thedrifter
10-20-06, 06:40 PM
October 20, 2006
Kuwait desert gives troops an ideal training ground
By Christian Lowe
Staff writer
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — It may not be Iraq, but it’s pretty close.
“You’re gonna see insurgents. You’re gonna see males, females. You’re gonna hear shouting and children crying,” the range controller said.
“Your guys are going to be confused, and they’re gonna have to decide whether to shoot or not.”
Better here than when it really counts.
With thousands of American troops cycling through a series of camps sprinkled along the border here headed for Iraq, the U.S. military has set up several ranges in Kuwait’s remote northern desert to test the troops’ skills and prepare them for what they’re sure to encounter during their deployment to what forces around here refer to as “up north.”
Driving courses that give Marines convoy skills, elaborate firing ranges meant to hone combat shooting techniques and check-point simulators with remote-controlled enemy vehicles that refuse to stop, all push troops to think and act quickly when danger arises.
During a hot October morning near their temporary base at Camp Virginia, leathernecks with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, immersed themselves in one of the most realistic training ranges offered here. The Mobile Military Operations in Urban Terrain simulator, or “Mobile MOUT,” features computer-controlled mannequins dressed in Middle Eastern clothing — some armed with wooden guns, some not — in rooms packed with furniture, appliances and other household goods.
Built out of stacked shipping containers and segmented into rooms with moveable plywood walls, the simulator allows Marines to wend their way through a confusing array of friend-or-foe encounters that closely resemble everyday operations in Iraq.
“There are large rooms, small rooms and rooms inside rooms,” said D.J. Robinson, Mobile MOUT range controller with General Dynamics Information Technology, which owns the simulator.
“There are trapdoors, balconies and stairwells,” he explained. “If you want [improvised explosive device] drills, I’ll give them to you.”
The Marines of Bravo, 1/8 — part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s battalion landing team — are here in Kuwait in the last two months of their six-month deployment, using the time to put the MEU’s units through an array of live-fire and simulated training. Though they are unlikely to deploy to Iraq during this pump, MEU leaders and unit commanders are eager to make the most of any training time they can get for the next potential hitch in Iraq.
In a small air-conditioned room adjacent to the simulated village, a 62-inch plasma screen displays each of the five shoot houses. Every room has a camera posted in a corner, so that as the Marines progress through the simulator, commanders and unit leaders can watch and critique each move. There are even embedded microphones so sensitive that “we can hear you breathe,” Robinson said.
As the first squad of Marines entered a house, unit leaders saw problems immediately.
“Nobody’s talking to each other,” one said.
“I’m seeing a lot of complacency,” remarked another.
Inside the simulator’s rooms, it was near-total confusion. Gentle “elevator” music wafted over the speakers mingled with the sound of shouts in Arabic and crying children — all geared to inject uncertainty into the Marines’ minds over who was an innocent or an insurgent. Using special ammunition that shoots plastic-coated pellets called Ultimate Training Munitions, the Marines shot mannequins that popped out suddenly from around corners or at the top of stairwells. Two hits in the vital areas with UTMs and the dummies retracted automatically.
With its narrow hallways, chaotic audio and the unseen eyes of superiors peering over their shoulders, some platoons fared better than others, but that’s what the Mobile MOUT simulator is for: Pushing the Marines to failure when their lives aren’t on the line.
“It’s training,” Gunnery Sgt. Corey Lohr said to Marines watching an instant replay of the performance recorded in the simulator’s control room. “If you’re going to [mess up], this is the place to do it.”
And that’s exactly what contractors here intended.
“This is where you find out if all the training you’ve done to prepare for going up north is right,” Robinson said. h
Ellie
Kuwait desert gives troops an ideal training ground
By Christian Lowe
Staff writer
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — It may not be Iraq, but it’s pretty close.
“You’re gonna see insurgents. You’re gonna see males, females. You’re gonna hear shouting and children crying,” the range controller said.
“Your guys are going to be confused, and they’re gonna have to decide whether to shoot or not.”
Better here than when it really counts.
With thousands of American troops cycling through a series of camps sprinkled along the border here headed for Iraq, the U.S. military has set up several ranges in Kuwait’s remote northern desert to test the troops’ skills and prepare them for what they’re sure to encounter during their deployment to what forces around here refer to as “up north.”
Driving courses that give Marines convoy skills, elaborate firing ranges meant to hone combat shooting techniques and check-point simulators with remote-controlled enemy vehicles that refuse to stop, all push troops to think and act quickly when danger arises.
During a hot October morning near their temporary base at Camp Virginia, leathernecks with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, immersed themselves in one of the most realistic training ranges offered here. The Mobile Military Operations in Urban Terrain simulator, or “Mobile MOUT,” features computer-controlled mannequins dressed in Middle Eastern clothing — some armed with wooden guns, some not — in rooms packed with furniture, appliances and other household goods.
Built out of stacked shipping containers and segmented into rooms with moveable plywood walls, the simulator allows Marines to wend their way through a confusing array of friend-or-foe encounters that closely resemble everyday operations in Iraq.
“There are large rooms, small rooms and rooms inside rooms,” said D.J. Robinson, Mobile MOUT range controller with General Dynamics Information Technology, which owns the simulator.
“There are trapdoors, balconies and stairwells,” he explained. “If you want [improvised explosive device] drills, I’ll give them to you.”
The Marines of Bravo, 1/8 — part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s battalion landing team — are here in Kuwait in the last two months of their six-month deployment, using the time to put the MEU’s units through an array of live-fire and simulated training. Though they are unlikely to deploy to Iraq during this pump, MEU leaders and unit commanders are eager to make the most of any training time they can get for the next potential hitch in Iraq.
In a small air-conditioned room adjacent to the simulated village, a 62-inch plasma screen displays each of the five shoot houses. Every room has a camera posted in a corner, so that as the Marines progress through the simulator, commanders and unit leaders can watch and critique each move. There are even embedded microphones so sensitive that “we can hear you breathe,” Robinson said.
As the first squad of Marines entered a house, unit leaders saw problems immediately.
“Nobody’s talking to each other,” one said.
“I’m seeing a lot of complacency,” remarked another.
Inside the simulator’s rooms, it was near-total confusion. Gentle “elevator” music wafted over the speakers mingled with the sound of shouts in Arabic and crying children — all geared to inject uncertainty into the Marines’ minds over who was an innocent or an insurgent. Using special ammunition that shoots plastic-coated pellets called Ultimate Training Munitions, the Marines shot mannequins that popped out suddenly from around corners or at the top of stairwells. Two hits in the vital areas with UTMs and the dummies retracted automatically.
With its narrow hallways, chaotic audio and the unseen eyes of superiors peering over their shoulders, some platoons fared better than others, but that’s what the Mobile MOUT simulator is for: Pushing the Marines to failure when their lives aren’t on the line.
“It’s training,” Gunnery Sgt. Corey Lohr said to Marines watching an instant replay of the performance recorded in the simulator’s control room. “If you’re going to [mess up], this is the place to do it.”
And that’s exactly what contractors here intended.
“This is where you find out if all the training you’ve done to prepare for going up north is right,” Robinson said. h
Ellie