Welcome to the Basic Training Poetry Lovers' Club!

At various times during the past 16 years of war, I've anonymously sent buddies deployed downrange all sorts of wacky mail and care packages. Some of my favorites included:

• A voice-changing Darth Vader mask.
• An inflatable hot tub that looked like a fuel blivet.
• Truckstop automotive supplies, such as "new car smell" air fresheners, steering wheel covers, and dashboard hula dancers.

Now, however, now my buddies have gotten old enough that I can send mail to their kids, while the latter are off at Boot Camp. I'm not mean or crazy enough to send them cookies or other pogeybait—if you do that, you'd better bake enough for the entire platoon—but I will drop them some semi-motivational snail-mail. Hooah?

(Back in the 1980s, drill sergeants would drop you 10 push-ups for postcards, and 20 for letters. I wonder what the going rate is now?)

During my first training experiences in the Army, I carried a copy of William Shakespeare's "Henry V" in my left cargo pocket. During fire guard duty and other peaceful times—there were few—I'd work on memorizing the St. Crispin's Day speech, or deciphering the rest of the play.

Inspired by this memory, I've been sending at least one lucky basic trainee this summer cycle some 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, U.S. Army, and Iowa-themed postcards, along with some potentially relevant selections from "Welcome to FOB Haiku: War Poems from Inside the Wire." Poems include:

• "wait for it"
• "your squad leader writes haiku"
• "your drill sergeant writes haiku, too"
• "Jody stole your haiku tools"
• "Grace, Ready-to-Eat"

Of course, if I am truly lucky—and my beneficiary truly isn't—a drill sergeant may even ask them to perform a dramatic reading of my work, in front of their peers!

I would pay money to see that! I'd even do a push-up or two!

Successful Wargame Leads to 'Red Bull' Deployment

Minnesota Army National Guard Col. Mike Wickman, the chief-of-staff for the 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, says the headquarters' pending 2015 deployment to an Ebola-response mission in West Africa is the result of unit readiness, timing within the Army force-generation cycle ("ARFORGEN"), and an exemplary performance at last summer's Warfighter Exercise at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Wickman made his comments during an interview with Minnesota Military Radio Hour released Nov. 30. The weekly show is a privately syndicated program produced by Today's Business Radio, Minneapolis.

As part of Operation United Assistance, the 34th Inf. Div. headquarters will next spring replace the active-duty Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)—the "Screaming Eagles." The 34th Inf. Div. commander, Maj. Gen. Neal Loidolt, will lead the mission.

"The 34th 'Red Bull' Inf. Div. is a proven, versatile, and capable force," said Wickman, the officer in charge of coordinating the headquarters staff functions. "It's prepared to lead military forces during this humanitarian mission, just as we've done in previous peacekeeping and warfighting missions—Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq. We train to the exact standard of the Active Component, and we're in the Army Force Generation cycle to be ready for potential deployments, and have recently successfully completed an Army Warfighter evaluation exercise."

Wickman told radio host Tom Lyons that the unit of 700 Minnesota citizen-soldiers is anticipated to mobilize and deploy around March or April 2015, and to deploy for roughly six months. The division's mission of "provide command and control to subordinate units" will remain unchanged, although specifics remain to be determined. Deployed soldiers will not be providing medical care directly to Ebola patients, Wickman said.

"Along with the standard deployment training that we'll receive, we'll also be receiving a great deal of mobilization medical training that will prepare us specifically for any of the environmental hazards that we expect to face," said Wickman. "[...] Not only will we receive very specific medical training to prepare us for the environmental conditions, but we'll get all the equipment we'll need to provide protection, and to avoid the risks we could face while we're overseas."

This past summer's Warfighter exercise was billed as the largest-ever of its kind, calcuated by number of participating units. The training event involved approximately 2,500 soldiers, comprising more than 20 units from 14 states, including National Guard units from California, Colorado, Indiana, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wyoming. Army Reserve units from California and Colorado also participated, as did and active Army units from Fort Sill, Okla. and Fort Riley, Kansas.

From the Battle Desk: Division Warfighter Haiku

For illustration purposes, Army Tactical Operations Center personnel conduct network integration exercise at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. PHOTO: U.S. Army

In an event billed in news reports as "The largest Warfighter exercise is Army history (based on number of training audiences)," commanders and staffs of 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (34th Inf. Div.) and 10 brigades nationwide have converged on the Mission Training Complex at scenic Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Think of it as The Mother of All "Call of Duty" games, fought via a system of systems, and by a committee of committees. More than 2,000 citizen-soldiers are participating. That's a lot of bandwidth ... and M.R.E. pizza.

According to an Army news release about similar exercise last month, involving Texas' 36th Inf "Arrowhead" Div.: "Over 50 acres of Fort Leavenworth are dedicated to supporting the specialized training environment where fiction and reality go head-to-head. [...] While these scenarios are computer-driven, they offer a level of interaction that test commanders’ and senior leaders’ critical decision-making skills and offer a broader understanding to staff members."

In other words, there are lots of moving parts, bells and whistles, and machines that go "ping."

Given this exercise in command and controlled chaos, I humbly offer an exercise of my own: some simple reflections on such training activities, written as haiku:

1.
Back to force-on-force,
wars like grandpa used to fight.
Europe or Asia?

2.
How many of you
are from out of town? So much
for virtual war.

3.
Trash-talk in the TOC:
"I've got your SIGACT right here—
come and get it, Noob!"

4.

Artillery guys,
who can deliver pizza
on time, on target?

5.
"This is the Help Desk.
Your call's important to us.
Please leave a message."

6.
Keep workstations clean.
The only vermin in here
should be TOC-roaches.

7.
A.A.R. bullet:
We need more comfortable chairs
because ... war is hell.

8.
Don't be a hero—
exercise sleep management.
Battle-Caps need naps.

9.
Let me get this straight:
We can plan large air-assaults,
but fear D.T.S.?! 

For more such amusing (?) musings—albeit at a smaller-unit scale—make sure to check out "your squad leader writes haiku" in the current issue of The Pass In Review.

Iowa Cav Snipers Take 2nd Place in Joint Competition

A Texas Army National Guard sniper team engages targets during the 2014 Winston P.
Wilson Sniper Championship conducted at Fort Chaffee, Ark. April 19-26. PHOTO:
National Guard Marksmanship Training Center (NGMTC).

A 2-soldier sniper team from the Iowa National Guard's Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment (1-113th Cav.) achieved second place in the 43th Annual Winston P. Wilson Sniper Championship conducted April 19-26 at Fort Chaffee, Ark.

According to a proud command sergeant major, Sergeants Jeremy Henrich and Jaime Koopman scored 1083 out of 2040 possible points, just 24 points under the team comprising Marine Corps Scout School Instructors Sgt. Daniel Ramos and Sgt. Shaun Garvey.

Seventeen teams competed in this year's event, which tested 16 skills involved in the tactical employment of the bolt-action M40 rifle, the semi-automatic M110 sniper rifle, and the M9 Beretta pistol.

The annual even, conducted by the National Guard Marksmanship Training Center (N.G.M.T.C.) to promote sniper training, brings together competitors from both U.S. active-duty and reserve services, as well as those of foreign allies. According to rules, "all competitors must provide proof of current or previous assignment in a TOE/TDA position with an Army Additional Skill Identifier (A.S.I.) of B4 or completion of a service equivalent formal sniper training i.e., the Air Force Close Precision Engagement Course (C.P.E.C.), U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper Course, or the Special Operations Tactical Interdiction Course (S.O.T.I.C.)." Competitors must be rank of E3 or above.

Third and fourth places went to sniper teams from the Marine infantry school and the Army's 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.

Iowa National Guard snipers Jeremy Henrich and Jaime Koopman,
both sergeants in the Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavelry
Regiment (1-133th Cav.), finished first in fieldcraft events. PHOTO:
1-113th Cav.

Henrich and Koopman finished first in fieldcraft events, which included range estimate, stalk, land navigation, observation, and target detection events.

"This is a remarkable accomplishment for a couple of Iowa National Guardsmen and we couldn't be prouder of them. This team has won multiple sniper competitions and were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal a few months ago for being the best damn sniper team in the National Guard," writes Command Sgt. Major Matthew Strasser on his organization's Facebook page.

A Southwest Times-Record news report includes video taken of the event.

For a PDF reference manual on the 2014 Winston P. Wilson Sniper Championship, click here.

New 'Red Bull' Pathfinders Lead the Way!

Forty-one members of Iowa and Minnesota National Guards recently graduated from an intensive three-week U.S. Army "Pathfinder" course designed to make them experts in conducting day and night helicopter operations. A majority were members of Iowa's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division.

Pathfinders are a specialized group of soldiers who establish day and night helicopter landing zones and parachute drop zones, conduct sling-load operations, and provide air traffic control and navigational assistance to aircraft.

Graduates of the Pathfinder course wear a distinctive torch emblem on both their dress and duty uniforms. According to the U.S. Institute of Heraldry entry regarding the badge, "The wing suggests flight and airborne capabilities; the torch symbolizes leadership and guidance implying pathfinder combat skills."

The Pathfinder course was conducted at Camp Dodge Joint Maneuver Training Center, Iowa, and taught by a taught by a cadre of active duty U.S. Army Soldiers from the Warrior Training Center, Fort Benning, Ga.

During this time, the cadre also taught a 10-day Air Assault course, in which approximately 160 soldiers learned how to rappel out of helicopters, prepare cargo loads, and overcome obstacles related to helicopter operations.

For more photography of the Pathfinder course, posted on Facebook, click here.

Editor's note: This Red Bull Rising blog-post is compiled from reports and captions by the Iowa National Guard. Photos are by Army Staff Sgt. Chad D. Nelson.

Red Bull Soldiers Graduate 'Air Assault' Course in Iowa

Approximately 160 citizen-soldiers from the Iowa and Minnesota Army National Guards graduated from a 10-day "Air Assault" certification course at Camp Dodge, Iowa earlier this month.

Successful completion of the course results in an individual qualification badge, one that features a distinctive winged-helicopter design, and that is worn on both dress and duty uniforms. Graduates possess the necessary skills for optimal use of helicopter assets in support both training and combat operations.

Using slings and nets, soldiers learned to safely package and attach supplies, equipment, and even ground vehicles to hovering helicopters. In addition to these "sling-load" operations, soldiers also participated in multiple obstacle, rappelling, and distance challenges.

Crews and UH-60 "Black Hawk" helicopters from the Iowa National Guard’s Company C, 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation based in Boone, Iowa provided aviation support.

The three-phase Air Assault course starts with a grueling "Zero Day," in which soldiers are weeded out based on a 2-mile run followed by a 9-event obstacle course. Only after surviving Zero Day are attendees addressed as "Air Assault" students. Approximately 250 soldiers started the Camp Dodge course; more than 80 did not complete Zero Day.

On Day One, Air Assault students conduct a 6-mile road march, after which their prescribed rucksack loads are inspected for completeness and serviceability.

In Phase One, Air Assault students learn aircraft basics, including how to signal and guide helicopters from the ground. In Phase Two, students learn how to sling-load equipment. Students are validated on loading Humvees, "water buffalo" trailers, and A22 cargo bags. In Phase Three, students learn to harness and hook themselves up to ropes, then rappel safely to the ground from a helicopters hovering at 80 meters above the ground. On the final day, students conduct a 12-mile foot march in three hours or less.

Skills and familiarity with helicopter operations pays off in both peace and war. During its 2010-2011 deployment to Eastern Afghanistan, Iowa's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division conducted a brigade-sized air-assault mission in Laghman Province. The event was labelled "Operation Bull Whip."

At the completion of the Camp Dodge course, Maj. Gen. David Elicerio, commander of the 34th Inf. Div., headquartered in Rosemount, Minn. pinned Air Assault badges on soldiers. Graduates included:

• Staff Sgt. David Bloyer, the distinguished honor graduate for the class
• Sgt. Ahren Blake, the honor graduate for the class
• Spc. Carl Thompson, the soldier with the fastest foot-march time (12 miles in two hours)
• Pvt. 1st Class Sam Applegate, the youngest soldier in the graduating class

The course was taught by a cadre of active-duty U.S. Army soldiers from the Warrior Training Center, Fort Benning, Ga. The cadre also taught a Pathfinder course at Camp Dodge, with approximately 50 soldiers participating from the Iowa and Minnesota Army National Guard, and the U.S. Army.

For news coverage of the course, including video, click here and here.

Additional You Tube video appears here.

Editor's note: This post was compiled by the Red Bull Rising blog based on multiple Iowa Army National Guard news and photo releases. All photos are by Staff Sgt. Chad D. Nelson, Iowa Army National Guard.

April 19, 1775 and 2013: Today is Patriots' Day

Patriots' Day is a state holiday in Massachusetts, as well as Wisconsin and Maine, although the apostrophe shifts with the geography. In Massachusetts, the holiday is observed on the third Monday of April. The holiday commemorates April 19, 1775, and the first battles of the American Revolution, Lexington and Concord.

The iconic image of the American Minuteman, featured on U.S. National Guard and Reserve symbols, also comes from these times.

Minutemen were citizens who stood ready to leave their families at a moment's notice, in order to defend their neighbors, farms, and businesses. (Note to my warrior-princess second-grader: There were Minutewomen, too.)

I joined the U.S. Army in the late 1980s and '90s. When I didn't get active duty, I joined the National Guard. Some people say they joined the military to answer the call of "God and Country." I like to say I joined the National Guard to answer the call of "God, Country, and Community."

After all, while they train to serve a wartime mission overseas, the citizen-soldiers of the National Guard also muster at the order of their respective states' governors, and respond to events of national crisis or natural disaster. We are not first responders, but we are there to back up local law enforcement, emergency medical, public health, and transportation officials. We surge to our own backyards.

I had my first opportunity to volunteer for state active duty in 1993. The city hall had been built on an island in the middle of the Cedar River, and the flood waters were rising around it. My battalion commander said that, in his 20 years since Vietnam, it was the first time he could remember getting called up like that. He asked for volunteers. He almost had too many.

I guess you could say that we ran to the sound of the rapids.

During my two decades in uniform, I filled sandbags in Cedar Rapids. I monitored levees protecting my old high school haunting grounds along the Mississippi River. From the Joint Operations Center ("JOC"), I tracked the locations of power generators, emergency shelters, and rescue teams during blizzards. I got plenty of chances to serve, to answer the call of community, to help my neighbors.

When I retired, my wife observed that I'd finally be around to help shovel the driveway, particularly when there was a blizzard. She was joking, but only a little.

When citizen-soldiers support local law enforcement and emergency personnel, it's always the civilian responders who take the lead. The National Guard is rarely, if ever, put a position of first-response. Local firefighters or police arrive on site, take command, make assessments, and start working the scene.

We used to joke that we're more like "first-and-a-half responders"—there only if needed, to flow into any gaps the civilian agencies needed to cover. And that only happens through a complicated and deliberate conversation among elected and appointed officials, at local, regional, and state levels.

There's one exception to this, and that's when a National Guard soldier is on the scene and able to respond to save life, limb, or eyesight. And that's where 20 Massachusetts Army National Guard members found themselves on Mon., April 15, 2013, at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

First Lt. Steve Fiola, 1st Sgt. Bernard Madore, and 18 other soldiers from the Massachusetts Army National Guard's 1060th Transportation Company, Framingham, Mass., were participating a "Tough Ruck" intended to benefit the Military Friends Foundation, a Boston-based non-profit. Two other soldiers also participated in a shadow event, while serving downrange in Afghanistan.

The organization serves National Guard and Reserve service members, and families of the fallen. "Through generous donations made by individuals and companies," the group's Facebook page states, "we have been able to provide over half a million dollars to Massachusetts military families in times of need."

There was an explosion in Boston last Monday, near the finish line. Then, there was another.

The citizen-soldiers had just come off rucking the marathon—26 miles wearing boots and full backpacks.

Then, along with others, they ran to the sites of the blasts.

You can read more about their actions here, and here, and here.

No doubt, Fiola and his fellow citizen-soldiers will be recognized for their efforts. Depending on the still-to-be-determined circumstances of the attack, the Soldier's Medal might be one possibility.

They were not the only heroes that day, of course. I do not mean to place too much focus on their example. Our thoughts and prayers and support should go to all those affected by the April 15 attacks. And yet, I am particularly comforted by the sight of those modern-day Minutemen. It means we haven't forgotten our roots.

Some see the American Minuteman as an icon of individualism: One man, one musket, a singular resolve. That doesn't do justice to the full narrative, however. The Minuteman isn't a loner; he's part of a unit. Not only that, but he stands ready to answer a call of service not from a distant land, but from his neighbors.

Today is Patriots' Day. This is a day when we celebrate those who run to the sound of the guns, who leave without hesitation the comforts of home and family, who put themselves at risk without reservation or second thought.

Remember Lexington and Concord. Remember Oklahoma City. Now, remember Boston.

Do not let those who seek to undermine the meaning of this day gain purchase in our hearts, or in our thinking, or in our respect for the law and care for each other.

We are bound together, under one Constitution. We are neighbors. We are a community.

Stand ready. Stand together.

Today is Patriots' Day.

Iowa 'Red Bull' Soldiers Practice Air-Assault Skills

By Staff Sgt. Chad Nelson
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division Public Affairs
Iowa Army National Guard

On a warm, late-summer day within the confines of the Camp Dodge Joint Maneuver Training Center near Des Moines, Iowa, three UH-60 "Black Hawk" helicopters repeatedly disappear below the tree line and just as quickly reappear with 600-pound boxes dangling from their bellies.

Iowa Army National Guard 

photo by Staff Sgt. Chad D. Nelson

The Black Hawks, piloted and staffed by the “assault company,” of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation Battalion (2-147th Aviation), were flying in support of the “Red Bulls,” of the Iowa National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division’s (2-34th BCT) regular monthly training.

With the 2-34th BCT’s 2013 two weeks' of annual active-duty training still nine months away, this exercise is laying the groundwork for a large-scale operation spanning three locations across the Midwest: Camp Dodge, Iowa; Camp Ripley, Minn.; and Camp Gurnsey, Wyo.

The Red Bull units, having returned from Afghanistan in July and August 2011, have been in the "reset" phase of the Army force generation scheme ("ARFORGEN") cycle. The ARFORGEN model ensures that units are optimally ready for deployment every five years.

Reset allows soldiers who just returned from a deployment to return to and reconnect with their families, friends, and civilian employers. Soldiers also slowly return to their regular monthly drilling schedule. With the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1, 2012 however, the brigade will begin focusing on individual and small-unit skills. In later years, those skills will feed into operations involving larger-sized units.

The brigade’s recent exercise focused on the basic skills necessary to plan and conduct offensive operations using helicopter-borne "air assaults," said Lt. Col. Tim Sulzner, the brigade operations officer.

In March 2011, the 2-34th BCT conducted "Operation Bull Whip," the largest air-assault in Afghanistan in the 2010-2011 deployment cycle. Skills are perishable, however, particularly as soldiers promote and transfer to new positions within the 3,000-member brigade.

The recent training began at the top, with the company commanders and first sergeants from the brigade’s 36 companies earning validation in air-assault and sling-load operations.

“We incorporated every commander,” said Sulzner. “They may at some point become [operations officers at higher-level units, whether battalion or brigade] and they have to know how all this works.”

The S3, or "training and operations" section, is critical in large-scale operations such as this. Not only do they schedule and monitor training within their unit and subordinate units, they also plan and schedule major movements.

According to Lt. Col. Don Atchison, commander of the 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment (1-168th Inf.), headquartered in Council Bluffs, Iowa, there’s another valuable reason for providing this training first to the company leadership: “We need to validate our company leaders so they can go back and train their people,” he said. “We need to make sure they know what they’re doing.”

1st Sgt. Anthony Gibson, left, and Capt. Patrick 

Swartzendruber, the first sergeant and commander 

of Foxtrot Company, 334th Brigade Support Battalion,

run out of the rotor wash of a UH-60 "Black Hawk" helicopter

after attaching an external load. Iowa Army National Guard 

photo by Staff Sgt. Chad D. Nelson.

In the recent training, 72 commanders and first sergeants gathered to review brigade’s new live-fire procedures, developed squad mounted/dismounted live-fire lanes, and received instruction on plan air-assault training for their units. The latter included validation of "sling-load" skills: Rigging external loads to be hooked and transported by helicopter.

The soldiers operated two at a time, with one connecting the load and the other standing by to pull the first to safety in case of an emergency. “The leadership will have [noncommissioned officer and officer professional development classes] with their platoon leadership,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Willie L. Adams, senior enlisted leader for 2-34th BCT, and a Black Hawk sling-loader.

He said the platoon leaders would practice—with or without Black Hawks—until they’re confident enough to train their squad leaders themselves.

Motivation was high as soldiers ran to board the helicopters, sprinting away as the aircraft took off. “They did an outstanding job and these were really good events,” said Maj. James F. Avrams, Missouri Valley, Iowa, operations officer for 1-168th Inf.

“I thought that it was definitely a good opportunity to do some things that most of us haven’t done before. I think that it was really overall good training,” said Capt. Matthew Parrino, Urbandale, Iowa, commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry (1-133rd Inf.).

The Arts of War and Parenting

The 2011 Iowa State Fair ended yesterday. A couple of different days during the fair's 11-day run, Household-6, the kids, and I braved the heat, the crowds, the animals, the carnival rides, and the foods-on-a-stick. With Lena, now age 6, and Rain, age 4, we've moved beyond strollers and backpack kid-carriers. We travel more lightly now, if not exactly more efficiently.

In conducting our state fair maneuvers, I was repeatedly surprised how much Army techniques and tribal wisdom are applicable to parenting on the march:

• "No battle plan survives contact with your kids."

• Everyone in your squad should know the plan.

• Move in buddy teams. Always maintain visual contact.

• Conduct periodic tactical halts. Check buddies, equipment, supplies, and morale.

• Always brief a "lost soldier" plan.

• Always brief primary, alternate, and emergency means of communication.

• Identify rally points.

• Check fluid levels before, during, and after operation. Report all classes of leaks (I, II, and III) to a supervisor immediately.

• Know your pace count. Recognize your kids' pace count may be 4 or 5 times your own. Your fastest speed is that of the slowest member in your squad.

• "Strategy is for amateurs. Logistics is for parents."

• Basic combat load is one day's supply of water, wipes, cleanser, and clothes.

• Hasty decon is a squad-size operation which sustains the combat potential of a contaminated force by limiting spread of contamination.

• "This is my kid. There are many like him, but this one is mine."

• "I am responsible for everything my kid does and fails to do."

• "Never leave a kid behind."

And, finally, to paraphrase the ancient military philosopher Sun Tzu:

• "The supreme art of parenting is to subdue the enemy without fighting."

The Enemy Already Knows You're Here

According to a Mar. 26 Army news release, members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division launched helicopter-based operations in the Galuch Valley of Agahanistan's Laghman Province on Friday, Mar. 25.

News reports from the Des Moines (Iowa) Register and the Omaha World-Herald, each of which currently have reporter-photographer teams on the ground in Afghanistan, posted their respective coverage of the announcement here and here.

Army leaders did not speculate as to the expected duration of the operation. News reports specifically mention involvement of 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (1-133rd Inf.), 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment (1-113th Cav.), and 334th Brigade Support Battalion (334th BSB), although other "Task Force Red Bulls" soldiers can also be expected to participate.

The operation involves the movement of soldiers by helicopter--what the military calls an "air assault"--to search villages for equipment used by those fighting against Afghan and coalition forces. In addition to weapons, homemade explosives, and communications equipment, soldiers are also to look for specific enemy personnel. Throughout the operation, soldiers meet with village elders to encourage cooperation against anti-Afghan forces.

According to the Des Moines Register post:

The plan was for Iowa and Afghan soldiers to show up at each village in force and to ask village leaders to voluntarily let the Afghan troops search buildings peacefully. But Guard leaders warned that some villages might resist.

“You need to go into there with the mentality that you’re going into a fight. If you think any differently, you’re fooling yourself,” Major Aaron Baugher of Ankeny said during a briefing of officers and senior sergeants before the operation kicked off.

Despite the fact that Army leaders themselves announced the operation shortly after its launch, friends and family in Iowa expressed mixed reactions regarding the publication of the news. Some worried that even general information would place loved ones at risk--the result of what the military calls a violation of "operations security" ("OPSEC"). Others said they were worried about their soldiers, but were proud of their mission and service.

A number of Red Bull family members reacted to news of the operation on the 2-34th BCT's official Facebook page. Said one:

Just so you know, articles like these make it IMPOSSIBLE to sleep when you are the wife at home with the kids. This is hard enough, thank you for adding to it. Hard enough laying my head on a pillow knowing that at the same time he is putting a helmet on & heading out. It is one thing to be informative, it is another to try to sell a story with total disregard to how it may affect people. There was a time when combat zones were no place for reporters ... and it should have stayed that way.

Said another:

I guess I have mixed feelings about this. During the Vietnam assault my parents, brother, and I sat on the couch every evening watching for a glimpse of my brother's Marine unit. Dreading it and longing for it at the same time. With today's instant news sources ... it's scary to read my daughter is participating in this assault ... but it narrows the playing field and allows me to focus on just those news items that might apply to her situation. I can't control the events ... but I can sure pray more specifically for the teams involved! God bless the warriors and their loved ones back home.

Said a third:

I am so proud of all of these soldiers! They are doing what they have been trained for! My husband would much rather be doing "something" as apposed to sitting around doing nothing while he is deployed. I don't think it's fair to blame the reporters for our fears as army wives war is war and it would be silly of us all to expect it to be all sunshine over there while our husbands and wives are over there. Although I understand the stress that comes from having a spouse gone and a part of a war, don't miss the part of the story where our soldiers are helping these people so much! They are going in and possible saving many lives because of these missions! Thank you all! Your truly amazing and I believe God's angels will protect you all!

When training soldiers to assault an objective--a house or village, for example--military trainers often stress the importance of surprise and secrecy. Soldiers sneak around, and communicate quietly using hand-and-arm signals. Once the helicopters and bullets start to fly, however, the trainers just as often have to remind mute soldiers that it's OK to start communicating out loud, even if it means shouting over the noise.

"Talk to one another!" they say. "The enemy already knows you're here!"

Bomb-resistant Truck Saves 3 Red Bull Lives

According to news reports and official releases, three soldiers of the Iowa Army National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (2-34th BCT) were wounded by an Improvised Explosive Device (I.E.D.) attack approximately 11:45 a.m. local Afghan time, Feb. 21 in Laghman Province. All survived, thanks in part to a half-million-dollar truck manufactured by a company based in the American Midwest.

The injured soldiers, all members of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry "Ironman" Regiment (1/133rd Inf.)--currently operating as "Task Force Ironman"--were evacuated to a U.S. military hospital at Bagram Airfield ("BAF") for medical treatment. Bagram is also the location of the 2-34th BCT headquarters. News reports attribute to the soldiers' respective family members that each is at least regarded as medically "stable."

The names of the injured are:

• Cpl. Adam P. Eilers, 23, of Garber, Iowa.
• Spc. Caleb J. Redell, 22, of Erie, Ill.
• Pfc. Andrew Zimmerman, 20, of Camanche, Iowa.

See the Des Moines Register's report regarding the injured soldiers here, and the official Iowa National Guard news release here.

According to a previously released news report from 2-34th BCT, one that overviews the actions of Alpha Company, 1/133rd Inf. since it arrived in Afghanistan last November, Spc. Zimmerman had previously been injured in an IED attack near Watangatu, a village south of Combat Outpost ("COP") Najil. Zimmerman had been briefly knocked unconscious and received stitches to his face following the Nov. 29 attack.

Radio Iowa reports that the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP, pronounced "em-rap") vehicle was a newer, smaller version called an "MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle" (M-ATV, pronounced "M.A.T.V."). The heavily armored M-ATV, manufactured by Osh Kosh Corp. of Osh Kosh, Wis., cost more than $450,000 each, and are designed to deflect bomb blasts away from the crew. "Certainly, this vehicle saved these soldiers' lives," Iowa National Guard Army Col. Greg Hapgood told Radio Iowa.

According to open news sources, COP Najil sits approximately 25 Kilometers to North North-West from Mehtar Lam, the provincial capital. It sits at the intersection of the Alishang, Dowlat Shah and Mayl Valleys. In a by-lined Army news report filed during the Christmas holiday season, Army Sgt. Ryan Matson described the Alpha Company outpost as "remote, small, and austere." He continued:

The COP is nestled along the base of a mountain, and there is no flat ground; everywhere the servicemembers walk is on a grade. Living conditions are tough, as water for showering and laundry is limited, and the bathrooms are tubes in the ground. There’s no post exchange to be found here; the soldiers are just happy to have power.

In late December, Alpha Company, 1/133rd Inf. successfully defended COP Najil using close-air support ("CAS," pronounced "caz"), skills it first tested the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif. (See earlier Red Bull Rising reports about Alpha Company training here.)

In the 2-34th BCT's only other previously reported combat injury, Sgt. Brian M. Pfeiler of Earlsville, Iowa, was injured in early January after stepping on a landmine in Laghman Province's Qarghayeed District. His right leg was amputated below the knee. Pfeiler is a member of Delta Company, 1/133rd Inf.

Elsewhere in Laghman Province this week, Charlie Company, 1/133rd Inf. supported Afghan National Army personnel in "Operation Brass Monkey," an attempt to locate a specific individual in Parwai village, Alingar District. Army news reports indicate that, while the "high-value target" (H.V.T.) was not located, six other persons of interest were detained. The coalition forces also reportedly located explosive device-making materials and intelligence regarding insurgent operations in the area.

Shooting the Pass: The Wrap-up

This week's Red Bull Rising narrative of a Combined Live-Fire Exercise ("CALFEX") conducted by Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (A/1/133rd Inf.) in late September while the unit was at National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., was a bit of an experiment.

First off, it was serialized--distributed across a couple of days. I did this both to help digest a blog post that was originally 2,500 words long, but also to give readers the sense of how much time the soldiers spent focused on this one event. A 3-day training event turned into three days' worth of blog-posts.

Second, there were supplemental videos, which were intended to help illustrate some of the scenes described in the text. Some of these were, I'll admit, kind of quirky. Then again, so was the training.

I'd look forward to comments about what readers thought worked and didn't work in this coverage specifically, as I make plans for 2011 coverage of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division.

To assist readers who may have been confused by the episodic presentation of the story, I have taken the liberty of presenting links below:

• Shooting the Pass: Part 1 of 3
• Shooting the Pass: Part 2 of 3
• Shooting the Pass: Part 3 of 3

• Video No. 1: "Occupying FOB Reno"
• Video No. 2: "Air-assault rehearsal"
• Video No. 3: "Test fire with live ammunition"
• Video No. 4: "No chalkboard? Use a windshield!"

As always, thank you for your continued support and attention to the Red Bull Rising blog.

"Attack!"

Shooting the Pass: Video 4

"No Chalkboard? Use the Windshield!"

FORT IRWIN, Calif., Sept. 30--Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (A/1/133rd Inf.) commander Capt. Jason Merchant and 1st Lt. John Dundee discuss plans for a live-fire assault exercise while drawing on a dusty windshield at the National Training Center (N.T.C.). The 1/133rd Inf. is a part of the Iowa National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, which is now deployed to Eastern Afghanistan.

This video is the fourth of four illustrating a series of blog-posts titled, "Shooting the Pass."

Shooting the Pass: Video 3

"Test-fire with Live Ammunition"

FORT IRWIN, Calif., Sept. 30--Soldiers of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (1/133rd Inf.) conduct a vehicle-mounted test-fire with live ammunition prior to the culmination of a three-day Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise ("CALFEX") at the National Training Center.

This video is the third of four illustrating a series of blog-posts titled, "Shooting the Pass."

Shooting the Pass, Part 3 of 3

FORT IRWIN, Calif., Sept. 30--At approximately 1115 hours on Day Three of Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise ("CALFEX") for Alpha Company, 1/133rd Inf., a high-winds advisory comes across the real-world radio net: Potential winds in excess of 40 knots. The helicopter crews—who minutes before were smoking and joking and waiting around with the ground troops—start spinning their blades almost immediately, in an effort to return to their hangars before the winds hit.

Company Fire Support Officer (F.S.O.) 2nd Lt. Bill Stratford would later liken the experience to prom night, when you’re hoping to get lucky, and your date up and leaves with the limo driver.

Alpha Company has just lost its rotary-wing air support, minutes before the big dance. Rather than ride into battle in a helicopter, Alpha’s 1st Platoon will now travel to the objective riding in the back of a 5-ton truck.

“That’s all a Blackhawk really is, I guess,” says Capt. Jason Merchant, commander of Alpha Company. “An [Army truck] with wings.”

*****

While the company mortars section of 60 mm tubes, augmented by the battalion-level 120 mm guns, positions to support the attack, Alpha Company sits in a staging are with engines idling. On command, soldiers test their vehicle-mounted weapons, including .50-cal. machine guns, by firing into the side of a mountain.

Third platoon, led by 2nd Lt. Rob Labios of Sacramento, Calif., assaults the first objective—a target that the Apaches would have softened up first. Labios quickly loses radio communications with his commander, Capt. Merchant, who is waiting to order shifting the directions of his mortars and to launch the 1st and 2nd Platoons’ assaults.

Despite two days of preparations and planning, of dry-fire followed by blank-fire run-throughs, of repeated rehearsals and refinements, Alpha Company is now living the maxim that no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Asked for the position of the 3rd Platoon soldiers, a fire-support soldier calls first the coordinates of his own position, then the position of FOB Reno itself. Merchant catches the error easily. Given the confusion and lack of communications, Merchant calmly but repeatedly calls to his mortars, reminding them that they are not to fire without his OK. He realizes too late that his previously tested communications workaround—-asking the helicopters to relay messages over the hills—blew away with his rotary-wing air-support.

Merchant directs 2nd Platoon to start moving toward their objective, and his driver follows. At the designated fork in the road, Bone breaks away to speed up a 30-degree slope to the crest of a hill overlooking the 2nd Platoon objective. The Joint Tactical Air Controllers (JTAC, pronounced "jay-tacks") follow in their own vehicle, a two-and-a-half seat Humvee laden with radio gear.

Below, in the valley, the platoon comes on line, and engages targets as they pop up. Just behind them, 1st Platoon arrives in its notional aircraft, dismounts and assaults into the compound.

Now dismounted and on higher ground, FSO Stratford talks to the battalion mortars via radio. The JTACs establish communications with a U.S. Marine AV-A8 “Hawker” aircraft. The bad news comes first: Rather than about an hour of on-station time, the pilot says he has only 15 minutes. The good news comes next: Rather than the 500-pound bombs for which the JTACs had hoped, “Dwarf-46”—a U.S. Marine is packing two 1,000-pounders.

Dwarf-46 suddenly has everyone’s full attention.

There’s a catch, however. Rather than more-than-60-minutes of on-station aircraft time for which they’d planned, they have Dwarf-46 for only 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes to mark the target with mortar fire, and get bombs dropped. On a good day, each of the mortars should be able to drop one or two rounds per minute. Today, due to bad communications and delays caused by exercise controllers on the mortars' hilltop location, it’s taking more like 10 minutes.

Stratford, the artillery officer, talks to the battalion mortars. The first call-for-fire lands way off target. Along with Fire Support NCO Clint Shannon of Waterloo, Iowa, Stratford calls in a second fire-mission. One nearby Air Force exercise observer-controller says the pilot should be able to adjust off the dust cloud, but a second says that's not good enough, that the marking round has to hit within 200 meters of the intended target.

Three days of Alpha Company’s CALFEX preparation and rehearsal comes down to 5 minutes of remaining aircraft time, and two 1,000-pound bombs. Each mortar strike and aircraft pass is an adrenalin-fueled roller coaster of anticipation. Finally, Dwarf-46 drops a bomb, which wobbles out of the clouds to take out the intended target.

He has loitered on station well beyond his 15-minute mark, but sticks around to drop his second bomb. "F---ing pilots," says one of the JTACs, as the plane positions for a second pass. "They never tell you the truth about how much fuel they have."

The second 1,000-pound bomb thuds into the desert floor, and fails to detonate. It’s a dud.

“I guess someone just closed the Granite Mountain Pass,” says a nearby exercise observer-controller. “There’s no way that EOD [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] is coming out tonight.”

Low on fuel and long on tired, Alpha Company will have to take the long way home to FOB Seattle.

Shooting the Pass: Video 2

"Air-Assault Rehearsal"

FORT IRWIN, Calif., Sept. 29--Soldiers of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (1/133rd Inf.) rehearse boarding and egressing a helicopter during the second of a three-day Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise ("CALFEX") at the National Training Center.

This video is the second of four illustrating a series of blog-posts titled, "Shooting the Pass."

Shooting the Pass, Part 2 of 3

FORT IRWIN, Calif., Sept. 29--It is mid-morning on Day Two of "Combined Arms Live Fire" ("CALFEX") for Alpha Company, 1/133rd Inf., and both heat and anticipation are building. Under Staff Sgt. Ricky Ayala’s direction, Alpha Company’s 1st Squad, 1st Platoon races in a line toward two parallel cots set out in the middle of FOB Reno. The squad splits and sits facing inward, just like the previous night’s games of poker and grab-ass. Ayala counts down, both by calling out and holding up fingers. Squad members echo the calls and copy the gestures: “5 minutes.” Then “2 minutes.” Then “1 minute.”

At the end of the count, the squad explodes out of the cots, arranging itself prone on the ground with M4 rifles pointing outward in a circle. The soldiers are providing “360-degree security” as their imaginary helicopter takes off and leaves them behind.

Ayala’s squad is one of two that will conduct an “air assault”—movement via UH-60 “Blackhawk” helicopters onto an objective. Transport by helicopter is faster than by ground, and surprise is a key tool in Afghanistan. During the live-fire exercise, two Blackhawks will land to drop 1st Platoon outside a small compound, through which it will then assault. The other platoons will arrive by truck. “It’s pretty much a reward for how well we’ve been doing,” Ayala says, not too boastfully.

After repeated rehearsals, the squad expresses its eagerness to move on to from Fort Irwin to the real war in Afghanistan.

“Living conditions aren’t the greatest, but the training has been really great,” says Ayala. Afghanistan will be the 9-year veteran’s third deployment, and his second to Afghanistan.

Spc. Robert “Combat Bob” Kimler, who seems to have as many nicknames as he does opinions, put it into perspective: “We’ve been training for this for two years.”

Spc. Adam Eilers of Gutenburg says, “If there a plane tomorrow, I’d be on it.”

That’s not to say they’re not also looking forward to more-immediate gratifications of CALFEX. In the afternoon, they’ll go through the motions twice. Once, as a “dry-fire” exercise without ammunition. The second time, with “blank” ammunition: All the bang, but none of the bite.

Finally, tomorrow, it will be the real deal. “This will be the first time I’ve ever seen stuff explode,” says Pvt. Nathan Smith of Ida Grove.

*****

Any time soldiers use live ammunition is an opportunity for caution, hence the care and repetition with which the company practices the live-fire scenario. Capt. Merchant gathers all participants around a scale-model terrain map constructed out of rocks, cardboard, spray paint, and more rocks. White "engineer" tape marks out phase and grid lines, corresponding to soldiers' maps.

Using green “hundred-mile-an-hour” tape and some cardboard boxes, some artistic soldier has even created two model helicopters to help illustrate the air assault. Chief Warrant Officer Jenice “Widowmaker-34” Skelly, the tobacco-chewing pilot AH-64 “Apache” attack helicopter, enthusiastically declares the helicopters “cute.”

“Now you’ve done it,” says one of her fellow aviators of 4th Combat Aviation Brigade (“CAB”), 101st Airborne Division. “You’ve gone and used the ‘C’ word!”

*****

To help coordinate its Close Air Support (“CAS”), Alpha Company is joined by two Air National Guard Joint Tactical Air Controllers (“JTAC,” pronounced "jay-tack"). Staff Sgt. Jake Torgerson is from the Washington Air National Guard’s 116th Air Support Operations Squadron, or “ASOS” (pronounced “ay-sauce”). Tech Sgt. Damon Girot is from the Indiana Air National Guard’s 113th ASOS. Each will travel to Afghanistan of different rotations during the next 12 months, and will likely support the 2-34th BCT operations there.

“I’m a moderately proficient Infantryman, but I’m a subject-matter expert in my JTAC stuff,” says Torgerson, who was a Marine mortarman before he joined the Air Guard. “I get to do all the fun infantry stuff—shoot rifles, get dirty—but I don’t have to put up with any of the bull----.”

“No pun intended, but we’re the red-headed step children of the U.S. Air Force,” says Torgerson. (Both he and Girot have red hair.) “The Air Force loves the capability we bring to the effort, but hates dealing with us. Mostly, we try to avoid each other.”

Girot stops by the JTACs’ two-seater Humvee, the one that’s filled with radio-communications equipment. He offers Torgerson a bottle of sunscreen. “Ginger sauce?” he asks.

*****

Company commander Capt. Jason Merchant knows that the months to come could get a little gritty. He doesn’t talk about specifics, but drops hints like mortar shells around the perimeter of truth. “There are probably 75 villages in our future Area of Operations,” he says, using the Army’s usual color-coding system for describing loyalty to the Afghan national government. “One is ‘green,’ two are ‘amber,’ and the rest are ‘red.'” He jokes that, at the end of his company’s deployment, all they’ll have to do is turn one village “green,” and they’ll be able to claim a 100-percent improvement.

His driver, Sgt. David "Bone" Tielbur, describes how older soldiers with combat deployments are talking more about upcoming realities. “That’s gotten the attention of some of the younger guys, but you can’t always lead a horse to water …” he says. “Besides, you don’t want to scare people unnecessarily.”

First Sgt. Chris Harrison of Cedar Rapids is the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in Alpha Company, and is responsible for the safety and care of soldiers. He’s proud of the fighting spirit and skills that Alpha Company has already demonstrated at the National Training Center. “When we did a [Combat Outpost, or “COP”] exercise, we had 300 people come at us. The [exercise observer-controllers] said that most units last 15 minutes,” he says. “We lasted an hour.”

Merchant puts his soldiers to bed early, and gives them an unusually late 0800 wake-up order for the final day of the exercise. There will be a leisurely final walk-through briefing at the terrain model, and the exercise will begin at 1300 hours.

Nearly nothing will go as planned.

Shooting the Pass: Video 1

"Occupying Forward Operating Base (FOB) Reno"

FORT IRWIN, Calif., Sept. 28--Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (1/133rd Inf.) occupies Forward Operating Base ("FOB") Reno on the first of a three-day Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise ("CALFEX"). Soldiers slept on cots in order to avoid Kangaroo rats and other animals found in the Mojave Desert. The 1/133rd Inf. is a part of the Iowa National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, which is currently deployed to Eastern Afghanistan.

This video is the first of four illustrating a series of blog-posts titled, "Shooting the Pass."

Shooting the Pass, Part 1 of 3

Fort Irwin, Calif., Sept. 28--The soldiers of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (A/1/133rd Inf.) are preparing for more than three days of “CALFEX”—“Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise.” In many ways, the training event is the culmination of months of both pre-and post-mobilization training, first at Camp Ripley, Minn.; then at Camp Shelby, Miss.; and now here at the National Training Center in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Alpha Company will assault multiple objectives simultaneously, coordinating mortar fires, movements by ground and helicopter, and even overhead Close Air Support (CAS, which soldiers pronounce “kaz”).

In two days, the bullets and bombs will be real. So, too, will the helicopters and jet planes. In preparations for its deployment to Afghanistan along with the rest of the Iowa Army National Guard’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry “Red Bull” Division (2-34th BCT), Alpha Company’s training time is almost over.

First, however, the company must travel a couple of hours from the battalion’s headquarters at Forward Operating Base (“FOB”) Seattle, to the even more remote location of FOB Reno. Conditions at FOB Reno will be Spartan at best. Company commander Capt. Jason Merchant orders each soldier to bring a folding Army cot. Sleeping on the vehicles is bad business, he says, and other units have returned from CALFEX with stories about rats and snakes. No sleeping on the ground this time around.

Merchant’s driver is Sgt. David “Bone” Tielbur of Guttenberg, Iowa. A 20-year veteran of the Iowa National Guard, Afghanistan will be his fourth deployment with the unit. First, there was Kuwait, then Egypt, then Iraq. Now, it’s Afghanistan. “I prayed on it a lot. My wife told me, ‘If you don’t go, you won’t be worth a crap to me, because you’ll be worried about the guys,’” the baritone-voiced Tielbur says gently, smiling and shaking his head. “That’s Mamma-Bone for you!”

Tielbur takes great pleasure in quietly staying ahead of his commander: Trouble-shooting his radios, getting him water, setting up his cot. Merchant describes Tielbur as his “driver, RTO, and confidante,” and they joke about their working relationship often. “Let’s see if the Vulcan mind-meld is working,” Merchant tells Tielbur at one point, while the armored Humvee is in motion. “Guess where I want to park.”

Today is Bone’s 40th birthday. And he already knows what’s coming.

*****

Alpha Company is fighting the clock. ““Inshallah, that the Granite Mountain Pass will be open,” says Merchant. “If not, we’ll have to take 'Highway 7' all the way around Fort Irwin.”

Almost immediately, however, the convoy encounters obstacles to staying on schedule. A stop for fuel mid-way at FOB King has come up empty. The battalion logistics officer had earlier promised that there was a retail-fuel oasis at FOB King—the logistical hub for the entire brigade—but the fuel trucks are out on other missions. Alpha Company wastes precious time idling, waiting for the word.

Merchant sends one lieutenant to see if he can make a face-to-face deal for fuel, while also text-messaging his battalion's Tactical Operations Center (“TOC”) via Blue Force Tracker (B.F.T.). After an hour, Merchant orders the convoy to leave FOB King and continue movement toward FOB Reno. “Here’s the lesson-learned,” says the 38-year-old commander from Dysart, Iowa. “Operations never fail because of operations—they fail because of logistics.”

The sun is now lower in the desert sky, and the company pushes on toward the Granite Mountain Pass. National Training Center personnel will close the pass because of the next day’s live-fire exercise. (“But we ARE the live-fire exercise,” one soldier mock-complains. “How can they close the door on us?!”) If his trucks don’t move along the direct route, Merchant will have to divert the long way around. He’s still got plenty of fuel for the outbound trip, but doesn’t want to waste any more time. “We’ve got to shoot the pass,” he says.

The motley mix of Humvees, simulated Mine-Resistant Armor-Protected (MRAP, and pronounced “Em-rap”) vehicles, and other trucks creeps northward to the gate to the pass, which is monitored and controlled by Fort Irwin soldiers. Using crossing-arm barriers, the active-duty soldiers shut down the pass just as Alpha Company squeaks past.

FOB Reno turns out to be a wide spot in the desert, a rocky parking lot surrounded by 8-foot walls of mounded sand. Creature comforts? A line of chemical toilets—the Army calls them “latrines”—located a stone’s throw from the convoy’s vehicles, which are now parked side-by-side in a single row, three platoons in sequence. Ankle-twisting rocks are positioned every few steps. Making one’s way to the latrine feels like walking on the moon.

Alpha Company is in high spirits. Awaiting further instructions, a couple of soldiers start passing a football. “Hey,” yells one soldier, and the ball is thrown to him as well. He tosses it back as an underhand pass: “This is how a real man throws a football.” Apparently, he plays rugby. Bone shuffles past, and suddenly, someone calls out that it is his birthday. There’s a scrum. The soldiers tackle him and hold him to the ground. One by one, they lift his shirt to deliver an open-handed smack across his belly. “Red-belly! Red-belly!” The blows are hard enough to leave images of individual fingers.

Even Merchant takes a turn.

The soldiers are told to place their cots on the rocky terrain immediately behind their vehicles. The sky flares orange-and-blue as the sun falls below the mountain ridge, and the dusty ground turns purple-gray in the dusky light. Many troops break out lamps attached to headbands, and the red- and white-lights bob and bounce in the growing darkness. Some read, some eat Army rations, some play cards. Often, five or six soldiers will face each other in little groups, sitting on two cots, playing card games or telling stories infused with exaggeration and profanity. The antics are straight from high-school gym class.

“Hey, smell this,” says one solider to another, holding up a tan combat boot. “Doesn’t this smell like Doritos? Nacho-cheese Doritos?”

“I can beat that,” says the other, taking off his boots ...

World Leader Pretend

FORT IRWIN, Calif., Sept. 27--A U.S. Army brigade is like a corporation. It has a Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.), a couple of senior vice presidents, and a whole herd of junior vice presidents. Each of the junior vice presidents is responsible for one function throughout the organization: Human Resources, Market Analysis, Operations, Supply and Maintenance, Information Technology. There are also senior-level specialists, who may be equal to junior vice presidents: the Corporate Attorney is one. So are the Environmental Safety Director and the Media Spokesperson.

When a business doesn't have the expertise it requires to be competitive, it may hire consultants from outside the organization, or it may partner with other businesses that share similar goals. In mil-speak, these are "enablers." These are mostly civilian personnel, and include civil engineers, anthropologists, law enforcement practitioners, and diplomats. Some wear uniforms, but most don't.

Part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (2-34th BCT) experience at National Training Center (N.T.C.) is to learn to work with these new team members.

"I just got a tip from the [Human Terrain Team]," the executive officer tells the brigade staff during this morning's first meeting. The H.T.T. is made up of anthropologists and other academics, who can do research into local cultures and attitudes. "When you go into these Key Leader Engagement meetings with Afghan leaders, you always count heads. Then, go in with one less. It's subtle, but that way, you're not outnumbering them at their meeting, in their country."

Today is the third day in The Box for the brigade, and the first day of a 3-day "targeting cycle." In the business world, targeting might be considered "strategic planning"--identifying objectives, and allocating resources to meet those objectives. Through a series of expert subcommittee and committee meetings, a list of possible goals is developed, a consensus reached, and a set of proposals is made to the CEO.

Yeah, I know: Sounds sexy. And dramatic.

For purposes of the training exercise, the targeting cycle at National Training Center (N.T.C.) has been abbreviated to three days. Normally, a cycle might last a week or two--maybe even a month. Each day at NTC, however, there are meetings and more meetings. Then, there are meetings assessing the results of the last three days' efforts. Then, the cycle repeats. Some soldiers quip: "All this has happened before, and all this will happen again." Others liken every day to "Groundhog Day."

One of the topics of today's targeting meeting--the meeting after the first meeting--is a regionally influential strongman, with his own troops, the local peasants in his pocket, and a sizable income coming in from the poppy fields. The question is whether he can be influenced to support the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ("GIRoA"), and how. Give him money or jobs? Give him a political position?

"He's looking for validation of his position," says the HTT leader. "He's either going to get support from the Taliban, or he's going to get it from us."

There are other options, of course, but the participants in this particular meeting attempt to focus on the kinder, gentler, and less-lethal side of counterinsurgency (COIN). You know: "Speak softly, and carry a big carrot."

Diana, one of the U.S. State Department personnel, reminds those in attendance that the devil you know may be better than a power vacuum, particularly when the bad guy is the only source of jobs in the region. "When your kids are hungry and you don't have anything to eat, the bad guy is better than no guy at all."

"Besides," she says, "we need to find out why he doesn't want to play. It might be something very simple--maybe we killed a member of his family and never apologized. Or, it may be very complex--but we need to ask."

After the meeting, the brigade lawyer shakes his head bemusedly, "I wonder how many [business] people back home in Iowa would be comfortable in sitting around a conference table trying to decide whether or not to whack the guy."

He is only half-joking. This isn't personal. It's business.