Fort Bliss’ Largest Collective Training Exercise In Decade Concludes Friday
Staff Sgt. Joseph Wilbanks 1st BCT, 1st AD Public Affairs At Fort Bliss
The 1st Brigade Combat Team ?Ready First,? 1st Armored Division, kicked off Iron Focus April 23 and will continue until May 18 in a rapid-fire schedule of realistic situational training and live-fire exercises.
The primary purpose of Iron Focus is for company-sized units in the ?Ready First? to train and demonstrate proficiency in village stability operations, air assaults and react-to-contact drills. ?Ready First? will deploy to Afghanistan this fall.
This is the largest collective training exercise Fort Bliss has conducted in more than 10 years. More than 7,500 Soldiers will participate.
The Soldiers will train in realistic simulations of locations they may experience during the deployment, to include Afghan role players acting as village residents and officials. These scenarios will enable the brigade?s leadership to evaluate their unit?s readiness.
?There are a lot of events going on every day and we are giving the commanders a workout,? said 1st Sgt. Brian Sowder, an observer controller from 2nd Squadron, 13th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. ?This is 3D warfare using Afghans on the battlefield, and we are throwing lots of stuff at these guys in a one-day period,? he added, speaking about the training at Kamal Jabour, a mock Afghan village.
Nearly every brigade at Fort Bliss will provide augmentees during this monthlong exercise. Additionally, U.S. Air Force and Army Special Forces units will be joining Team Bliss for this event.
?This has been good training so far, different from what we?ve done in the past,? said Pfc. Nathan A. Gillette, Bravo Team leader with 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, A Company, 4th Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment ?Buffaloes,? ?Ready First.? ?The training is all in a continuing, changing environment. We should be ready for anything after this.?
