Photo By Staff Sgt. Anthony Bryant | The opposition force sets 5.56 mm belted standard blank rounds on the arm of a fold-up...... read more read more
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Combat missions were rehearsed extensively during “Operation Raider Focus,” the brigade’s certification and validation exercise in preparation for a rotation to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.
U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) leadership tasked 1st SBCT and key III Corps enablers to perform armor and cavalry tactics to help shape the operational concept for the Army 2020 — doctrine enabling a more lethal, expeditionary, and agile force.
The concept involves cavalry organizations that build situational understanding, identify opportunities, and provide the time and space necessary for the parent organization to maneuver and employ combat power against hostile forces. Armored organizations employ overmatched firepower to eliminate enemies using the situational understanding established by the cavalry.
These capability sets are inherent within 1st SBCT and the attached enablers participating in Operation Raider Focus — 6th Attack Reconnaissance Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Inf. Div.; 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
The combination of these forces theoretically ensures versatility in combined arms maneuver and wide-area security settings and provided nearly a brigade and a half of combat power, said Maj. Tommy Chae, executive officer, 1st SBCT. There were close to 4,500 Soldiers involved in the exercise at PCMS, he said.
Chae said PCMS presents a realistic deployment scenario compared to doing field operations on post.
“When you’re at (Fort Carson), you’re next to your office, your motor pool, and your support area,” he said. “When you’re at Piñon Canyon, you actually deploy from (Fort Carson) so you have to take everything you need to fight, and when you get here, you have what you have. So it’s a good exercise of deployment operations as well as understanding how to fight, anywhere in the world, without having your home station right next to you.”
Along with getting certified, Lt. Col. Victor Satterlund, commander, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 1st SBCT, saw the field problem as a golden opportunity for his junior leaders.
“Lieutenants only get so many opportunities to do a company combined arms live-fire exercise or major training event like at Piñon Canyon,” said Satterlund. “Junior officers and junior field grades receive an immense amount of institutional knowledge from working these types of exercises. In their careers, they’ll carry forward with them the good and bad lessons learned from the field to make a well-rounded officer.”
| Date Taken: | 04.26.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.05.2017 16:33 |
| Story ID: | 235999 |
| Location: | PINON CANYON MANEUVER SITE, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 65 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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