FORT IRWIN, Calif. -- A Soldier stares through his windshield to focus on the vehicle in front of him.
As he reaches a long, slow turn, he glances at his side view mirror to see a convoy of armored tactical vehicles behind him.
He turns his head back to the windshield and an explosion erupts right next to his vehicle.
It is a simulated improvised explosive device, placed there to test the Soldiers' ability to react in just such a situation. This is one of many training scenarios these Soldiers will experience in the coming days.
The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, "Greywolf" 1st Cavalry Division started its rotation at the National Training Center in order to provide its Soldiers with realistic training.
"We are really replicating war out here," said Col. Matthew Van Wagenen, commander of the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. "[The trainers] are replicating a peer-on-peer threat where we fight tank-on-tank. They are simulating the other environments we have been into for the past 13 years of fighting irregular forces."
Greywolf's battalions spread throughout the training area, where they formed a perimeter, built their operational areas, and established communications with each other-- all tasks the brigade has trained for more than a year, ever since the training rotation was announced.
Along with the everyday requirements such as pulling guard duty, Soldiers are tested on basic Soldier skills, as well as with their specific job skills.
The training center acts as a big serious game, where Soldiers are placed in roles as they react to enemy fire, render first aid, and even call for medical evacuations.
"Here at NTC, we provide a real-world, dynamic training environment with equal or more stress than a real combat environment," said Sgt. Douglas Gavin, a Richmond, Virginia native and an observer-controller at NTC. "The force-on-force part is like Soldiers-fighting-Soldiers. The enemy knows the manuals, equipment and how they operate."
In addition to fighting an enemy that is ever present and ready to pounce at any opportunity, Soldiers get to the experience the harsh reality of sleeping on cots outside and eating MREs [Meals Ready to Eat] for a month.
And while the Soldiers on guard duty maintain a vigilant watch for the enemy, NTC's role-players evaluate the security of the base camps to find weaknesses.
"We ensure that the training units are properly coordinating, planning and making sure they follow procedures," said Gavin. "The enemy's sole purpose is to defeat you."
The first part of the training is a weeklong situational training exercise where units load their tanks, artillery and launchers with live rounds and send them down range to hit targets.
"It really gives us a feel of how we can operate in tanks in a real world battlefield in the open desert," said Staff Sgt. Jay Montgomery, a Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, native and tanker with the 3rd Battalion, 66th Cavalry Regiment. "We essentially did a Table XII, where we go down as a platoon to test our ability to engage and shoot targets while conducting different movements and formations."
In addition to the live-fire exercises, the Soldiers conducted squad maneuvers, urban operations lanes, medical evacuation, assault aircraft movement and even fire support coordination with the help of AH-64 Apache aircraft.
"We value the opportunity. These rotations out here are very expensive, but this is the best training the Army has to offer," said Van Wagenen. "I just hope the Army can continue to offer this as we move into the future with sequestration and budget reduction."
While this was a scheduled rotation and not in preparation for any impending deployments, no matter what mission Greywolf is called to assume, the Soldiers can rest assured that they are trained and ready to take on whatever the next challenge is.
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