Free Republic

FORT HOOD, Texas (Army News Service, June 13, 2006) – More than 4,500 Soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team will soon experience what has been described as “the most realistic, stressful training troops will ever face” at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La. The Ironhorse Brigade departed this week on the heels of their Ironhorse Rampage exercise, which prepped them for JRTC and a potential deployment to Iraq. “We want to give our Soldiers confidence not only in individual skills, but collective skills as well,” said Maj. Pete Andrysiak, 1st BCT deputy commander....

US tests new tactics in urban warfare Fallujah fight may offer verdict on training - and whether control can bring peace. By Ann Scott Tyson | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor. FORT POLK, LA. - In recent years the US military has devoted much money and effort to preparing for 21st-century urban warfare - and this preparation may be facing its fiercest test yet in the Euphrates city of Fallujah, as the initial offensive began Monday. Fallujah's narrow streets, mosques, and ancient neighborhoods make the city an archetype of an insurgents' redoubt. Defenders will try to use their knowledge...