• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Golden Thunder

Golden Thunder 2001, an Army National Guard training exercise for more than 6,500 Guard, Reserve and active Army soldiers from across America, was conducted in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming during July's two middle weeks. Three days and nights of intense tactical training -- beginning July 13 and ending July 16 with an artillery exhibition for civilian employers at Camp Guernsey, Wy. -- highlight the two-week exercise commanded by Brig. Gen. Don Goldhorn, the South Dakota Army Guard's top soldier.

Soldiers of South Dakota's 842nd Engineer Company were eating dust and sweating in full combat gear at the airport in Sturgis, S.D. They worked there around the clock to build a 3,680-foot runway suitable for four-engine, C-130 cargo planes. The company's earth-moving section from Spearfish, S.D., scraped and hauled 30,000 cubic yards of topsoil while carving part of the new runway out of the Dakota prairie during the two weeks. This is part of their wartime mission, and was the third runway like this they had built in the last eight years. An 18-member Army Reserve engineer team from Sioux Falls, S.D., is testing those Army Guard soldiers' ability to deal with persistent civilians and dispose of unexploded land mines as if they were serving in Bosnia or Kosovo.

Golden Thunder is different from the training that soldiers receive at the Army's combat training centers in California and Louisiana in one important way. Community service projects, such as the runway at Sturgis and rebuilding an airplane hanger at the Custer State Park Airport in South Dakota, are part of the training. Engineer outfits tackle those projects in the same way they would rebuild roads and bridges and buildings if sent into a combat zone. This gives the combat support units the chance to use their military skills for projects that will help these communities.

Combat engineers from Maine and Oregon and signal, or communication, soldiers from Colorado and California are part of the task force that is made up from 75 separate units hailing from 17 states. The corps-level operation was based at Custer State Park near South Dakota's southwestern corner. This was the first time the exercise has been held beyond the Coyote State. It is based on the highly regarded Golden Coyote exercises that the South Dakota Army Guard has run for the previous 16 years.

Trucking food and equipment between South Dakota and Wyoming, therefore, is part of the drill for transportation units. The soldiers do, after all, have to eat. Twenty-three dining halls are being supplied and staffed. The soldiers are expected to consume 4,600 cases of meals ready to eat and another 118,000 hot meals. Some 265,000 gallons of water are being purified with military equipment. The exercise covers a considerable amount of real estate -- nearly 200 miles from end to end. The Black Hills training area in South Dakota, where most of the engineer missions are taking place, covers 8,000 square miles.

Camp Guernsey, where most of the combat arms training was conducted, covers 60 square miles and includes a 10-mile impact area. That will be the target terrain for a massive multiple launch rocket system display by South Dakota Guard artillery soldiers for visiting civilian employers on July 16.

Army Reserve chemical warfare soldiers from Illinois also took part in this weekend's tactical exercise. Conducting one of the best training opportunities in the United States that is very realistic was the goal that Maj. Gen. Philip Killey, South Dakota's adjutant general, set for previous Golden Coyote exercises.