Photo By Amy Stork | Russian and North Korean army officers in their Tactical Operations Center under the...... read more read more
by Cpt. Brad Foreman, 304th Military Intelligence Battalion
FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. — On an otherwise ordinary day in early February, Soldiers at the 304th Military Intelligence (MI) Battalion’s (BN) Nicholson Hall were met with an unexpected sight—Russian and North Korean officers had set up a Tactical Operations Center, or TOC, under the staircase. Maps, a notepad, and coffee sat on a desk, as if they were plotting their next move.
Of course, the officers weren’t real—they were mannequins dressed in the fatigues of their respective nations—but the psychological impact was real. This display is one of the more recent manifestations of the Threat Immersion Program, a 111th MI Brigade (BDE) initiative, designed to reinforce the reality of adversary threats. In addition, the 304th features posters in every classroom showcasing equipment from the “Big Four”—China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
The Threat Immersion Program extends beyond the 304th. The 305th MI BN will have threat templates hanging on the barracks walls, while the 309th MI BN will have real propaganda from these countries lining the halls. Even the 344th MI BN at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, is integrating materials from the program and developing some of their own.
THE GENESIS
In a training environment, students tend to view the threat as theoretical— useful for exams and exercises but not something they will encounter at Fort Huachuca. However, the threat is not only real but actively engaging in to disrupt U.S. institutions and culture. Cyber-attacks, misinformation and disinformation campaigns, proxy wars, and espionage are just a few of the tactics the adversary can use to antagonize and unsettle the U.S. without initiating or provoking full-on combat operations.
This was the idea that gave rise to the Threat Immersion Program. Col. Patrick Schorpp, 111th MI BDE commander, describes the program as a way to put the adversary in the Soldiers’ faces. “It should be omnipresent. Everywhere I turn, there should be threat. The threat is everywhere, and we want to make sure the students understand that.”
Another goal at the outset of the program was to create a space where they remove the levels of abstraction that naturally happen in a schoolhouse.
“In the past, we’ve used the Donovians [or] the Krasnovians, to project ‘this is what the threat is,’ but what I like is making the connection between the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, the North Koreans,” Schorpp said.
A goal of the initiative is to bridge theory taught in class with real-world examples from these adversary nations.
In the initial investigation phase of developing the Threat Immersion Program, Schorpp researched how the Russians recruit Soldiers. He admits that he was surprised with what he found.
“We tend to view [Russia] as the aggressor, for obvious reasons … but when you look into the propaganda, it mirrors how we see ourselves: Russian Soldiers helping Ukrainian people—handing out MREs, giving chocolate to the little kids. The same as we see ourselves: ‘We are helping this country.’ Whether you believe that or not is irrelevant; it’s the reality of the propaganda.”
Schorpp believes that this is a story that is not told often enough. People do not generally tend to think of their adversaries as they see themselves. However, he asserts that this type of thinking is precisely what MI Soldiers get paid to do.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a warrant officer, a brand new [Initial Entry Training] Soldier, a captain, a lieutenant; that’s what we do in intel—we understand the threat. We advise commanders on the threat, their capabilities, and potential courses of action they might pursue,” Schorpp said.
The driving principle behind this initiative is simple—to develop highly skilled MI Soldiers both in and out of the classroom to ensure they are mission-ready and valuable assets to their next units. “We are doing our part to ensure that those who come to school here really understand the threat, especially through the lens of the four focus countries,” Schorpp explained.
By giving students opportunities to mesh the theory they learn in the classroom with real-world examples around the installation, the Threat Immersion Program hopes to see students making meaningful connections that will help them be value-added from day one at their units.
This is the first article in a 3-part series. The second article will be published Feb. 24.
| Date Taken: | 02.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.20.2025 12:35 |
| Story ID: | 491138 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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