Published 05 September 05
[Abridged version originally published in
The Washington Times, 17 Aug 05]

Beyond the DropZone

W. Thomas Smith Jr.

U.S. Army recruits train to battle Al Queda

"Don't stop! Keep moving!" Staff Sergeant Dennis Wisner shouts at four soldiers racing for cover. They have been caught in the open by an enemy sniper. Firing and moving, they dash behind a small building.

Moments earlier, Wisner was directing the four as they stormed a house, "killing" two "Al Queda insurgents" holed up in a room.

Wisner's voice continues booming over the "pop, pop, pop" of M-16 blank fire and Muslim calls to prayers echoing from a nearby mosque.

"Use your weapon!" he shouts at one young soldier who hesitates before returning fire.

A year ago, this might have been a full-blown infantry or special operations training exercise. Today, it is standard fare for all U.S. Army recruits; even these young Americans here at Fort Jackson, S.C. slated to become cooks, bakers, Humvee mechanics, or perhaps supply clerks. Typically, Army support personnel attend basic training at Fort Jackson, whereas infantry soldiers receive initial training at Fort Benning, Ga., tankers attend training at Fort Knox, Kentucky; artillerymen go through Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and military policemen and engineers attend basic at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

This is only the sixth week of basic training for these recruits here at Fort Jackson, but already their performance as combat riflemen (and women) is impressive.

It has to be.

"These soldiers are going to war," says Capt. Mark Kaschenbach, a training company commander at Fort Jackson. "We tell them, they're going to Iraq 30 days after AIT [advanced individual training]. So we're giving them a taste of what may save their lives."

Lt. Col. Allen D. Reece agrees, adding that once deployed, not being in a combat arms unit does not mean not being in combat.

"Regardless of your MOS [military occupational specialty], anyone in Iraq or Afghanistan may find themselves in direct contact with the enemy," he says. "There have been cooks in Iraq who have had to man checkpoints and conduct urban combat operations. They've gone out on patrols."

Support troops have a long history of shoring up combat units when numbers temporarily drop from casualties, illnesses and non-battle injuries, transfers, rotations back to home bases, or just giving the gunfighters a much-needed rest. But in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the frontlines are blurred, combat support forces are often struck first by insurgents who prefer hitting soft military targets (convoys and combat support units) as opposed to hard targets (infantry units and special operations forces). For that reason alone, training at Fort Jackson – which trains only support soldiers – has been ratcheted up several notches, and it's paying off in lives saved.

Unlike the easy ambush of Private Jessica Lynch and her ordnance maintenance unit that made a wrong turn in a bad neighborhood back in 2003, insurgents today are learning that striking any American unit – combat arms or not – can be costly.

"When the guys we're training today get hit, they'll fight their asses off," Reece says. Recruits are certainly learning from those who've been in the fight.

"Nearly 40 percent of all our drill sergeants have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan," says Col. Tom Hayden, Fort Jackson's deputy commander.

Wisner is one of them. He recently returned from Iraq where he served as a combat infantry leader. Today he is fine-tuning the movements of his recruits, through every doorway of every room in each building. "You see the weapon! Shoot! That's the enemy!" he coaches another recruit who is literally outdrawn by a mock Al Queda guerrilla.

Soldiers today are taught quick "reflexive" firing techniques, as well as basic marksmanship, and overall weapons handling. The latter is key.

Taking a page from the Marine Corps playbook, Army recruits at Fort Jackson now carry the rifle within the first 48 hours of basic training. "It's a new concept," says Reece. Prior to Dec. 2004-Jan. 2005, recruits here did not handle weapons until marksmanship training in the third week.

Located in the piney woods of central South Carolina, the 52,000-acre Fort Jackson is the Army's largest basic training facility, Approximately 35,000 - 42,000 basic trainees pass through here, each year. Their nine-week training cycle includes – in addition to old standbys like shooting, saluting, drill and ceremonies – 40 warrior tasks and nine battle drills that must be mastered by each recruit prior to graduation.

Begun in 2004, the new training focuses on what the Army calls the "contemporary operating environment." Aside from storming buildings and clearing rooms, soldiers learn the basics of manning vehicle checkpoints, patrolling, reacting to ambushes, rendering first aid, calling for supporting fires, and operating in a convoy.

Today, these soldiers are learning to fight in an urban environment. Next week, they'll be loaded into the backs of five-ton trucks and sent bouncing along remote, sand-and-dirt roads where they will engage enemy targets attacking their convoy.

Training is tough and as realistic as the Army can make it. Gone are the days when drill sergeants berated their troops with nose-to-nose shouting, cursing, and corporal punishment. "Its just not effective," says Reece. "And frankly, we're so busy making sure these soldiers can fight and survive, we don't have time for that."

— W. Thomas Smith Jr., a former U.S. Marine infantry leader, parachutist, and shipboard counterterrorism instructor, writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans and on the West Bank. He is an award-winning author of four books, the co-author of two, and his articles have appeared in USA Today, George, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, National Review Online, CBS News, The Washington Times, and many others.

W. Thomas Smith Jr. can be reached at wthomassmithjr@yahoo.com.

© 2005 W. Thomas Smith Jr.

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