FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — The U.S. Army Engineer School is remodeling one of Fort Leonard Wood’s training areas to prepare warfighters for the battlefield of the future.
USAES, part of the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, has been working on Range 27A for about a year. According to Maj. Tyler Skomp, 554th Engineer Battalion operations officer, the primary improvements are projected to be complete by June 2025.
The training area is being specifically redesigned for engineer lieutenants and captains taking the officer leadership and career courses, to provide the Soldiers with hands-on training in engineer support to defensive operations, focusing on engagement area development, according to Skomp.
The range is already being used by Engineer Basic Officer Leadership Course students in a limited fashion, “but full utilization will begin in October 2025, with the development and approval of its full integration into the Engineer BOLC Program of Instruction by the USAES Department of Instruction,” Skomp said.
This project is a joint effort between the 1st Engineer Brigade and 554th Eng. Bn, with support from the Air Force’s 368th Training Squadron.
“The 554th Eng. Bn. has taken the lead in executing the construction activities since we have the available resources and expertise in horizontal construction,” Skomp said.
According to Sgt. 1st Class Austin Gonzales, construction supervisor and section sergeant for the Quarry Support Platoon, Company A, 554th Eng. Bn., 19 dragon’s teeth, to be used for fortification training, were constructed in March. Airmen with the 368th Training Squadron assisted with the construction by pouring concrete into the dragon’s teeth mold.
“Dragon’s teeth are large metal or concrete tetrahedron, primarily used to construct obstacles that either block, turn or fix our enemy’s movements,” Gonzales said. “This allows us to shape the battlefield in a way that forces the enemy into our engagement areas and helps afford us the greatest possible advantage.”
The Quarry Support Platoon also placed “10 tons of blast rock into the base of the fighting positions to assist with drainage,” Gonzales said.
In the past, Range 27A served as a training area for warfighters to hone their skills in various types of munitions and demolitions, but according to Skomp, the future of the range is to provide a training area for platoon-level maneuvers, centered on setting up defensive obstacles.
As the Army moves toward the preparation for large scale combat operations, Skomp said engineers must be prepared to employ defensive operations to support maneuver commanders.
“Engineer lieutenants are expected to integrate their future platoons into a maneuver commander’s defensive plans and support with the placement of tactical and protective obstacles to support the desired effects on the enemy threat,” Skomp said.
The Engineer BOLC classes will serve as the maneuver commander’s task force to brief capabilities and limitations given the available resources and time constraints and will then plan the emplacement of separate obstacles to achieve the desired effects on enemy threats.
The emplacements will primarily be wire obstacles and training aid support minefields that warfighters will have to tie into existing obstacles, natural terrain and friendly fighting positions, in other words, some obstacles will be permanent fixtures of the range, and others will have to be constructed by Soldiers.
Col. Mark Glaspell, 1st Eng. Bde. commander, describes the newly remodeled range as a place where warfighters can “learn to read terrain, see obstacles in depth and what a series of personnel and vehicle fighting positions can look like.”
“Range 27A provides a venue to start the thought process and have those discussions while standing on the ground rather than in a classroom,” Glaspell said. “Students can develop their obstacle plan on a map and then go to 27A to see how that plan translates to actual terrain.”
According to Skomp, classes can use the range to support engineer obstacle reconnaissance missions as if they were planning for breaching operations against the current emplaced obstacles as a prelude to switching into occupy the defensive positions.
“It is a great opportunity for engineer lieutenants to serve as task force engineers in support of an established defensive position. It will force them to think about resource limitations, time constraints and available capabilities to meet the maneuver commander’s directed intent and allow them to apply critical thinking,” he said.
Between classes this summer, Skomp said additional improvements will add individual fighting positions, crew served weapon fighting positions and a mortar firing point.
While the range is being remodeled by engineers for engineers, Glaspell said ultimately the range’s versatility makes it ideal for other MSCoE units to use, such as the Military Police and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear schools.
He said several USAES courses, such as the Sapper Leader Course, have already shown interest in training there and he hopes to be able to incorporate some 12B, or combat engineer, advanced individual training field exercises on the range in the future.
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