afghanistan.

     Ambushes, IEDs, obstacles, target discrimination (being able to determine who is an enemy combatant among the civilian population) and even wedding celebrations are just a few of the tasks integrated in the scenarios at the NTC. Soldiers must be exposed to these situations to ensure they can react accordingly and minimize the enemy threat and civilian casualties.

     Villages have been built to expand training events and scenarios. For example, Tiefort City has a large complex of buildings that includes a school, a mosque and a city hall. A tunnel complex also runs under Tiefort City. All of this provides for realistic training in an urban environment.

     The CSS Soldiers from F Company had secured the area and treated their wounded. Reports had been sent to higher headquarters. They were now in the process of recovering the vehicle and moving out of the area to assemble one more time, this time on a safe zone to consolidate and reorganize and submit the final situation report.

     A couple of hours later, we were back at the sand table for the big after action review. The Soldiers looked confident and motivated. Their leadership was very proud of their warfighters. Of course, some mistakes had been made; but leaders and Soldiers were in the right place to fine-tune, retrain, rehearse and execute to correct mistakes. F Company and the Goldminers had accomplished one of their missions in a very fruitful manner.

     More missions would follow and more rotations would come, but each rotation is treated as if the very first one. The NTC and its trainers apply the same intensity, the same dedication and the same focus to ensure all Soldiers have the best training they can get before their deployments. When the Goldminers train Soldiers as they fight, they mean business.

Downtown Tiefort Tiefort City Hall Villages at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, have been built to expand training events and scenarios. For example, Tiefort City has a large complex of buildings that includes a school, a mosque and a city hall.