FORT IRWIN, Calif. - Setting up a tactical operations center under harsh conditions versus using fixed facilities seen in Iraq and Afghanistan is a lesson in getting back to the basics.
The 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., is at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., where they are using tents and portable equipment to set up a bustling headquarters in the middle of the desert.
These tents, designed to house command and control personnel on the battlefield, can be set up in even the most barren environments and torn down in a matter of hours. Their construction is the product of coordinated efforts between construction engineers, security personnel, and headquarters assets.
"It all happens simultaneously and it has to because you have to assume control of the battle from the tactical command post - which is the alternate tactical operations center - in only a few hours," said 1st Sgt. Anthony Lockett, a native of Hinesville, Ga., and the brigade's Headquarters and Headquarters Company first sergeant.
Lockett added that before they establish the command structures, the first thing they do is establish security so that incoming personnel and equipment are protected. That job falls squarely on the shoulders of the brigade's engineer company.
"One of the most important parts of being in a construction company is the force protection for our stake holders," said Sgt. 1st Class David Jones, a Las Vegas native and a construction project supervisor with the 610th Engineer Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion, also out of JBLM. "It's very important for us to make sure they have defensibility, survivability, and offensive capabilities."
Lockett added that one of the engineer's chief tasks is to build large dirt mounds, known as berms, around the perimeter of the outpost. This provides the Arrowhead Brigade a level of security and survivability, he said.
"It gets us to the point to where [headquarters personnel] can do what they can do in the TOC and they don't have to worry about the outside," Lockett said.
Once the engineers have established a secure perimeter, the rest of the personnel come in and take up defensive positions, Lockett said.
They then set about erecting the honeycomb of tents that will house the different sections of the brigade headquarters.
"The process is all-hands on deck to get the first two to three tents up," said Sgt. Maj. Linwood Bailey, of Fayetteville, N.C., the brigade's operations sergeant major. "From there we have a small group of soldiers that move around and help build the rest of the tents. While they build the outside of it...the people who own that tent are inside setting up the tables, the wires and the generators."
The whole process, from rolling into the selected area, to setting security and establishing a working tactical operations center happens in a matter of hours and enables the brigade's combat forces to be ready for all situations and threats.
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