Two Air-Ground Integration villages were validated by the 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division on Sept. 29, completing a process to develop the first AGI village at Fort Riley.
"The intent for today was to go out and actually stand in those villages and talk to the Scout Weapons Team on the radio and have them come in and engage the targets," said Warrant Officer 3 Norman Armstrong, a Kiowa pilot from 1-6 CAV.
Two villages were built on a range that was originally designed to support heavily armored vehicles, such as tanks. These villages are set up to allow ground troops to perform assault or occupy operations. During an occupy operations ground troops can call in aerial support against ground targets further down range.
"I can put any Soldier inside those villages and they can see targets downrange," Armstrong said, "and call those targets in and watch the rounds being delivered."
The AGI villages allow Soldiers to prepare for realistic operations they'll face on deployment while being able to remain at Fort Riley to train. This ability to train and support Soldiers at their home station was well supported during the development process.
The effort to validate the villages involved strong support from 1-6 CAV, Range Support, and the CAB, who worked together to complete the effort quickly and efficiently.
"You always think of bureaucracy when you're dealing with Army things, and there's been none of that here," Armstrong said. "Surprisingly, there was really no hiccups as far as getting this going."
Col. Mike Morgan, the CAB commander, showed his support at the range during the validation of the second village, in addition to the support he gave prior to the event. While at the second village he executed Close Combat Attack Call for Fire for the Scout Weapons Team who then engaged and eliminated the targets he designated.
"Range Support has been tremendous throughout this initiative," Morgan said after the validation was completed. "All of us co-op together to make these things happen so the ground and aviation forces have the most realistic training possible."
Moving the entire process from conception to completion culminated in the validation event. After constant communications via phone-calls, e-mails, power-point presentations, consistent changes, ordering the villages and construction, the range was finally ready.
"Finally you get to see the culmination of your work being put into effect today," Armstrong said.
Social Sharing