Talon team learns to fight as integrated force

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea - In an effort to prepare Soldiers for full-spectrum operations, one brigade commander is aiming to change the norm so Soldiers will be prepared to fight as an integrated team.

Col. James T. Barker, commander of the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, said his belief in a more inclusive training calendar for differing units was reaffirmed while on a recent temporary duty assignment to the Infantry War Fighters Conference at Fort Benning, Ga.

While at the conference, Barker said he repeatedly heard stories from infantry commanders and command sergeants major about how Army aviators had saved their lives when they were pinned down by numerically superior enemy forces.

"The greatest thing I took from the conference was that there is a huge appreciation for Army aviators today that hasn't been this strong since the Vietnam War," he said.

"It was clear that the best way to sustain this relationship was to conduct year-round full spectrum air and ground integrated training exercises with other U.S. and ROK units from around the peninsula," he continued.

Because the training is integrated, ground troops get to carry out missions that they would actually do in a wartime environment, integrating aviation into their operations at all levels, build report with other units, and learn the basics of how to use the tools other units have, he said.

Barker said the most important reason to conduct complex integrated training exercises is because it translates into a decrease of injuries and deaths to U.S. Soldiers on the battlefield.

"Every time a leader loses a Soldier in combat he has to look himself in the mirror for the rest of his life and ask if he did everything possible to prevent that Soldier from being killed or injured," Barker said.

He said helping Soldiers prepare for combat situations comes through training.

"Unfortunately, going to war usually means that some people may get injured, but under my command it certainly won't be because of a failure on my part to relentlessly push an aggressive training program," he said.

Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan reinforced his views.

"We have learned so many effective lessons from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and if we don't institutionalize those techniques, tactics and procedures into our training programs we will begin to lose them as OIF and OEF wind down," he said. "The absence of real world combat interaction with other types of units will create a vacuum and all of the synergy that we have established in the last 10 years will be completely lost."

In September and October 2010, during one of 2nd CAB's annual gunnery tables, a shift in training happened when ground forces from the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, passed target information to AH-64 Apache helicopters using a close combat attack request.

For 2nd CAB, the combination of aviation and ground forces during the gunnery exercise was just the beginning of things to come, he added.

"It is important that as leaders we stack as many training events into a single training opportunity as we can without making the scenario unrealistic," he explained. "For example, when it comes to gunnery qualifications, you typically only get to qualify twice a year. If all that takes place during that qualification is an individual qualification of the primary weapons system, then a huge opportunity is lost to integrate air and ground forces."

When asked what this all means, Barker stated that it is essential to adhere to the old adage of "train as you fight."

"Typically when people say 'train as you fight,' it seems to be more clichAfA than anything," he said. "But for me it is something you must strive for every time you go out and train. You never send an Apache into combat to fight by itself, but rather you always send at least a team of two. So why do we train them to qualify on their gunnery tables as a single ship'"

Barker added, "I will simply not allow my brigade to train one way in vernacular and another way in the field. The only way I know how to accomplish this task is to work extremely hard to increase the realism in our training and go the extra mile required to layer as much effective training as possible. Shame on us if we are just flying around by ourselves, when we could be actively seeking customers to conduct integrated training with."

Barker said he hopes his vision for training on the Korean Peninsula will turn into something bigger, such as making Korea a place to train for major combat operations and to build warrior ethos.

"We have a great opportunity here in the Republic of Korea to be a training base for Soldiers that will sooner or later PCS to organizations that are deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan," he said.

He added that a time might come where Soldiers who only know OEF and OIF might fight in a full spectrum conflict.