2D Engineer Battalion adds realism to NIE program

As the Network Integration Evaluation 12.2 winds down, Soldiers from the 2nd Engineer Battalion are returning home after spending weeks in the field supporting the massive evaluation at White Sands Missile Range.

The NIE is a large scale evaluation of network based systems with the goal of validating and assessing network Capability Sets so the first set can be ready for fielding to eight brigade combat teams starting in October 2012. For this NIE, Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team conducted a field exercise utilizing the new systems as they would in real operations. For NIE 12.2 the designated opposing force was decided to be a hybrid threat, a threat force that is composed of both conventional military forces and irregular forces like insurgents and criminal groups. The decision to go with this kind of threat was made because fighting this kind of threat would require the network to be used in both the ways expected during a conventional war and in counter insurgency, allowing evaluators to see how the network performs in both conditions and under the high level of stress such a threat provides.

To represent this diverse threat WSMR's own 2nd Engineer Battalion was recruited. Along with elements from 1st Armored Division's 3rd and 4th Brigades, 2E Soldiers played the role of insurgent forces, conventional enemy soldiers, and even civilian elements on the battle field the engineers took to the various training and test sites utilized in the evaluation. Living in conditions ranging from austere buildings representing urban terrain to more typical field conditions the engineers conducted various operation types against the Soldiers from 2-1 Armor to help stress both the Soldiers and network they were using.

Getting out of their usual operations and supporting the evaluation was a good change of pace for the Soldiers and a chance to see what the new technology can do. "For my unit it's pretty fun, we're having a ball doing it and keeping in our roles," said Sgt. Brian Pacheco from 2E's 595th Sapper Company who played a civilian during the NIE.

The battalion was chosen to play the OPFOR for several reasons . While the common perception of engineers is that of military construction teams, the 2nd Engineer Battalion specializes in mobility augmentation, demolitions and sapper operations, and route clearance. This means that the battalion was able to use both its training and in-theater experiences to do things like obstacle, roadblock, and minefield placement to limit 2-1 Armor's mobility, and bog them down in clearance operations. "They are the perfect element for this test given that we are operating at White Sands Missile Range, and they are up against probably the most modernized heavy brigade combat team; the selection of an engineer battalion was ideal in that they understand the counter mobility fight," said Lt. Col. John Kline, operations officer for Brigade Modernization Command. This disruption of mobility made it easier for OPFOR insurgents to place IEDs and allowed for both conventional and unconventional forces to target the slow moving armored units with artillery, IEDs and ambushes. "As (the brigade) tries to travel 250 km they are running into complex obstacle belts which bogs them down and they have to fight though those, which is stressing the brigade and by extension stressing the network," Kline said.

As NIE 12.2 comes to a close, White Sands Missile Range is already looking forward to the fall, and the next NIE. NIE 13.1 will put its focus on the next set of network capabilities and look at where intelligence data and field operations come together, and begin operational testing of Nett Warrior. Nett Warrior is a network enabled system intended to give more information to the Soldier on the ground, increasing his or her situational awareness at the tactical level.