FORT DRUM, N.Y. (Dec. 14, 2017) -- For years, Army units have fought for and liberated the fictitious country of Atropia. Over and over, the U.S. and its allies within the Caucasus Region have fought Arian forces, which has been an oppressive dictator-like force.
Designed as part of the Decisive Action Training Plan, this training scenario was instituted in multiple schoolhouse curriculums and training posts like the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.
Under the scenario, U.S. forces and allies encounter the enemy, engage in conflict (through various methods of simulation), destroy them, and, in the process, free the oppressed country of Atropia.
Soldiers of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), "threw out the playbook" and constructed a different type of scenario with a more modern enemy when they conducted a command post exercise Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 at the Lt. Col. Darrell Townsend Mission Training Center (MTC) on Fort Drum.
"We have to maintain our readiness and lethality to face our nation's threats today and to be ready for the threats of tomorrow," said Maj. Nathan Adkins, brigade executive officer.
The Commando command post exercise (CPX) was a way to execute that training guidance and maximize an opportunity to increase unit readiness. Personnel from 10th Mountain Division, the 2nd BCT staff and subordinate units worked with the MTC design team to construct a scenario with an advanced enemy and unfavorable restrictive terrain.
"We took a different approach to maintain our readiness goals as a focused-ready unit," said Maj. Douglas Armstrong, brigade plans officer. "We built a current operations focused exercise using a complex enemy and complex terrain suited for a light infantry brigade combat team fight."
Throughout the scenario, the MTC staff and division personnel role-played as the enemy and the brigade's higher command, adding realistic, injected contingencies to test the brigade.
"The real value we obtained through this exercise was being able to collectively, as a new staff, gain a repetition of planning for a mission together and improve our operating procedures through a controlled environment at the MTC," Armstrong said.
Along with the terrain and unconventional enemy, one of the conditions the brigade commander set for the exercise was to use analog methods of tracking and providing orders to subordinate units. This was a way to practice the Army's concept of mission command, which is a shared intent or end state among all leaders, but one that allows subordinate leaders and staff to make their own calculated actions within their area of operation to reach a centralized goal.
"We never want to become so reliant on digital systems that it would hinder our effectiveness during a conflict," said Maj. Christopher Bizor, brigade communications officer. "We have to get back to basics and exercise our most rudimentary methods of communication and be experts at it, because it may be all we have wherever the next fight is. There may be times when units are cut off from communications and all they have to go on is commander's intent to make crucial decisions on the battlefield."
Towards the end of the exercise, Maj. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, 10th Mountain Division (LI) and Fort Drum commander, visited the Commando Brigade to receive a virtual battlefield update and provide mentorship to the brigade staff as they look forward to follow-on training events.
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