“Take cover” 341st MP Company attacks’ Fort Ord

“Enemy right! Take cover!” shouted a U.S. soldier as he and his unit took fire from a nearby building on a street in Kandahar.

No, this isn’t actually Afghanistan. The location is the Fort Ord MOUT Training Center in Monterey, California. But to the Army Reserve’s 341st Military Police (MP) Company, it was a haven for enemy activity.

The San Jose, Ca.-based 341st deployed to the MOUT site, known also as ‘Impossible City’, to participate in a search-an-cordon training exercise and sharpen their skills in operating and reacting in a hostile urban environment. In their scenairo: an estimated 100 Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, including high-ranking leaders, are hiding out in the city of Kandahar amongst the civilian population. Their mission is to locate and apprehend these fighters.

Urban Warfare

Featuring a small city mock-up, replete with multi-story concrete buildings, narrow alleyways and vegetated surroundings, the MOUT site’s physical terrain ofered an ideal setting for the 341st to practice small-unit tactics and urban combat techniques.

Opposing forces – comprised of role-players in local attire – fully exploited the landscape’s cover and concealment features and their ability to blend in with the local populace to aggress their US counterparts.

MP units conducting patrols throughout the city and contryside encountered snipers in buildings, direct fire from corwded streets, road ambushes and even unruly crowds that may or may not have been harborning ‘suicide bombers’ in their midst.

Rooting out enemy fighters within the city often called for house-to-house searches.

Those who witnessed the 341st methodically clearing buildings room by room, floor by floor, while facing armed resistance in enclosed spaces, saw firsthand the potential dangers of such assaults.

“One could appreciate the difficulty of searching homes in a possible hostile environmental,” stated Sgt. Sean Clipperton, a Nevada-based Army Guardsman with Detachment 1, 69th Press Camp Headquarters, who was shooting video footage of the exercise.

“The MOUT city gave the particpating soldiers an authentic taste of what it will be like to go house to house in any real-life mission,” Clipperton said.

Realistic Training

MILES gear was issued to everyone, including non-combatants, to more accurately access the effects of hostile engagements in cramped, heavily populated urban areas. MPs under attack, in addition to defending themselves, were obligated to the best of their ability to protect civilians caught in the crossfires, a situation opposing forces exploited by using by standers as human shields during engagements.

Soldiers were sometimes given only scant intelligence with with which to carry out their assignments, all part of the exercise scenario to introduce the sort of uncertainties and confusion that occur during actual ground operations. Even with the help of assigned ‘translators’ to question locals and collect information on enemy whereabouts, MPs discovered that distinguishing between enemy troops and armed civilians was not always easy.

Many in the 341st appreciated the attention to detail and organization given to the simulated battlefield conditions.

“I’ve been in about four or five of these exercises during my time in the military,” said Sgt. 1st Class Sanele Tamiano, “and this one is by far the most realistic.”

Throughout the exercise, the actions of the 341st were scrutinized; evaluators occasionally stopped soldiers in mid-cycle and rattled quick-fire questions at them to test their responses and decision-making abilities under duress.

A Different World

Besides refining their urban tactical skills, the 341st gained practical experience on the complexities of operating in a Middle Eastern environment — where soldiers do not speak the language; may not be fully aware of local etiquette and customs; and may have little understanding of religious taboos. In this type of operational setting, soldiers must exercise a higher degree of care and patience in their interactions with local people.

The 341st, in one instance, stopped a group of civilians that included a woman, for questioning. Although male translators were available in the vicinity, a female translator was summoned instead to talk to the woman.

Male soldiers standing nearby made every effort not to stare or look directly at the Muslim woman while she was being questioned. In a culture where even a casual glance at a woman by a man who is not a relative or family member could be taken as an affront, the MPs knew that utmost diplomacy was required.

From this and other situations during the exercise, the 341st learned that being mindful of local sensibilities could be just as important as being tactically proficient.

“In a real situation, the MPs will need to be culturally-sensitive to stay out of harm’s way,” said Sgt. Christopher Bess, who played a disabled Muslim cleric during the exercise.

About 15,000 Army Reserve personnel currently serve in support of Operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. As America’s worldwide campaign against terrorism widens and draws upon more soldiers from all components of the Army — active, Reserve, Guard, the men and women of the 341st are fully aware they may one day be called upon to apply their MOUT training in a real-world mission.

While they received generally high marks for their performance during the exercise, the soldiers of the 341st knew that their survival and effectiveness in a combat Situation would rely heavily on their maintaining a high level of constant readiness and tactical proficiency.

“I think we did pretty well,” said S Bess, “but we can always improve. The more we do it, the better we get.”

Henry SGT Kwan