FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – The 29th Infantry Division concluded its 20-day Warfighter Training Exercise, or WFX 26-4, June 14, designed to test division staff with challenging problems and obstacles necessary for success in large-scale combat operations.
The division staff worked and planned meticulously with multiple subordinate brigades, bringing the division’s multilayered capabilities to bear against a fictional adversary of equivalent size.
The division mustered its units from across the nation, including the Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Florida and Alabama National Guards.
The mock-conflict integrated modern, relevant and emerging technologies consistent with near-peer adversaries.
“There is a lot a division has to do to be successful at a warfighter,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Samulski, commander of the 29th Infantry Division. “When you look at the complications that are active in a modern warfighter scenario, like electronic warfare and drones, those are additional capabilities that exist that really challenge a lot of things we used to be able to do fairly easily.”
Scenario challenges ranged from ammunition shortages and supply chain issues to wet-gap crossings and emerging weapon systems such as drone swarms and electronic jamming. These challenges required the staff to closely coordinate the use of all available assets to maximize their effectiveness.
Assets included counter-drone technologies, explosive ordnance disposal, long-range fires, aviation platforms and mobility and counter-mobility tools. The division used air, space and ground assets as well as non-lethal capabilities such as civil affairs to shape the battlefield to its advantage.
“For many in the division, this was their first warfighter,” Samulski said. “I think everyone starts off just trying to do their job, not fully understanding the importance of their job and how it impacts the job other people are trying to do. We started working as a synchronized staff and less as individual pockets of people doing work, which helps a commander understand what's going on and the opportunities available to him or her.”
As part of the exercise, the division was one component of a larger operation that included the Fort Hood-based 1st Cavalry Division and the Fort Leavenworth-based 35th Infantry Division, operating alongside the 29th Infantry Division. Liaison officers from each unit worked carefully to ensure each division’s operations did not overlap and to reduce the risk of duplicative efforts that would counter the units’ goals.
By the end of the exercise, the 29th Infantry Division was evaluated as extremely prepared to succeed as a higher-headquarters element responsible for multiple brigades and a wide range of capabilities.
“This was a great opportunity [for the staff] to get feedback every day and make adjustments over and over and over again at such a high rate of speed that the growth of the staff was exponential. The senior mentors were telling me the staff was fixing things faster than they could bring in things to fix,” Samulski said.
WFX 26-4 demonstrated more than the 29th Infantry Division’s ability to solve tactical problems; it validated the division’s readiness to command and synchronize complex operations in a contested, large-scale combat environment. As the Army continues to adapt to emerging threats and near-peer competition, exercises like this ensure the Blue and Gray Division remains capable of integrating forces across multiple states, domains and warfighting functions to deliver decisive combat power.
The lessons learned and relationships strengthened during the exercise directly enhance the division’s ability to respond when called upon, providing combatant commanders with a trained, cohesive and ready headquarters prepared to fight and win in future conflicts.