FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Acting as an equivalent fighting force, Soldiers of 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, "Polar Bears" 2nd Brigade Combat Team, set out to disrupt the movement of 1st Brigade Combat Team's Soldiers during their Mountain Peak exercise, which began Sept. 29 and was scheduled to end today on Fort Drum's training areas.
"We are out here providing an opposing force for 1st BCT during their Mountain Peak exercise," said 1st Lt. Jeremy Provencher, platoon leader with A Company, 4-31 Infantry. "We are acting as local national soldiers who are trying to limit the enemy's (1st BCT) advance forward."
Grossly outnumbered, they focused on unconventional dismounted reconnaissance while simultaneously bolstering base defenses in anticipation of a culminating attack.
"We have a little bit more freedom because we are not operating strictly under our tactics," Provencher explained. "We are able to do almost whatever we want in terms of how we are engaging the enemy."
Leading one such attack was reconnaissance squad leader Sgt. Skip Hazzard of A Company, who described how his Soldiers took the fight to the enemy.
"We've done a lot of recon-naissance missions checking on avenues of approach," he said. "We had also established listening and observation posts near a road obstacle."
Concealed beneath the dense underbrush, Hazzard and his team waited for nearly two days before seeing signs of enemy activity.
"We heard some movement through the woods about 5 a.m.," he said. "We were able to engage and suppress their support by fire element knocking them out of the fight."
Quickly repositioning, Hazzard and his team prepared to counterattack the larger advancing force.
"We tried to push through and met some pretty strong resistance, so we fell back to one of the buildings there. They tried to scoot towards us, but we stopped them, and that's when we got the order to pull out."
Tactically retreating, they fell back to the main base where perimeter defense operations were well under way.
"We are trying to protect three cities within this area," said 1st Lt. Rob Fiore, platoon leader with B Company. "So that is why we're funneling a lot of resources and Soldiers here. If this falls, they pretty much have control of the training area."
Preparing for the worst, Fiore, with the help of engineers assigned to 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, increased perimeter security by layering double strands of concertina wire, blocking roads, building mine fields, erecting barbed wire fences and emplacing trip flares as early warning devices.
Having established multiple layers of security and continuous reconnaissance patrols, Soldiers of 4-31 Infantry waited for the inevitable attack that could be their last stand.
"While our operational forces mission is different from going through Mountain Peak, it gives us time to figure out what our deficiencies are in terms of regular combat operations," explained 1st Lt. Austin Bennette, platoon leader with A Company. "Even though we are conducting a different kind of combat operation, we are still conducting operations nonetheless. So it will help us out in terms of basic Soldier skills, and then collectively, it will help us too."
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