British troops clean up Mud Hut Village

09.21.2008

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Matt Davio 

5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment   

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Davio
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

JOINT MULTI-NATIONAL READINESS CENTER, Germany – It's a small town, with just four to seven buildings depending upon your definition of the word, far off the beaten track from anywhere. However, it is a place where you can find an American playing ping pong with an Afghan, or a German sitting down for a game of Backgammon with an Iraqi. They share food and drink. It's a small town for a small world, where skin color or culture doesn't matter nearly as much as a friendly smile.

Two words shatter the paradise: "They're coming!" Suddenly the actors leap into their roles, a startling transition from inter-country harmony to the job that brought them together in the first place. U.S. Soldiers in the roles of insurgents pick up weapons and move to sniper positions. German and Afghan alike go to mock stalls to hawk their wares of broken televisions, year-old magazines and paintings of fruit on the wooden planks of the stalls. Arabic music blares from a stereo that was playing Nelly a mere moment before. Finally, a squad of six British Soldiers march past, checking the road for traps before radioing an "All clear" for the rest of their platoon.

Saturday's training is the kind only the Joint Multi-National Readiness Center can provide, which makes it a more than ideal location for the American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Armies' Program to host the Cooperative Spirit 2008 training event. The goal is interoperability – making sure the nations can not only talk electronically despite different communication systems but also work together tactically.

"It's the realism – the markets and the Arabic clothes," said British army Lance Sgt. David 'Crash' Braithwaite, 1 Section commander, 9 Platoon, 3 Company, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, native. "There's loads of assets available to us. It's also seeing the way other nations do things. Working with Americans has been quite cool."

For the deliberate assault, the first course of action was to find the police chief of the town and request his help in their mission to find the insurgents reported as hiding there. The translator quickly turned the English sentence of "Please keep the people a safe distance, we will be the ones to go after the insurgents" into its Arabic equivalent. The police chief agreed, and the Welsh Guards moved in some Soldiers from the outer cordon to form an inner cordon. Moving in with them was a squad from the U.S. 478th Civil Affairs Battalion (Special Operations) (Airborne) out of Miami, Fla., attached to the unit to provide reimbursement vouchers for any damage caused, in lieu of a British CA team.

Two-man teams were set to check room-by-room, but before they got past the gate of a walled, two-story complex, a smoke grenade was thrown and gunfire sent infantrymen and civil affairs alike for cover to return fire from.

"It's a little different than working with other U.S. guys, but Soldiering is Soldiering," said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Leroy Murray, civil affairs non-commissioned officer and Rocklidge, Fla., native. "We've been trying to mash out the little differences, like picking up on their slang. We feel we're part of the Welsh Guards. I don't think we're being seen as the U.S. and British, but seen as one unit."

"There's no difference in operations," Braithwaithe added. "With the Americans here or by ourselves, the mission is run exactly the same – no difference at all."

The U.S. Soldiers stationed here who are playing opposing forces have no interest in making the task easy; several said they know firsthand that the actual terrorists will hold nothing back. They barricaded themselves into concrete rooms by throwing a mattress in front of the door and propping it with furniture. They pulled steel shades down over the windows, opening them just a crack to fire down alleys or into the town square. They hid under beds and around corners. For all their tricks, the 9 Platoon Soldiers overcame them one-by-one as their earlier training paid off.

The Soldiers and roleplayers alike were wearing Multi-Integrated Laser Engagement Systems, which let off a high-pitched electric whine when hit by a laser. A mount sitting on the barrel of a weapon projects a laser when struck, or by the jarring action of a rifle firing a blank round. The first practice round was punishing for the Welsh Guards as the opposing forces held nothing back. After each of the three platoons had a practice run, and with the help of the JMRC observer controllers, the Welsh Guards spent their lunch break in combat drills and learning from their mistakes. Each platoon returned one at a time in the afternoon for a second go as a harder, tighter, no-nonsense fighting team.

"I've learned far more here about fighting in a built theater than I ever have in Britain," said British Army Guardsmen Ryan Roberts, second in command of the 3 Section, 9 Platoon, 3 Company, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and Holyhead, Wales, native. "Assaulting the positions, searching the houses, finding the enemy ... it's very intense training. In Britain we've only gone through basic ranges. We've been doing live-fire lanes, but today is the best training so far. This is something new to me, and it's much more realistic. It has made me a better Soldier, and I'm ready for a more aggressive OPFOR."

Roberts didn't wait long to get his wish. Just as the Welsh Guards began to consider the job done, the "Afghans of Bargi Matal" roleplayers began to shout protests and threw Styrofoam rocks at the British Land Rovers. Another insurgent appeared from behind the crowd, firing a M-249 squad assault weapon from the hip in a steady stream of blank fire that nonetheless forced the roleplayers to flee and risked setting off the Welsh Guards' MILES gear.

The Soldiers immediately took cover behind their vehicles and returned fire, downing the opposing forces' Soldier in a second. Another insurgent ran past the gate, spraying fire from an M-4 rifle before going into hiding. He must be found, and so the British troops went through clearing each building all over again. It's a task they accomplished efficiently and without complaint.

"They are pretty cut and dry how they want to do operations," Murray said. "We give them ideas to integrate, but they decide what's best to use to get the job done."

Every nook and cranny of Mud Hut Village was scoured, the last insurgent roleplayer found and stopped. Once again, the angry, ungrateful mob formed, shouting curses in Arabic. When the British vehicles pulled away after a job well done, the crowd cheered ... after all, they could go back to Nelly and ping pong games now.

• Date Taken: 09.21.2008
• Date Posted: 09.25.2008 13:01
• Story ID: 24144