Photo By Lori Stewart | The field headquarters of the 513th MI Group on Fort Huachuca during Desert Forge 85... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
On November 1, 1984, nearly 500 members of the 513th Military Intelligence Group kicked off their command post exercise, dubbed Desert Forge 85, at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. The U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School (USAICS) commanding general, Maj. Gen. Sidney T. Weinstein, encouraged these types of events to provide realistic training for MI units and enhance the training and education of students at the schoolhouse.
Upon taking command of USAICS in 1982, Weinstein began inviting MI units to use the ranges within Fort Huachuca’s 77,000 acres as a realistic environment for field training. Desert Forge 85 was the second of two major exercises conducted at Fort Huachuca in 1984. The first occurred in May 1984 and tested the organization and mission effectiveness of the 313th MI Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. [See This Week in MI History #43 31 May 1984]
The 513th MI Group had been activated at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, just two years earlier to provide echelons above corps intelligence and electronic warfare (IEW) support to the Third U.S. Army. Desert Forge 85 was meant to evaluate the group’s deployment procedures and test the sustainment of operations in the later stages of a high intensity conflict in a simulated desert environment. It would also allow the unit to examine and refine personnel accountability, replacement systems, strength and casualty reporting, logistic staff coordination, intelligence production, and rear area security/protection.
The 513th launched its pre-deployment phase at Fort Monmouth on October 9. Two weeks later, an advance party arrived at Fort Huachuca to coordinate with the garrison for facilities and equipment. Elements of the main body began arriving a week later. By November 1, 453 personnel from the group’s headquarters and subordinate battalions had assembled in the Arizona desert and kicked off the 10-day exercise.
Desert Forge 85 not only gave the 513th an opportunity to exercise in a “real world” environment, but equally important, it provided an educational opportunity. In the middle of the exercise, the days of November 5-6 were scheduled for interactions between the 513th and USAICS. During this time, thousands of students witnessed the training exercise in progress and received briefings showcasing operations in the joint interrogation facility operated by the 202nd MI Battalion; CEFIRM LEADER airborne radio direction-finding operations by the 138th Aviation Company, a reserve unit affiliated with the 201st MI Battalion; and a captured material exploitation center operated by the 203rd MI Battalion. In addition to getting hands-on training on new IEW systems and equipment they had previously only seen in photographs and drawings in the classrooms, students fired AK-series weapons and watched the firing of several RPG-7 rockets.
The educational benefit was reciprocal. Group personnel received briefings from USAICS staff on the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, Integrated Tactical Imagery Exploitation System, Electronic Processing and Dissemination System, Digital Imagery Test Bed, All Source Analysis System, national human intelligence and strategic counterintelligence and interrogation, intelligence preparation of the battlefield for Southwest Asia, and national systems and collection management.
Personnel of USAICS also benefitted from the group’s presence on Fort Huachuca. The Directorate of Training and Doctrine’s Extension Training Team used the opportunity to validate its Training Extension Course and Army Correspondence Course Program materials using the 513th’s 96B (intelligence analysts), 96C (interrogators), and 96D (imagery analysts) soldiers. Furthermore, the Department of Surveillance and Systems Maintenance conducted several support sorties they professed “enhanced the aircrew training program for aviators” assigned to the department.
By November 21, all 513th personnel had redeployed to Fort Monmouth. After the exercise, Weinstein summarized and justified the exercise for the commanding general of the Training and Doctrine Command, “…I continue to encourage these visits. It is an excellent opportunity for this Center and School to interact with the active units on issues of training, doctrine, and concepts, and it gives our students a unique opportunity to observe a deployed MI unit.”
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| Date Taken: | 10.25.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.25.2024 15:46 |
| Story ID: | 483967 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 42 |
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