PRINT ADS

More than 4,000 troops in the Army Reserve have been preparing in recent weeks at Fort McCoy for what they might encounter overseas.

The Army Reserve’s Patriot Warrior exercises simulate combat conditions, and it is the largest Army Reserve training to date. Units from around the country have been participating since July 12.

Participants work in several fields including transportation, medical, chemical, quartermaster, engineering, military police and communications. Commanding Brig. General Walter Brian Chahanovich, of the 78th Operations Group in Fort Dix, N.J., said the exercise links live, virtual and constructive components of training.

“Our mission is to enable soldiers to conduct relevant mission training,” Chahanovich said. “Fort McCoy offers us facilities and support in order to link the three components of the exercise.”

The training runs through Aug. 2. As part of the exercise, Army Reserve Firefighters conducted missions in a smoke-filled fire house, with realistic scenarios that resulted in having to rescue 200-pound practice dummies on the second and third floors of the structure with a ladder because the stairs and balconies were not in use.

“It is good to get to do military instead of civilian (firefighting) for these scenarios,” said Pfc. Robert Packard, who hopes to become a firefighter in his hometown of Boston. “For over there (deployment overseas), this is good training.”

Reservists also patrolled makeshift operating bases, checking cars and people while keeping an eye on a simulated village of the Middle East. Simulated mortar explosions, smoke, drive-by shootings, protesters, and even music gave the soldiers a taste of what they may experience during deployment.

“Our first priority is to take care of ourselves,” said Sgt. Terry Oelfke of Holmen. “You will hear the whistle and the explosion, and you’ll hear them yell, ‘Incoming!’ Then they need to call in their location and assess the situation. No detail is overlooked.”

Engineers are also busy excavating dirt and gravel to build up a fortified wall around the make-shift base. The scenarios are made to be as realistic as possible, and Oelfke, who has been assigned to Fort McCoy as an instructor for more than four years, said that he has heard positive results.

“When a few units came back (from deployment), we have contacted a few of them, and they said ‘Hey, what you did is exactly what happened over there,’” Oelfke said. “This is very realistic training. We will never just say, ‘Come on in.’ If the president came (to the base), we would know ahead of time, but he would be searched the same way.”

Soldiers from the continental United States, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico are involved in the exercise, and over 100 British troops from the United Kingdom’s Territorial Army are on hand for the training exercise.

London native Capt. Justin Harris, who serves in the United Kingdom’s 31st London Signal Regiment of the Territorial Army, said that understanding and teamwork among allies in a combat zone is the emphasis of the British involvement with the exercise.

“Our whole purpose is better understanding between the two coalition armies,” Harris said. “This way if British units are working in their (U.S. Army) theater, I would understand protocol working with U.S. forces, and I would communicate that to my commander.”