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MiTT training grows at Fort Riley

October 19, 2006

FORT RILEY, Kan. (Army News Service, Oct. 19, 2006) – The need for a long-term, sustainable training strategy for Military Transition Teams led to the consolidation of all such training at Fort Riley last May.

Since then the 2nd Brigade, 91st Division (Training Support), has been busy building the program, for which the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, assumed responsibility this week.

Military transition teams mentor military and police forces in Iraq and Afghanistan with the intent of soon handing off security responsibility to locals. About 200 MiTTs operate in Iraq, and another 75 in Afghanistan. By May, the teams had trained 125 battalions of military and police forces in Iraq, and 82,000 military and security personnel in Afghanistan.

“This mission is critical to shifting the fight to the Iraqi and Afghan military and security forces,” said Col. Raymond Lamb, 2nd Brigade commander.

While establishing the training program at Fort Riley, 2nd Brigade leaders took advantage of the post’s size and constructed six new training areas, or urban clusters, to simulate Iraqi villages that increase the realism of MiTT training. The additional training space allowed the brigade to also expand instruction and increase the course from 30 to 60 days.

“We wanted to add a greater sense of theater-immersion training to provide the Soldiers we train with the best knowledge possible before we send them overseas,” said Sgt. 1st Class George Tillman, a 2nd brigade operations NCO.

A language lab staffed by Iraqi nationals who work for the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., deepens Soldiers understanding of the Iraqi language and culture. And Combat Lifesaving Skills training is now four days instead of three. The extra day features a training exercise in which Soldiers must react to enemy fire, evaluate and treat casualties, call for fire support and arrange for medical evacuation – all at the same time.

The 2nd Brigade also created an IED training facility, in which Soldiers can view models of IEDs currently being used in theater and learn how to react to them. Weapons training also got a boost.

“When we expanded training to the 60-day model, we added a day on each weapon system the Army offers instead of combining all weapons in one or two days,” Tillman said.

A four-day capstone exercise tests Soldiers training in IEDs, convoy operations and urban assault situations.

Tillman said he predicts the changes will continue to be adapted as the situation in-theater dictates. “We want to send the best trained, best prepared Soldiers to theater as possible.”