TOPIC: IS LIVE-FIRE TRAINING NEEDED AT THE CTCs?
The live-fire exercises conducted at the Combat Training Centers are different in philosophy as well as structure. NTC places a battalion task force in a live-fire area to run multiple missions over approximately a five-day period. The unit is then rotated to the force-on-force, and the next task force goes to live fire. An artillery battalion supports the task force, and aviation (rotary and fixed wing) is provided on a mission basis. The JRTC live-fire exercises range from a heavy/light company mission to special forces snipers infiltrating, hiding and shooting a specific moving target. Live fires last from 18 to 36 hours. In Europe, mech-armor units and their supporting combat multipliers conduct Table XII, platoon gunnery, at Grafenwohr Training Area (GTA). GTA O/Cs augment the unit assessment program during the multiple day/night-integrated maneuver, live-fire, and simulation program. Subsequent company team and battalion task force combined maneuver, live-fire, and sustainment exercise complete the interactive multi-echelon live-fire training program.
DISCUSSION. "I was ill prepared for Vietnam just like all the others who came out of CONUS and units in Germany or Korea.... The first time I went on a live fire and air assault was in combat."
"We focus at platoon level. We do one company...with the light and heavy integration.... Platoon focus, we feel, is important not only for maintaining the focus at the cutting edge, but also it allows us 12 continuous days of (force-on-force) combat. We can pluck platoons out of the force-on-force and send them back to live fire for two days. Although it reduces the combat power of the light battalion commander, he remains focused on fighting the fight against the opposing force in force-on-force."
"We are now starting to truly own the night in the most critical area and that's live fire. Live fire is the ultimate to train them on. Soldiers leave there confident in their own ability (and) a very cohesive platoon."
"Everything is as realistic as we can make it other than having live lead coming back at them. Our target arrays are all three dimensional.... You can pick up profiles. We have from children all the way to adult male and female. When they go into a village, they have sights and sounds of animals, livestock, and screaming children and women. They have to go into rooms and make a quick decision on whether that is a belligerent or an innocent civilian. We can do that with muzzle flashes and with gunfire sounds. So, it is not only just the live fire, go in and attack violently, but then they have to make the decision based upon the rules of engagement."
"When I see young platoon leaders, sergeants, and soldiers today doing light live fires in a village, I know how far we have come and how much farther we can go."
"When I bring senior visitors here and we take them out on a live fire, quite honestly their eyes kind of bug out of their heads. They can't believe that we are actually training to this standard safely."
"We have included more dismount targets in live firing the defensive positions to give the units an opportunity, if they elect to do it, to dismount their Bradley infantry and get them into the fight with the Bradleys, overwatching and doing all the things that they are supposed to be doing that they never used to do up in live fire."
"We (now) have the ability to counterattack.... We can counterattack him with a combined arms reserve, so they have to actually go through the consolidation, reorganization, redistribution of ammunition, get their artillery set and oh, my gosh, here comes a counterattack as you might expect to happen."
"Almost all units can (qualify) small arms at home station. However, here...the large gunnery and collective live-fire skills come together...soldiers and leaders learn the real nuts and bolts of their craft."
"This is not amateur night business; the pucker factor gets real high when a battalion maneuvers across the range complexes.... It is near war--the stress, complexity, confusion, and battle awareness. This is live fire, this is why we must do it, this is why soldiers came into the Army--this is the heart of our warfighting business."
CURRENT ASSESSMENT. There is no doubt that live-fire exercises are costly. But the added benefits gained by executing them cannot be replicated by any other means. There is a noticeable difference in how leaders and soldiers plan, train and execute missions that involve live ordinance. Their plans become simpler, their attention to detail greater. They pay special attention to risk management and anti-fratricide measures. The cavalier attitude goes away.
Cohesion and confidence in the overall team are greatly expanded. This is where the company fire support officer, who has been walking behind his company commander for months, finally shows the lethality he brings to the unit. Army aviation and close air supporters demonstrate their skills, bringing a new understanding of capabilities and limitations. The collective tasks required, in a realistic and stressful environment, are not demonstrated on a range.
The CTCs offer several training opportunities that cannot be replicated at home station to the same high degree. The live-fire areas offer pop-up, three- dimensional mannequins, targets that fire back and create MILES casualties, moving targets, and much more that are unaffordable and cannot be supported on most posts. There are also specially selected O/Cs who offer advice, specify standards, do independent risk assessments, and conduct AARs. They are a valuable additional safety check throughout the exercise.
The issue of detracting from the force-on-force, which also cannot be replicated at home station, may be a valid argument in some cases. The CMTC conducts their live fires away from their maneuver area, which allows the unit to focus all its attention on each phase separately. The JRTC emphasizes smaller unit-level live fires which could be part of any normal operation. Their impact on the brigade force-on-force is minimal. They are written into the scenario as a typical out-of-sector mission. Currently, only at the NTC is there major impact on the force-on-force. Although the scenarios of the two phases are often linked, they do detract from each other. For example, the direct support artillery battalion commander must decide if he wants to spend 10 days at live fire with his unit, or execute his other function as brigade fire support officer and stay at force-on-force. However, there is at least a three- to four-day period where no live fires are conducted when the entire brigade is together in the maneuver box.
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS. Panama, Operation DESERT STORM, Somalia have all demonstrated the worth of combined arms live-fire exercises. Most American combat units participating in those operations had participated in a CTC. They also provided new challenges because of their own special environments. Long-range fratricide problems, large formations attacking simultaneously with joint air assets, the need to practice counter-ambush, clearing a room with civilians in the area, pressures to reduce collateral damage, and many other lessons present new scenarios which the CTCs are adding to their live fires.
"We are expanding our live-fire lanes ...to handle all of the platoons...during a rotation.... It would be really good if we could take some of the other combat elements and have them participate in live fire, even an MP or a truck platoon, to the point where they could do the counter-ambush which is a task common to all under force protection."
"Probably the most significant thing that is on the books, but not yet funded, is to create a second motorized rifle regiment...so that you can do a true two heavy task force brigade-level defense in sector.... There is a tremendous amount of potential there. That also implies...that the entire rotation, all 14 days, are going to be brigade operations with brigade headquarters controlling all its task forces, all its own artillery,...everything, which has not been the standard rotational model at the NTC."
"What it will allow us to do is train brigade commanders and their staffs with all their toys for the full 14 days and potentially get at some of the second and third order issues in synchronization, which really occur at brigade level more than any other level anyhow. It will allow us to get to some of those issues either more quickly or more consistently over the course of the 14-day rotation."
"We incorporated simulations into live fire; this not only expands the maneuver space into virtually reality domain, but also helps ramp up units as they prepare to go live."
Live-fire exercises are critical to the proficiency of our Army. The vision of each of the CTCs in this area reflects the importance they place in live fire. Recommendations in this area are:
- Sustain the live-fire program.
- Approve NTC funding for expansion of their live-fire area and facilities, allowing an entire brigade to maneuver throughout the scenario.
- Increase ammunition to the CTCs where needed.
- Provide sufficient ammunition for home-station training prior to a rotation so that basic fire and maneuver, safety, and integration of fires does not have to be taught at the CTC.
- Expand the use of STOW to allow for the division at home station to participate in the live fire of the brigade.
- Continuously change scenarios to reflect present and future threats.
by LTC BRUCE A. BRANT, FA
Main
Table of Contents
Topic:
Training
Appendix
A: Acronyms
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