Community watches the Guard in action during Saturday exercise
BRINKLEY - Sights and sounds of warfare invaded the peaceful Delta afternoon Saturday, Nov. 4, as Arkansas Army National Guard troops conducted a simulated raid and hostage recovery at an abandoned hospital.
“The goal of our training was to work on urban environment war fighting tactics and better prepare us for real missions,” 1st Lt. Joseph Foley explained after the exercise, which excited the gathered crowd with a number of loud concussions from simulated explosions and hundreds of shots fired from various small arms.
Including troops from Brinkley and Forrest City, the exercise began at the Guard armory on the east side of town. Troops marched two miles to the hospital and then split into two teams. While one group secured the perimeter, another team prepared to attack.
When the “go” signal came, the assault team lobbed smoke grenades into the facility's courtyard and kicked in the back door.
“As they entered the building, it was fast and furious,” said Sgt. 1st Class Paul Davis, who served as a member of the opposition force.
Booby traps had been set at several locations, and enemy troops had positioned themselves throughout the facility.
The Guardsmen's mission was to clear each room and find two hostages. As they worked their way through the building, gunfire was intense. The assault team fought its way to the final objective, the hostages, and compelled the enemy troops to surrender.
The exercise lasted about 10 minutes and ended with four enemy troops killed. The exercise also resulted in one of the friendly forces killed as well. Fortunately, training scenarios like these offer a chance to stand back up and actually learn from the experience which will lower the odds of losses during real world conflicts.
Foley said the training a success.
“They moved with a vengeance inside the building, which is very important. The quicker you move, the less time you give the enemies to fix your position,” he said. “All the muzzle awareness was good, and moving through an area was good. We'll continue to train and hopefully the lessons learned from this will better enhance our training.”
Dozens of area residents observed the exercise, and Brinkley Mayor Billy Clay – who had been a member of the Brinkley Guard unit years ago – marveled at the evolution of Guard training.
“It's hard to comprehend that we have this type of training right here locally,” he commented. “It makes you proud to be a citizen of the United States and also proud to have a Guard unit … here in Brinkley. It's amazing how things have progressed.”
Clay said that the Guard units serve many roles in the communities they serve.
“We recognize the economic impact it has on our community. It goes back to the Minuteman concept, and that's what we have,” he noted. “They are available locally if the governor calls them out for natural disasters, and we've seen times the unit has been used for periods outside this type of war games. It makes me proud to come out and see the progress that has been made over the years with your training.”
Foley said public training exercises help people understand military operations such as those ongoing in Iraq.
"The reason we bring the public out is to give them a better picture of what their fathers, sons, brothers and cousins are doing,” he noted.
Davis added that the troops' training will continue long after the gunfire stopped.
“We'll go over what happened and probably come back to do a slow walk through to identify what we can do better next time,” he said.
The troops involved are part of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 153rd Infantry, 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The unit returned from a yearlong deployment to Iraq last spring.