Combat Training Centers: Training at the edge of combat evolution

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - In-the-dirt, force-on-force rotations at U.S. Army Combat Training Centers replicate the multidomain experience. Everything from space, cyber, electronic warfare, unmanned aerial systems, counter UAS, direct and indirect fire, aviation, long-range artillery and more - all while maneuvering through real-world terrain and weather.

The U.S. Army’s CTCs will come together at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., Oct. 13, to share how CTCs rapidly incorporate lessons observed into lessons learned, and how they integrate emerging technology like sUAS, robotics, and electronic warfare into responsive scenario design.

CTCs are evolving with the changing character of warfare, and each training rotation and location provides U.S. forces with a crucible training event.

“We're applying lessons observed into lessons learned,” said Brig. Gen. Terry Tillis, commanding general, 7th Army Training Command. “We're taking current capability and innovation efforts and rapidly iterating on them, so we can increase the rate of learning for our rotational training units at the Combat Training Centers. We are doing this live on the replicated battlefield under force-on-force at scale conditions. There's not many places in the world you can do that. It's really the Combat Training Centers that allow us to do that.”

Representatives from 7ATC’s Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany; the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California; the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana; and U.S. Army Pacific’s Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center; will join together on stage during an AUSA Warriors Corner to discuss how multidomain CTCs are the Army’s primary venue to translate threat analysis into operational readiness while incorporating technological advances in an ever-changing battlefield.

“Our number one job at Combat Training Centers is to make sure that we don't make it easy on the rotational unit,” Tillis said. “We provide a crucible training event that hits them hard up front to increase rate of learning. We replicate the most challenging threat that they will face on the battlefield, iteration after iteration, to ensure that no Soldier or formation goes to combat untrained.”

CTC rotations are challenging crucibles for brigade-level collective training regardless of the type: airborne, mobile, armor, engineer or stryker. Formations may struggle in the initial phases of the exercises because it's the first time they’re maneuvering at scale, against a living and free-thinking opposing threat with overmatched capabilities that challenges them in every domain, while also synchronizing operations and combined arms, to achieve a tactical endstate: improve brigade-level mission essential tasks, and functional and foundational warfighting, lethality and readiness skills.

“We're in the dirt and we're learning tough lessons,” Tillis said. “The weather gets a vote, the terrain gets a vote, and you’re tired. It’s several days into a rotation when you're averaging two to three hours of sleep. It's two o'clock in the morning, and that drone comes buzzing right at you. Think about how hard that is. Think about that crucible training event for an individual, a young platoon leader, for every company, battalion, or the brigade commander; think of them fighting their way through that under constant observation and contact.”

During a CTC rotation, units need to task organize and plan their disposition of forces, increasing active and passive defensive measures, employing capability and enablers, to facilitate combined arms maneuver, in both defensive and offensive operations. Tillis adds that units then need think in layers, both vertically up from the ground but also forward of the front line of troops and all the way back through the rear.

“Combat Training Centers need to innovate quickly and to take the things we've learned from Ukraine, Africa and U.S. Central Command; to take all of it, put it together and create this realistic, multi-domain training environment, so we can train at scale.” Tillis said. “The only place you can do that is at a Combat Training Center, when you rapidly iterate in these types of crucible training events, to make sure that all of our units and our formations are prepared if we're asked to go into battle.”

CTC’s operationalize cutting-edge technology like ground robotics, sUAS, CUAS and more, putting it in the hands of Soldiers in the field and competing those skills against the opposing forces, who accelerate the multidomain threat within the challenging training environment. The OPFOR are the driving force in CTC experimentation.

“The OPFOR is going to come at the brigades from every direction. They're going to give everything that they’ve got,” Tillis said. “You've got to have a dedicated, opposing force that can continue to iterate to improve capability. These OPFOR, with the technology they have and the understanding of how to employ that technology, they're the game changers. They're the ones who make a difference at the Combat Training Center and enable the U.S. Army to accelerate and increase our rate of learning across the land force as we continue modernization efforts.”