Photo By Sgt. Thomas Day | Lt. Col. Paul Driscoll (center, standing) leads his team on the EST (Engagement Skills...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Thomas L. Day
40th Public Affairs Detachment
KUWAIT — Lt. Col. Paul Driscoll and four of his Soldiers were given a mission Jan. 16. "Time-sensitive intelligence" told them where and when a group of insurgents would be meeting. Iraqi police would be joining the fight.
Driscoll took the .50 caliber machine gun; his soldiers carried M-16 rifles – all weapons connected into an interactive system, like a video game. The movie-theatre sized screen showed the scenario through a point-of-view shot.
The EST 2000 at Camp Buehring, the most recent upgrade to the Engagement Skills Trainer, took Driscoll and his troops to the location. This was not a real operation, but it's a dynamic virtual test of what the Soldiers will likely begin seeing in just a few short weeks.
After the Iraqi police broke down the door, the team entered the room. Master Sgt. Jimmy Caldwell, the EST 2000 noncommissioned officer in charge, coached Driscoll and his team through the operation. "We got weapons all over the place within arms reach ... does anyone here read minds?"
This particular training test was geared toward what Caldwell called "tactical patience."
"Laws of warfare and the rules of engagement apply at all times," Caldwell told the team.
Driscoll, who will be a National Internal Police Training chief once he arrives in Iraq, added another variable for his Soldiers: "Nobody shoot the IPs," referring to the Iraqi police.
As soon as an insurgent picked up an AK-47 on a nearby table, Driscoll and his Soldiers reacted. Then, the scenario stopped and the inside lights turned on.
Driscoll and his Soldiers took a step back and watched the replay. The engagement area then started decorating itself with green, yellow and red dots. Missed shots are marked green, shots that wounded the targets are marked yellow and red dots mark hit-and-kill shots.
The final tally: seven lethal hits, zero misses. Driscoll's team passed the training test with a 100 percent score.
"As you progress in a counterinsurgency campaign, the escalation of force and minimizing collateral damage takes on more importance, particularly if you're in an urban environment," Driscoll said afterward. "You're not seeing a whole lot of artillery in Baghdad."
Driscoll had his Soldiers go through a similar EST system at Fort Riley. "They're very helpful," he said. "The weapons identify which lane and you can see in the replay which weapon fired on what target."
| Date Taken: | 01.16.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 01.24.2007 09:25 |
| Story ID: | 8915 |
| Location: |
| Web Views: | 316 |
| Downloads: | 30 |
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