Fort Devens Imitates Iraq - ROTC Trains Cadets With Realistic War Scenarios

The Daily Collegian - 5/30/07

"Sir, put the weapon down! You need to put the weapon down!" the soldier commands an Iraqi farmer's son. The father and son, driving back to their farm, were stopped at a roadside checkpoint to have their identification checked and undergo routine questioning. After calling in their IDs, the Iraqis were found to be using stolen military IDs and carrying an improvised explosive device (IED).

This is a routine day of training for the University of Massachusetts' Army ROTC.

The training takes place at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. One weekend a semester the Army ROTC helps train freshmen and sophomores while assessing juniors before their Leadership Development Assessment Course (LDAC). The LDAC is the Army ROTC's way to recognize talent and test leadership skills.

Training consists of different scenarios in each lane, or area, where it takes place. Some scenarios include a civilian presence on the battlefield, raiding a bunker and reacting to an IED. Each scenario lasts around two hours.

One scenario instructed cadets to set up a roadblock similar to what they might see in Iraq. Before actually constructing it, the cadets surveyed the area for good vantage points and planned what course of action to take.

By use of a crude string-and-dirt map, the cadets decided how to set up the barricades - where each person should be and what each person's job is. After they finished, the squad dispersed around the area. Some cadets found covered positions overlooking the road while others set up the checkpoint, using their rucksacks as jersey barriers.

The checkpoint was set up, two lines of rucksacks to stop vehicles and cadets waiting for someone to pass through. Soon, after giving the go-ahead signal, a white van pulled up with two men in it.

Two cadets instructed the driver to take the keys out of the ignition and asked the men - a local farmer and his son - for identification. The driver readily gave up his and instructed his son to do the same. After debating loudly with his father in Arabic, the son finally threw his ID out the window.

While the ID check cleared, the cadets ordered the father and son to exit the vehicle for a routine search. With the father about 20 feet away from the car, the son shouted in Arabic and waved his M16 in the air angrily. The cadets knew to be careful and quickly brought him to the ground and wrestled the gun away from him.

Meanwhile, the father, while being searched for weapons or contraband, chastised the cadets for giving him orders in his own country. After searching, the cadets ended up with a click pen, a cell phone, a standard knife and some papers. Father and son were cleared and free to go to their farm.

A debriefing followed the completion of the scenario. The cadets were given their assesments. These troops are not expected to know everything now, but rather to learn what to do and how to appropriately respond to situations they might encounter on the battlefield.

While troop placement and reaction were well done, the squad had three glaring errors in their approach. First, the setup of the jersey barriers left room for a vehicle to reverse or go forward through the checkpoint. In order to remedy this, the cadets abandoned the double barrier approach for a more secure layout. Now, rucksacks are arranged in three lines with a space for the vehicle to pull in to. Once in the designated space, a vehicle barely has any room to drive forward or backward without ramming into a barrier.

The second problem was in not confiscating the farmer's cell phone and click pen. Those two items, the cadets were told, are often used to set off an IED and should not be within reach of a possible enemy combatant until the vehicle is cleared.

The third error, pointed out by the farmer while being searched, is harder to remedy. The mistake the cadets made was not treating the Iraqi farmer and his son with enough respect. They were instructed to make conversation with civilians and see if everything makes sense in their story. Also, the cadets were told to try and not give orders or force civilians to do anything. By excessively dominating a civilian, a soldier might unintentionally make a once neutral person a hostile threat.

After debriefing, the cadets prepared themselves for another run-through of a checkpoint scenario. They changed the barrier, got into position and waited for the next vehicle to come to the checkpoint.

As the van pulled up, two cadets approached and asked for identification. This time they had a friendly but reserved attitude to the Iraqi farmer and his son. The feeling was reciprocated, and everything seemed to be going fine until the ID check came back. The Iraqi men had tried to pass stolen military IDs as their own.

The cadets politely asked the men to step out of the vehicle for a routine check, not letting them know their ID had been spotted as fake. The farmer and son were brought to separate areas and searched while the cadets searched the van for an IED, papers or anything else illegal or suspicious.

The farmer had nothing on him besides the cell phone, knife and click pen but became angry when restrained and argumentative. The son, once again, refused to give up his weapon and tried to fight the cadets for it. They subdued him, immediately flex-cuffed him and brought him to a holding area. The only thing they had left to do was search the car.

Inside they found everyday items: tools, rucksacks, some clothes, maps and a circular piece of plastic. The maps were taken back, but everything else was left in the van. The training ended and debriefing followed.

Although the cadets fixed their previous errors, they missed one thing this time - the circular piece of plastic. About the size and shape of an old carburetor, this plastic models a mine commonly used as the explosive in an IED. Although this IED was missing a detonator, the men could have been transporting it for an attack at another military base or checkpoint or just as a roadside bomb.

The cadets will learn from their mistake and not make it in the future. Every day, these cadets move closer and closer to being relatively mistake-free or at least learning what their mistakes can lead to. During training, mistakes can be made and remedied.

In two hours, the cadets have learned skills that will stay with them in their every day life and help keep them alive in a combat zone.