Mock Iraqi Villages in Mojave Prepare Troops for Battle (Ignore the politics - great training!)

NY Times ^ | May 1, 2006 | DEXTER FILKINS and JOHN F. BURNS

[neverdem]

FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Three years into the conflict in Iraq, the front line in the American drive to prepare troops for insurgent warfare runs through a cluster of mock Iraqi villages deep in the Mojave Desert, nearly 10,000 miles from the realities awaiting the soldiers outside Baghdad and Mosul and Falluja.

Out here, 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles, units of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., are among the latest war-bound troops who have gone through three weeks of training that introduce them to the harsh episodes that characterize the American experience in Iraq.

In a 1,000-square-mile region on the edge of Death Valley, Arab-Americans, many of them from the Iraqi expatriate community in San Diego, populate a group of mock villages resembling their counterparts in Iraq. American soldiers at forward operating bases nearby face insurgent uprisings, suicide bombings and even staged beheadings in underground tunnels. Recently, the soldiers here, like their counterparts in Iraq, have been confronted with Sunni-Shiite riots. At one village, a secret guerrilla revolt is in the works.

With actors and stuntmen on loan from Hollywood, American generals have recast the training ground at Fort Irwin so effectively as a simulation of conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 20 months that some soldiers have left with battle fatigue and others have had their orders for deployment to the war zones canceled. In at least one case, a soldier's career was ended for unnecessarily "killing" civilians.

"We would rather you got killed here than in Iraq," said Maj. John Clearwater, a veteran of the Special Forces who works at the training center.

The troops who come here are at the heart of a vast shift in American war-fighting strategy, a multibillion-dollar effort to remodel the Army on the fly. Here, the...

[neverdem]

Copy and paste http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/world/americas/01insurgency.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=f27a27b279df80b1&hp&ex=1146542400&partner=homepage if you want to watch the very realistic video of the training.

Ann Johansson for The New York Times
United States Army soldiers posed as Iraqi insurgents recently, in a simulated village that was built in the Mojave Desert to replicate conditions that American forces will face in Iraq.

Ann Johansson for The New York Times
At the Mojave base, Iraqi expatriates pretend to be civilians in Iraq, as in this scene in a make-believe home. Most are terrified of having their identities publicized, lest family members be killed by insurgents back home.

Ann Johansson for The New York Times
A soldier with the 10th Mountain Division carried another soldier who had sustained a mock injury during war games in the Mojave Desert. The simulation is so realistic that some soldiers have left with battle fatigue.

[hsalaw]

Very interesting, and it sounds like very good training, too. If some of our troops are going to suffer battle fatigue from this new type of warfare, best to find that out in the Mojave than in Iraq.

[MedicalMess]

After looking at the first picture I had a longing to go to a Pink Floyd Concert. Why is that?

[Gamecock]

***some soldiers have left with battle fatigue***

Good, tough training I would say.

[BJungNan]

What the heck are they doing putting these training camps in the Mojave Desert. They should put them along the southern (most) desert.

[misty4jc]

That is awesome! We have the same thing here, with Iraqi nationals and all doing their part. I think even some of the Marines (the role players) are allowed to grow beards and everything! That just blows me away. lol

[VeniVidiVici]

You ever been here? I love this place! Great fun! Especially since I had my own jeep. My sidekick and I would cruise around looking for the best hiding places: tank traps, waddies, etc.

We left many a commander and umpire screaming for our hides numerous times.

Even had an Air Force colonel land on my mountain top in a helicopter once and asked if I was the Air TOC. LOL!

Better stop now or I'll never shut-up.

Ft Irwin's been there for as long as I can remember. It's not something they have recently decided to construct, let alone construct away from the Southern border.

[Robe]

Definition of Battle fatigue

Battle fatigue: The World War II name for what is known
today as post-traumatic stress, this is a psychological
disorder that develops in some individuals who have had
major traumatic experiences (and, for example, have been in a serious accident or through a war).
The person is typically numb at first but later has symptoms including
depression, excessive irritability, guilt (for having survived while others died), recurrent nightmares,
flashbacks to the traumatic scene, and overreaction to sudden noises. Post-traumatic stress became
known as such in the 70s due to the adjustment problems of some Vietnam veterans.

BS, They may be tired as Sh!t, but they are NOT BATTLE FATIGUED..
Dumb a$$es at the NYT get it wrong again !!!!

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

[BJungNan]

I've spent a lot of time in the Mojave. I was a bit to obscure in the point I was trying to make.

My suggestion was that if they put the training camps in the Southern Desert they could include in their training real, honest to Allah terrorists - the ones crossing our Southern border.

In other words, they ought to have the military training bases on the border an include border patrol in the training.

[GAB-1955]

"In other words, they ought to have the military training bases on the border an include border patrol in the training."

I've thought that a stint on the southern border would be a good decompression point for units returning to the States. It might give the Zetas something to think about too. However, we need to be careful, since we don't want a war with Mexico when Mexico can be planning to kick Hugo Chavez in the fork soon.

[VeniVidiVici]

I agree. I suggested a while back that they use the border to train the Ground Surveillance Radar (or their current equivalent) teams.

I think I read somewhere that some unit was actually doing it but I can't remember exactly.

[BJungNan]

However, we need to be careful, since we don't want a war with Mexico ...

Are you suggesting that stationing troops along our border could result in a war with Mexico?

[Flash Bazbeaux]

I heard that there is a similar training ground at Ft. Polk, in Louisiana - complete with streets with signs in Arabic. It makes more sense at Ft. Irwin,though.

[GAB-1955]

"However, we need to be careful, since we don't want a war with Mexico ..."

"Are you suggesting that stationing troops along our border could result in a war with Mexico?"

Only in the sense that Murphy's Law prevails everywhere, and border 'incidents' can happen although no one intends for them to do so. We've had relatively peaceful intentions towards Mexico since 1848, but Mexican events keep spilling into the U.S. I expect these conditions to prevail.

This is hypothetical speculation only.

Let's say that a Marine unit is located on the border, supporting the Border Patrol. Someone across the border (a drug lord, say) has his people shoot into the U.S. to mask movements. The Marines are going to shoot back. Some uninvolved Mexican gets killed. The Mexicans put an Army unit on the border across from the U.S. post. And so it goes, no one intending harm, but it spirals into a border war.

This ends the speculation.

Having said that, I do think that the border security issue is not for soldiers, but for paramilitary units with police powers (a land equivalent of the Coast Guard). Soldiers shoot to kill. Policemen arrest first.

[BJungNan]

The Mexicans put an Army unit on the border across from the U.S. post.

The Mexican military is already regularly stationed on the border. They stay on their side. The also escort drug shippments up to the border, but not across.

[GAB-1955]

The issue becomes, are those Mexican units working for the Government in Mexico D.F., or are they freelancing?