Guard Soldiers train for urban combat under watchful eyes

Photo By Sgt. Christopher Jones | CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait (Oct. 18, 2006) - Soldiers prepare to enter a room, near the broken glass of a destroyed vehicle, during MOUT training.  

CAMP BUEHRING, KUWAIT

10.18.2006

Story by Sgt. Thomas Day 

40th Public Affairs Detachment

By Sgt. Thomas L. Day
Desert Voice Staff Writer/40th Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait (Oct. 18, 2006) - Spc. Andrew Trick lines up in a four-man team, 100-plus degree heat bearing down, as he waits outside a room with suspected insurgents inside, gripping his M4 Carbine rifle tight enough to turn his knuckles white.

Inside an air-conditioned theater, his executive officer watches with up to 12 live video images following Trick in the door, down the hall, and into the targeted room. He writes notes, critiques his Soldiers' actions and comes up with a game plan for the next exercise – like a football coach watching game film.

This isn't the real thing, but Camp Buehring's Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain facility, commonly known as MOUT, is certainly no game. Trick and Troop C of the 2-107th Cavalry Regiment of the Ohio National Guard leave for Iraq this month; this is among the final training exercises they will complete before leaving.

"Each man has a section of the room they're going to be scanning," said 1st Lt. Austin Dufresne, Troop C executive officer. "First thing we're going to be looking for is that they scan each section of the room. Once they got that, they're checking for any other threats."

The other threats Dufresne refers to – explosives, weapons, even a loud woman screaming Arabic obscenities – are all simulated in the exercise. From the control room, technicians with the USARCENT's Kuwait Armed Forces Training Center trigger the obstacles like an amusement park haunted house.

"The scenario is set up by the unit commander," said Capt. Kenneth Smith, the operations officer for the Kuwait Armed Forces Training Center.

"The unit commander gives his training guidance, and the [MOUT technicians] run the site to facilitate his training objectives."

The exercise is a part of a required list of training tasks for any unit entering Iraq. Charlie Troop has been given nine days in Kuwait to complete the training tasks before deploying north.

For Troop C, the deployment process was launched three months ago, beginning with seven-days-a-week training at Fort Dix, N.J. There, the unit did it all – from familiarization of improvised explosive devices to similar training on clearing a room.

"This is just getting everyone back in the mindset," said Trick.

Trick had been a senior majoring in construction management at the University of Cincinnati. In Iraq, he will be part of a cavalry unit, sent to Iraq for a scheduled 12-month tour.

The MOUT exercise starts with two practice rooms, where Trick and his team enter a room without any obstacles. For the first two rooms, communication among the team members is stressed. "That's basically what we're trying to emphasize here: teamwork," said 2nd Lt. Mark Federle.

When they move to the third and fourth rooms, their leaders' interests start to rise. With one of his senior non-commissioned officers, Master Sgt. Mark Smith, Dufresne marks off what the patrol is doing correctly and incorrectly.

"See that right there, sir," Smith says as he pops out of his chair and approaches the television screen. "They're a little too close to the wall. You'll want to have a little bit of a standoff."

Comments are aggregated in Dufresne's green notebook. As soon as the patrol is completed, their corrections are given to the team leader. Trick and his teammates passed the test, but with overhead cameras covering their every step, the MOUT facility and Dufresne have given them some homework.

• Date Taken: 10.18.2006
• Date Posted: 10.20.2006 10:04
• Story ID: 8083
• Location: CAMP BUEHRING, KW