FORT SILL, Okla. - Spc. Nate Meyer, a lanky infantryman from Fairview, Oklahoma, began firing his M4 rifle from his position on the ground outside his foxhole.
"I've got a good vantage point of that truck 600 meters to our 10 o'clock," he shouted excitedly.
"I got them!" said Meyer over the radio. "Six enemies killed!"
Meyer is one of many Oklahoma National Guard members learning warfare tactics at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, during a muggy Oklahoma summer. The Oklahoma Army National Guard's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team spent 21 days in the field this month participating in the first in force annual training in more than a decade. On this day, Company B's objective was to set up a defensive position made up of a long line of secure positions on a hilltop.
Once the line was established, the hard work began. This was a force on force exercise where armies from the fictional country of Ariana were attacking allied troops. These Soldiers haven't undergone this type of training for more than a decade, not since the "old-school," large-scale-war type training was laid aside during the counter-insurgency of Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We haven't dug fighting positions in a long time," said Meyer, a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry. "It's good to get back to our traditional roles."
In the foxhole with Meyer was Pfc. Dominique Payne, of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Their fighting position was in the middle of the fortified line formed by Companies B and C and set up near a main road where attacks are more likely to happen. Myers and Payne had been in the field for three days learning defensive strategies. This was the culminating event, bringing all the training together and testing the two companies.
Myers joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard because his friend was deploying to Afghanistan in 2011 with the 179th Infantry Regiment and he wanted to go with him.
"The recruiter told me, 'all I have left are infantry slots,'" said Myers, decisively. "I told him, 'Well, it looks like I'm going infantry.'"
That decision led Myers to Afghanistan where he lived in a foxhole just like this one for 36 days straight, including Christmas and New Years. He says his experience in Afghanistan helps him be successful with this training and with teaching others.
Company C Executive Officer, 1st Lt. Brandon Curtis, of Lavern, Oklahoma, says his troops have worked on defensive movements for about eight months, undergoing classroom presentation and two field training sessions, and is well prepared to take on any enemy forces.
The Soldiers are using the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES), which allows more realistic training scenarios without using live ammunition. The MILE System has different size lasers on each weapon that are dependent on the weapon's ammunition size. There are multiple sensors on each Soldier and vehicles on the battlefield. In all, Companies B and C have about 140 Soldiers along with crew-served weapons, including 50-caliber machine guns and anti-tank missiles.
"If the weapon is aimed and fired anywhere close to target, it will beep," Curtis said. "If the laser hits you then it's a constant beep and you have to go down right then."
The training advisors tell the Soldier what injury they have. Sgt. Jason Holloway, of Edmond, Oklahoma, was "shot" and his MILES began beeping.
"I got wounded providing buddy aid to a Soldier at a fighting position," said Holloway. "Then I was med-evaced to the control point and then brought to the medical station."
He says the training mission has taught him a lot about defense.
"I learned to get lower when approaching another fighting position and how hectic the defense can get," said Holloway. "We haven't dug foxholes like this in a long time, so this is good training."
Curtis says they set up these training missions in order to expose new Soldiers to situations they haven't faced before.
"Many of these Soldiers joined the unit after we returned from deployment two years ago," said Curtis. "So we are trying to get them the maximum amount of training."
It is a lot of work for the Soldiers and not always in the best living conditions.
"You get nasty, muddy, tired and wore out," said Myers. "But it's good training. . ."