Regiment that poses as war games enemy headed for Iraq

FORT IRWIN, Calif. (AP) - The elite regiment that poses as the enemy during war games at the Mojave Desert's sprawling U.S. Army National Training Center is heading for Iraq.

The 11th Armored Calvary Regiment, which plays the opposition in training large-scale forces, is sending 1,500 troops to Iraq over the next four months. About 1,000 11th Armored troops will remain at the 1,000-square-mile training base north of Barstow.

The vaunted regiment was replaced in the enemy role two weeks ago by about 450 members of the Nevada National Guard's 221st Armored Cavalry Regiment, base spokesman Capt. Dan Gannod said.

The order to Iraq is a sign that the Army is spread thin by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other duties in the global terrorism fight, Maj. John Clearwater said.

The unit, which served as the opposition force armed with harmless laser weapons in battles decided by computers, had won 147 of the past 150 mock war games against forces twice its size. Two of the other three battles were deemed a draw.

And I bet the commanders of the units that fought them to a draw received commendations or merit promotions.

The unit, which served as the opposition force armed with harmless laser weapons in battles decided by computers, had won 147 of the past 150 mock war games against forces twice its size.

I'm not sure this is true. Wasn't the idea that since these guys were representing the Soviets, they always had a 2-1 (or more) numerical advantage over the visiting units?

Bear in mind that my experience with our nation's professional OPFOR units is somewhat dated (late 1980's), but the scenarios played out were to some extent setup to induce operational failure in the Blue Forces, and thus get a good picture of their leadership's reaction to the stress inherent in a jacked out of shape situation.

So you've got the OPFOR raiding Blue Force TOCs (Tactical Operating Centers) after getting the grid from the OCs (Officer Controller - graders), and Blue Force assets being taken out of play in the most curious circumstances, to wit, from a JRTC rotation in the Spring of '88:

"Where's our SPECTRE?"
"It was shot down."
"By what!?!"
"An OPFOR mortar round..."
"YGBSM..."

The OPFOR guys were good at what they did, however, and their knowledge of the terrain, coupled with what the OC's were passing them, somewhat made for a lopsided contest.

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it - it would be interesting, however, to hear from someone who worked on the other (OPFOR) side to see what they say about the matter.

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