“The first, of course, is the units that come here for training. The second is what is commonly referred to as our ‘Star Wars’ capability — our instrumentation, training aids and devices, simulations and simulators. Third is our operations group, which incorporates our observer-controllers, our leader-training center and our support agencies. Fourth is our opposing-force unit. And the final pillar is our facilities,” he said.
A key motivator for everyone at CMTC is the fact that rotational units are bound for real-world, operational deployments, said LTC Mike Santos, CMTC’s plans chief.
“We know that the Soldiers in these units are going in harm’s way once they leave here, and we do everything we can to make sure they get the training they need to go to war,” Santos said.
He and his staff plan the rotations for all the units that train at CMTC. His staff includes maneuver, field artillery, aviation and engineer planners.
“We tailor the rotation to the unit,” Santos said. “So that the scenarios match the circumstances the unit will find in Iraq or Albania or wherever it’s going.”
“The situations our Soldiers face in Iraq and Afghanistan are extremely complex,” he said. “There are more friendlies to deal with, as well as a lot more bad guys. So we develop story lines that reflect that reality.”
These story lines include stability and security operations, humanitarian-assistance events, dealing with such evolving institutions as local governments or tribal leaders, and destabilizing events like enemy attacks and public demonstrations, Santos said. Many of the story lines intersect, and by following a scripted series of events the trainers ensure that Soldiers are getting the training they need.
OPFOR and COBs
Once the rotational units get into the “box” they move through an environment that not only replicates the one they’ll experience “downrange,” it is also peopled by a robust opposing force and role-players portraying the citizens, insurgents, leaders and media representatives the Soldiers will encounter.
CMTC’s OPFOR is provided by the Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry, whose commander said his men are well equipped to help rotational units get the training they need.
“We have just about everything a standard infantry battalion has, though we also have a tank company, which most battalions do not have,” said LTC Randy Copeland. “We can replicate virtually any threat, including an armored force, terrorists or insurgents.
“As the OPFOR we focus on two things,” Copeland said. “First, we look at the rotational unit’s training objectives, and then we gear our activities toward allowing them to accomplish those training goals. We don’t want to be so devious, so destructive and so disruptive that the ‘Blue Force’ can’t get anything done, because that defeats the training goal.
“Second, we look at our own capabilities and decide how far we should go in terms of the threat we pose to the Blue Force units,” he said. “We want to make it difficult for them, and we want to make them deal with our tactics and techniques, so that they really learn something while they’re here. Ultimately, our job as OPFOR is to ensure that the Blue Force Soldiers are better when they leave than they were when they got here.”
Adding to the realism are civilians on the battlefield, or COBs.
“We have 17 permanent government civilians and 67 local nationals, and we can also call on up to 600 augmentees,” said Timothy L. Good, chief of CMTC’s COB program. “We can dress them in anything from police and military uniforms to various styles of Arab robes, and we can arm them with replica weapons ranging from AK-47s to RPGs and improvised explosive devices.”
The COBs tailor their battlefield activity to the training scenario developed by Santos’ planners, Good said. If, for example, the unit undergoing training is bound for a certain region in Iraq, the COBs replicate that area by putting up appropriate roadsigns.
“More importantly, our COBs are true role players,” Good said. “Many of them take on the names and roles of actual people downrange, and we have scripts that allow us to replicate actual situations and events. That allows the rotational units to get a real feel for where they’re going.”
