FORT IRWIN, Calif. -- Soldiers of A Company (Immortals), 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), were tasked with a new mission while participating in National Training Center Rotation 13-01 here.
Instead of the regular infantry tactical lanes that culminate in a force-on-force battle, the Immortals were charged with conducting decentralized operations while supporting 22 Security Force Assistance Teams, or SFATs, who mentored and coached Afghan police forces on planning, training and executing operations.
The SFATs in this case were teams of up to 20 men from 29th Brigade Combat Team, based in Hawaii, and 56th BCT, from Texas and Arizona, scheduled to deploy in October and November.
Once situated on the ground at Fort Irwin, the Immortals had less than 72 hours to link up with their respective SFAT elements, refine standard operating procedures and deploy to "The Box," the maneuver area of NTC that spans a mountainous desert region occupying more than 1,500 square kilometers.
Capt. Ryan David, A Company commander, remarked that covering an area that large presented a challenging set of problems.
"Our area of operations ran through two brigade footprints," he said. "That, combined with the sheer number of SFAT teams we were augmenting, required a lot of attention to detail to reach the right mix of Soldiers who would enable the SFATs to achieve their mission."
In order to provide security teams for so many SFATs spread over that large of an area, the Immortals had to rely on the proficiency and tactical ability of younger Soldiers to take charge of their sections.
"In some cases, we had specialists, corporals and sometimes privates in charge of a security section," David explained. "It required them to act independently, and they routinely stepped up to the plate to handle issues that are normally (handled) several pay grades above their actual rank."
These security teams augmented the SFAT forces as they conducted a wide variety of operations.
"We got really involved in the planning side of the operations," said Sgt. 1st Class Brian Hoy. "The SFATs helped the Afghan role players think out what it would take to execute the mission, assisted them in resourcing the required equipment, and then coached them through the rehearsals."
Their team was then able to successfully conduct key leader engagements, capture key enemy leaders, conduct mounted movements, and clear small towns and villages.
This training for all SFATs culminated in full-spectrum operations, where the teams and their simulated Afghan counterparts ran operations around the clock, while defending against improvised explosive devices, reacting to indirect fire, and repelling attacks against their forward operating bases.
Maj. Daniel Garcia, team leader for a 56th BCT SFAT element, said that A Company attachments were a great addition to the team.
"We have a good working relationship with A Company. With the help of our Immortal attachments, we could go out and influence the battlefield. Our SFAT has Soldiers from many backgrounds -- artillery, engineering and so on. A Company Soldiers were able to cross-train our Soldiers to hone their infantry skills."
Successfully concluding their time in "The Box," A Company returned to the assembly area here in high spirits.
"We came out of the field pretty motivated," said 1st Lt. Rick Gonzalez. "It gave my younger Soldiers the chance to train on some things outside of their normal routine. It also showed us where we need to continue to improve."
With the training the Immortals received during this rotation, they will continue to prepare and stand ready to deploy when called upon.
(Hunke serves as a fire support officer for 4-31 Infantry.)
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