Hohenfels Combat Maneuver Training Center [CMTC]
Hohenfels Training Area (HTA)
Hohenfels, Germany
Hohenfels Combat Maneuver Training Center is part of the Seventh Army Training Command. The Combat Maneuver Center at Hohenfels, at 39,858 acres (16,130 hectares), is the second largest training area available to U.S. forces in Europe. The area was requisitioned for use as the US Army training area in 1951. The main mission is the training of troops. There are a variety of visiting troops from the US as well as from foreign Armies. The optempo is high in Hohenfels. The CMTC training calendar often reflects back to back missions, with block leave scheduled twice per year. While the majority of personnel assigned to Hohenfels do not foreword deploy, some units do. Family Support Systems function at an increased level to provide soldiers and families with support as needed.
Hohenfels is a small installation with approximately 5,000 active duty, family members, and civilians. The total population includes: Active Duty 2102; Civilian 670; Local Nationals 618; Family Members 2,000; Trainees/others 2,500; TOTAL: 7,890. It is located in a rural area in the state of Bavaria. It is less than an hour drive from Nuernberg, Regensburg, and the Czech Republic. Scenic areas suchas the Austrian Alps, Munich, or Neuschwanstein castle, are less than 3 hours from Hohenfels.
Housing in the Hohenfels military community is widely spread out. There are quarters as far out as a 1 hour drive. While much of USAREUR has drawdown, Hohenfels continues to grow and change as part of the Post- Cold War Army.
The mission of the Hohenfels Combat Maneuver Training Center is to facilitate realistic force on force maneuver training for all USAREUR Combat Battalions, and to support NATO training densities such as Germany, France, Canada, and the Netherlands. Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) training, located at Hohenfels Training Area (HTA), is the capstone event of the USAREUR training strategy for maneuver battalions, field artillery battalions, brigades, brigade slices and division cavalry squadrons. The combat training center methodology and facilities provide USAREUR units with tough, realistic combined arms and services training on a complex battlefield.
The Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) Hohenfels, Germany is the capstone of the USAREUR training strategy for maneuver units in Europe (USAREUR Reg 350-1, Training in USAREUR, and 350-50, Combat Maneuver Training Center). CMTC may be used for various instrumental purposes (training for High Intensity Combat, Stability and Support Operations [SASO], Mission Rehearsals). It exists, with all its resources in personnel and equipment, to provide realistic, effective, and intensive unit training opportunities across the spectrum of Army operations.
The CMTC’s “purpose” is to train a unit, its soldiers and leaders, in the successful execution of their collective tasks and not to grade (pass/fail) them. It is a tool available to commanders to keep their units in that “band of excellence” towards which all individual and small unit home station training opportunities build. The CMTC is a tough and demanding armor/mechanized woodland environment that allows the strengths and weaknesses of the whole unit to be identified. This identification is assisted through various means. From low-tech observations on the ground, to high-tech whiz-bang applications of laser engagement systems and computer imagery, the whole purpose is to assist the unit to train to standard, meet the commander’s training objectives and accomplish its mission essential tasks.
Ideally, close combat (heavy) brigade combat teams operating with their assigned, attached, and slice units will receive an opportunity to train at the CMTC every 12 months. Combat support and CSS units participate in CMTC training as part of the combined arms and services team in support of maneuver task force and brigade operations. The CMTC conducts brigade-level exercises that emphasize tactical maneuver training for the battalion TF or division cavalry squadron. A typical CMTC rotation uses a 3-5-14-3 cycle that includes 3 days for deploying, issuing MILES equipment, and conducting the USAREUR Leader Training Program (ULTP), Phase III, in the Leader Training Center simulation facility, and 5 days of company/team-enhanced situational training exercises (STX). After the STX are 14 days of battalion TF force-on-force training and EXEVALs and 3 days for MILES turn-in, maneuver-box cleanup, and redeployment.
Battalion and brigade maneuver training and peacekeeping training are conducted at Hohenfels. Seven battalion task forces trained in October and November 1996 before deploying to Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and between October 1995 and October 1997 nearly 29,000 soldiers received Individual Readiness Training for OJE. In fiscal year 1997 more than 43,000 soldiers completed regular training rotations and IRT.
The 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division soldiers who took over the mission of Task Force Falcon in late 2000 didn’t have to go to Kosovo for a realistic preview of what they’ll encounter there. Kosovo came to them. Hohenfels’ Combat Maneuver Training Center was made to replicate Kosovo for an extensive 17-day mission rehearsal exercise that immerses about 5,000 soldiers in virtually every scenario they might encounter in Kosovo. The exercise was similar to the training begun in 1999 for all units bound for Kosovo. Combat Maneuver Training Center observer-controllers monitor the soldiers on each of the peacekeeping tasks they might perform and point out which ones they did correctly — and incorrectly. Then, the soldiers perform the task again.
Civilians on the Battlefield, or COBs -- "Pronounce it 'cob' as in 'mob,'" -- have been used at CMTC since the early 1990s to portray civilian ethnic groups and organizations that Army units might encounter when deployed. The COB's mission is to add realism to situations where units might have to deal with civilian populations while conducting military operations. The majority of COB employees are retired Army personnel, many with combat experience. One member is an ex-Navy SEAL. All speak a second language, and they can draw on other skills to confuse or mislead even the most highly trained units.
As a result, units rotating through training at CMTC encounter some tough scenarios, including dealing with "thieves" entering their base camp, "snipers" hiding among the population, angry mobs and bomb-toting "terrorists." Soldiers and observer/controllers at CMTC refer to the DA civilians as "professional" COBs, or "pro-COBs." To assist in populating the CMTC "battlefield," pro-COBs are often augmented with soldiers from other units or from visiting reserve component units. The augmentees receive role-playing instruction, rules of engagement and civilian or military clothing, and then occupy the six urban-warfare training "villages" spread throughout the 40,000-acre maneuver-training area and extended training area at CMTC.
The COBs who occupy the training villages, or MOUT sites, live in the buildings for the duration of an exercise. In recent years, major improvements have been made to the five MOUT sites located in the main maneuver area, to protect the occupants from the harsh German winters. Although the MOUT sites are where the COBs are most often seen performing their duties, inhabiting training villages is not their sole function. Pro-COBs provide training support for units throughout USAREUR and in the United States.
CMTC Pro-COBs have been observed being chased by military police during force-protection exercises at posts all over Germany. And the COB team has an archive of video tapes and photographs that show COBs being body-slammed, handcuffed and carted off to MP jail cells. They are adept at aggravating situations that involve security personnel: There's nothing like a "civilian" in a vehicle search pit screaming in a foreign language to make an MP's day. Recently renewed worldwide terrorist threats have made it too dangerous to conduct force-protection exercises around actual guard posts or security elements, so planners have worked out other training solutions.
Located in a vacated Cold War-era missile site in the CMTC maneuver box, an area is being renovated to represent a United Nations compound -- complete with security berm, guard towers and concertina-wire fence. This "tactical operations site" is enclosed within an earthen berm and gates that can be manned by "armed" guards. The office buildings, billets and maintenance facilities in the site can be used to stage secure force-protection exercises or other complex battlefield operations. The benefit is that the exercise can be contained within the site so the exercise won't be confused with an actual terrorist threat or incident.
The Hohenfels Training Area (HTA) 2005 objective is to upgrade HTA as the preeminent maneuver training area in the US Army with recapitalization and modernization of the instrumentation systems. To accomplish the objective, the major tasks include the start of construction for the Objective Instrumentation System Building, the Objective Instrumentation System, upgrading the AAR capabilities, and the completion of maneuver corridor upgrades. Specific projects currently identified during the period include the HTA recapitalization, objective instrumentation systems and objective instrumentation (MCA). With new Maneuver Corridor Construction, seven areas within CMTC will be improved to allow more efficient use of the training area. The available training area will be expanded up to 20%. Funding requirements are for $1.8M (OMA) in FY00 and $0.96M in FY01. The CMTC Army Battle Staff Integration will provide the capability for the instrumentation systems to collect, record, analyze, control, and provide training feedback for live/constructive digital force exercises. It will also provide an interim LF-IS capability. ABSCI will create an interface between the existing IS and the ABCS tactical systems. It will provide digital data to the IS for exercise control and for the production of AAR products. Funding requirements are for $1.6M OMA and $36.6M OPA/RDTE in FY02.
The 2010 Objective is the complete recapitalization projects and modernization of instrumentation systems to retain HTA as the preeminent maneuver training area in the US Army. To accomplish the objective, the major tasks include the modernization of instrumentation systems and support, completion of training area maintenance, finalizing the Leader Training Center modernization, finalizing the maneuver corridor expansion, completing MOUT site upgrade projects and completion of the Command Information Center. Specific projects currently identified during the period include HTA recapitalization, objective instrumentation systems, and objective instrumentation (MCA). The CMTC Objective Instrumentation System [CMTC OIS] will replace the current instrumentation system that was fielded in 1992. The STRICOM program calls for Common Training Instrumentation Architecture that will support the digitized force. Funding requirements are for $0.75M in FY06, $5.87M in FY07, $74.9M in FY08 and $4.68M in FY09. Funding will come from OPA/RDTE.
History
Historical finds near the Vils and Naab rivers indicate settlement of the region as early as 700 B.C. although human life can be traced back nearly four-thousand years. In early recorded history the area was mentioned in 15 B.C. by Emperor Augustus who sent his army north across the Alps to stop the southward move and land occupation by the Celtic and Gallic tribes. One of the tribes' strongholds was allegedly on Lindenberg Hill.
Hohenfels takes its name from the rock formations prevalent in the area and is literally translated as "high rock" or "high cliff." The name Hohenfels refers to the elevated location of the former castle. Built by a Noble of Hohenfels in the 10th century it changed hands several times. In 1631, Tilly, the famous general of the Thirty Years' War, possessed it. Later, in 1724, it was returned under Bavarian ownership and in 1804, its role as a residence of nobles ended. New private owners tore it down leaving nothing but part of the tower and wall ruins.
Other historical dates of local significance are the years 1716-1721 during which the beautiful church "Saint Ulrich" was built. In 1743 nearly the entire town was destroyed by fire. A look at the town's buildings of our days impresses the extent of that fire; only few houses are over 200 years old.
Numerous wars and conflicts burdened the local and regional populace. The Peasants' War in 1524, the Thirty Years' War from 1618-1648, the Spanish and Austrian Succession War in the 18th century, and finally the First and Second World War in this century resulted in the loss of uncounted lives and in immeasurable suffering and pain.
The primary occupation of the region's population was agriculture, cattle breeding, work in the forests and minor trade. Everyday life was uneventful until the area attracted military attention in 1937. The Hohenburg castle ruins on the HTA was built around 1,000 A.D. by the counts of Hohenburg. After destruction and decay it was rebuilt in 1584. Its role as the domicile of nobility ended in 1641 when it was badly damaged by lightning that struck the gunpowder tower.
The German army established a training area near the town of Hohenfels in 1938, and German combat units activated, reorganized and re-equipped at the training area throughout World War II. Several villages were evacuated when the training area was built and expanded. A few scattered ruins still remain in the training area. Polish, Ukrainian, Yugoslav, Russian, British and American soldiers were interned at a prisoner of war camp at Hohenfels until they were liberated by the Third U.S. Army on April 22, 1945. As one of the few facilities that had not suffered major damage, the camp became a processing station for displaced persons. U.S. forces in 1951 expanded the training area to its current size of 40,017 acres, and American units began training there in October of that year.
Environment
Hohenfels Training Area is approximately 45 miles southwest of Grafenwoehr, and is less than 60 miles from the Czech Republic border. It is located in Neumarkt County in the Upper Palatinate district in the independent state of Bavaria. The region is part of the "Upper Palatinate Jura" uplands that extend from Amberg in the north to the Danube river in the south. The characteristic features of the Jura are hilly terrain with softly rounded rock formations, mixed coniferous and deciduous forests, dry valleys and a general scarcity of water resources. The arable land in the lower sections between the hills is of low fertility, frequently covered with eroded rock and limestone. These conditions explain the sparse population of the area.
Hohenfels' elevation ranges from 1,155 feet above sea level in the southeast corner of the training area to more than 2,000 feet above sea level in the southwest, and terrain varies from hills and softly rounded rock formations to dry valleys. Forests of coniferous and deciduous trees, brush and grasses grow in the yellow- and brown-clay topsoil. The limestone ground absorbs water slowly, but erosion control measures help prevent topsoil from washing into streams.
CMTC Hohenfels has been the subject of intensive geological and hydro-geological investigations for several years to identify geotectonic zones of weakness (dolines, sinkholes) causing excessive turbidity in off-post areas after heavy rainfalls and demonstrating a potential safety hazard for training units during maneuver activities. Groundwater turbidity appears to have increased since the construction of erosion control basins on CMTC.
In 1998 the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division noted that it was consistently unable to train to standard due to severe maneuver restrictions at Friedberg Training Area. This prompted the 7th ATC to explore options for increasing maneuver space at Friedberg, and at Schweinfurt Training Areas.
The Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands (CEMML) at Colorado State University (CSU) is a longstanding partner of USAREUR and the 7th Army Training Command (ATC). By mid-2001 CEMML had completed two major projects for the 7th ATC; one involving proposed expansion of the training areas at Schweinfurt and Friedberg, the other a comprehensive survey of the flora at CMTC Hohenfels. This type of baseline survey produces essential information for management of the training area.
The Combat Maneuver Center at Hohenfels, at 39,858 acres (16,130 hectares), is the second largest training area available to U.S. forces in Europe. It is also an ecological gem, representing one of the largest pieces of representing one of the largest pieces of undeveloped land in Germany, and host to a vast array of native and introduced flora and fauna.
Though CMTC Hohenfels comprises only 0.24% of the state of Bavaria, the training area’s flora represents over 27% of the plant taxa known to occur in the entire state. Forty-seven of the taxa collected in this survey had not previously been known on the installation, including 14 that are new regional distribution records. Eighty-nine of the taxa documented in this survey are on the German federal “Red List” of rare plants; fifty-nine taxa are on the “Red List” of rare plants maintained by the state of Bavaria. The floristic survey of CMTC Hohenfels underscored much of what was already known or suspected about plant diversity on the training area, and brought much new information to light. Now, however, land managers have documentation and actual specimens to assist them in managing the property for optimal training conditions, while conserving the installation’s extraordinary natural resources.
By the mid-1980s much of the Hohenfels Training Area in Germany was a moonscape. Tanks got stuck in the sucking mud; yellow-clay soil washed into streams and lakes, killing fish; and other animals and plants suffered as the land deteriorated from constant training. In response, the Department of the Army in 1985 created the Integrated Training Area Management program to rehabilitate U.S. Army training lands throughout the world and, more importantly, to prevent them from becoming wastelands again.
In 1985 Hohenfels was chosen as one of four ITAM pilot sites to bring "drawing board" concepts to reality. When the ITAM program was fully integrated into other Army training areas in 1988 and 1989, Hohenfels became a model for training area land management worldwide, he said. The office of the deputy chief of staff for operations picked up responsibility for ITAM-DA in 1996, so that management of the program moved from the Army's environmentalists to the trainers. The change is significant, because it forces the training community to recognize the importance of land management now that funding comes through the training program.
The USAREUR ITAM office in Grafenwöhr manages land use in the Hohenfels and Grafenwöhr training areas, as well as in Aschaffenberg, Böblingen, Butzbach, Friedberg, Lampertheim, Schwetzingen, Schweinfurt and Würzburg. ITAM operations specialists meet quarterly with training officials, members of Germany's forestry office and local Army directorates of public works to coordinate land management efforts. Because only limited land management projects can be undertaken during training rotations, ITAM, DPW and training officials schedule blocks of time in the spring and fall devoted exclusively to damage-repair and prevention projects. This is when the land is reforested and reseeded.
Land managers plant native and non-native species of grass and trees to find those that grow best in the clay-like soil. They also collect soil samples and record data from selected sites. This information -- plus data from water testing, soil analysis, satellite imagery, and aerial and infrared photographs -- is used to monitor the condition of the land. Topography data is fed into the DPW's geographical information system, which allows the DPW to develop computer-generated elevation models of the training area. Accurate models help in planning viable maneuver corridors and land-management projects in the hilly terrain.
Although hundreds of protected plants and animals benefit from ITAM's environmental renewal measures, better terrain also means less damage and "dead-line" time for vehicles. Soldiers also profit from maneuvering on a realistic "battlefield" of thick forests, grassy hills and deep river valleys. Lush vegetation holds the soil, helping control erosion, which is Hohenfels' public enemy number one. Healthy trees and plants, along with 95 man-made check dams, slow the flow of rainwater into lakes and streams, giving the land more time to absorb it. Better erosion control also means fewer problems for local residents and fewer damage claims against the Army. Claims can be quite costly: a 1987 flood in which extensive mud and water damage in communities around the training area cost the Army millions of dollars. That was a key event. After that, the ITAM program got the 100 percent support of everyone, from the local level to the Pentagon.
Six water-monitoring stations were installed in the training area in 1992. Each telephone booth-sized station continuously gathers data about the amount and intensity of precipitation, surface water run-off, and levels of contamination and sediment entering local streams. Solar cells added to the monitoring stations in 1994 freed technicians from the chore of removing and recharging batteries. The stations have paid for themselves many times over, Böhm said. He credits them with reducing the number of claims attributed to training area run-off from 250 in 1988 to the current figure of fewer than 10 per year.
