FORT RILEY -- "An exercise of this scale is unique for Fort Riley and for that reason safety is paramount," John Ison, range planner for Range Operations, Training Division, Directorate for Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security, said of the Danger Focus exercise that is underway.
The range operations team is responsible for preparing the ranges for training so the 1st Infantry Division elements can take the field and focus on refining their warfighting skills.
Well in advance of the beginning of Danger Focus in late April, all the pieces were coordinated and the ranges were ready for Soldiers and equipment.
That includes two massive training areas, called "lanes," on which units will conduct maneuvers. There are also two other lanes set up for situational training exercises.
"They'll do a walk-through," Ison said, "followed by a blank-fire phase, then a live-fire phase. And through all those phases we want to make sure they stay out of each other's way."
Combined, these areas take up most of the nearly 70,000 acres that comprise the Fort Riley training area, said Tom Black, director of Range Operations. According to the Economic Impact Statement of 2015, that number is part of more than 90,000 acres of the total area devoted to training, impact, aviation, maneuver and other military uses.
The total training acreage can handle both infantry and aviation, as well as heavy assets; tanks, artillery and so forth. All of those types of units are participating in Danger Focus.
The preparation for range operations ramped up in late fall 2015. Black worked with master gunners from various 1st Inf. Div. units.
"Those plans," Black said, "tell us what they want to fire and how they want to train."
Among his responsibilities, Black is required to establish Surface Danger Zones, which are areas that pose threats to Soldier safety. For Danger Focus, that included looking out for the welfare of approximately 4,000 Soldiers who are part of brigade, support and aviation elements.
Black also drafts a barrier plan to prevent unauthorized entry into dangerous areas.
Another step is the construction and installation of targets, which is performed by William Brown, maintenance supervisor for range operations.
"We can build targets to do a variety of things," Brown said. There are targets that resemble the human form, he said, and others that represent vehicles. The human targets are made of plastic, in either a small or a large size, and must be ordered. When installed in the field, they can be set to fall and pop back up, or remain stationary.
Plywood targets can be built to represent vehicles and equipment and all the targets can be "thermalized," Brown said. That is, they can be equipped to give off a heat signature so Soldiers can train at night.
"And we build a lot of targets out of plywood," Brown said. He is a carpenter by trade and is responsible for ordering and maintaining the Range Operations' stock of plywood and lumber, as well as the budget for that material.
Brown stays busy; only he and occasionally one other person are available to build targets.
Training in Danger Focus involves units of various sizes, with each being integrated and combined through directions from tactical operations center and tactical action center. Throughout the Danger Focus exercise, which will last until early June, control from those centers will involve increasing numbers of units, integrated into coordinated movements.
Besides Danger Focus, there will be a Division Artillery Readiness Test, which will also bear watching by range operations staff.
"Our biggest role (during the live fire exercise) is to help them be sure they are firing into the impact area," Ison said.
With all these moving parts, safety is of the highest concern; so much so that the risk assessment for Danger Focus was performed at the level of Maj. Gen. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., 1st. Inf. Div. and Fort Riley commanding general, Black said.
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