FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- While there is no perfect time to infiltrate an opposing force's defenses, the cover of darkness provides advantageous conditions. Low visibility obscures the number of men and creates uncertainty regarding the operations the Soldiers are conducting. Under the waxing moon, the Polar Bears awaited their flying chariots to carry them into battle.
Sometime after 9 p.m. Nov. 2, the rotors of UH-60 Black Hawks and CH-47 Chinooks began to slice through a calm, starry sky and touch down on the pick-up zone. More than 200 infantrymen loaded the aircraft in intervals by squad- and platoon-sized elements and were whisked off to their predetermined destinations.
Within minutes, the pilots land-ed at their coordinates, dropped off their passengers and sailed off to another mission. Left in a desolate, swampy field to rely on their wits and training, the infantrymen collected their gear and moved out on foot. Each platoon had orders to obtain a particular sector by flushing out the enemy and setting up a security parameter.
For infantrymen assigned to 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, intense training is nothing new. One of their missions for the brigade's Mountain Peak exercise was to seize an objective via air assault. Knowing the procedures of a tactical flight mission is crucial for the Soldiers to prepare them for real-world operations.
Although many Polar Bear Soldiers have experience moving through combat air space in Af-ghanistan and Iraq, new Soldiers join the team every day.
"This is the first experience for a lot of the Soldiers to actually understand what it feels like to sit in pick-up zone posture, wait for the bird, get on the bird, (experience) flight time and then exit right onto the objective," said Capt. Nicholas Sifers, B Company commander. "(This gives them) familiarization and confidence from knowing that they can do it now."
It may not have been Pfc. Nicholas Iorfida's first time in a helicopter, but the infantryman assigned to B Company appreciates the value of the training.
"It was very fun; a good experience," he said. "A lot of people don't get to experience that, and that is why I wanted to join the Army."
But training did not commence as they boarded the helicopters. Lt. Col Christopher Landers, 4-31 Infantry commander, explained that once the battalion received their operation orders days earlier, leadership and Soldier preparation was under way.
"Since we have been out, deployed to the brigade's logistical support area, we've done a concurrent play where we plan subsequent missions and conduct rehearsals from squad through battalion level," he said.
The rehearsals presented leaders with strategies for achieving mission goals and plans of action for contingency situations beyond their control. The Polar Bear Battalion is one key tactical element in the brigade, and missions can change or be added to win a battle.
The focus of 2nd BCT Mountain Peak, which took place Oct. 27 to Nov. 5, was to deploy the brigade to a fictional country called Atropia to assist and support them while an enemy force called the Donovians crossed their border and wrecked havoc in Atropian cities -- displacing civilians and gaining sympathizers.
After the Polar Bears secured outlying areas, they were called upon to assist the other battalions in the exercise's culminating event of seizing control of a town call Razish, a pivotal location in the exercise scenario.
The adversarial Donovians dug in deep in Razish. They constructed a defense with machine gun positions and roving patrols. They became familiar with the town and obtained collaborators within the local populous. A considerable challenge for the 2nd BCT forces in the scenario was to engage the enemy with minimal civilian casualties. Not only are Soldiers asked to subdue an opposing force, they must assist local noncombatants and preserve infrastructure.
"For all these Mountain Peak exercises that occur every year, they take in lessons learned from the past 13 years of combat operations and our experience with dealing with local populations and an insurgent type of force," Landers said. "Planners go through the exercise design, (and) they want to make it replicate as close to possible to those things we see in Afghanistan and elsewhere. So, it adds to the complexity and the realism that we will face overseas."
Soldiers of 2nd BCT will see more of these realistic scenarios during their Joint Readiness Training Center rotation at Fort Polk, La., early next year.
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