JRTC

Secretary of the Army, Dr. Francis J. Harvey, visited the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk Oct. 3. Escorted by Brig. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger, commanding general of JRTC and Fort Polk, Harvey was briefed on training operations at the JRTC, then flown into “the box” to observe situational training exercises conducted by units of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C.

As Soldiers entered the village of Mosalah, roleplayers dressed as civilians and Iraqi police harangued the convoy amid sniper fire, vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenade attacks. Harvey observed Soldiers caring for wounded civilians and Soldiers, assisting Iraqi police, towing a disabled vehicle and returning fire.

He said the training was relevant, realistic and a benefit to Soldiers.

“Fort Polk provides an excellent training experience -- very realistic. (The training) really prepares our Soldiers for what they will see and what goes on in both Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Harvey. “I can't tell you how impressed and assured I am when I visit a place like JRTC to see what type of training our Soldiers get. That is one of my prime responsibilities -- to ensure the training and equipment our Soldiers get is adequate for their mission.”

The 82nd is not infantry, but rather combat support. Harvey said this is an example of a training trend required to fight in current combat environments.

“We have adapted to the fact that this not a linear battle line, (but rather) a battle zone. Not only do our combat arms Soldiers get fired upon, but also our combat support, engineers, signal, quartermasters and medics. Everybody in the Army is now trained to defend themselves. This is a remarkable example of this Army adapting. Nobody adapts to their marketplace faster than the Army,” said Harvey. “JRTC is a living example of the adapting Army, an Army that has a dramatically different security environment and type of operations found in the 21st century versus the 20th century. We had linear battlefields, an enemy that wore a uniform, an enemy that you knew and that had a basic regard for human's rights and wouldn't kill innocent civilians in vast numbers. If you put all that together, it's (a credit to) the Army that they have adapted so well. Nobody trains better than the U.S. Army.”

Training non-combat arms units is an indication of Army transformation, which Harvey describes as an organizational transformation that takes the functionality of a division and incorporates it into brigades, specifically brigade combat teams.

“(A brigade combat team) is a stand alone, self-sufficient, standardized unit of between 3,500-4,000 Soldiers, and organized the way it operates. It comes in three types -- infantry, armor and Stryker,” Harvey explained. “When you go to Afghanistan or Iraq, there are large geographical distances between units. It's not like the old linear battlefield, so you need to have the autonomy of units, and that is exactly the characteristic that we have with these brigade combat eams. Having that autonomy and being able to operate in wide areas with limited logistics footprints and needs, makes us much more effective in this battle space.”

Harvey said the end goal is to have 42 brigade combat teams in the active Army and 28 in the Guard for a total of 70.

“At the end of this year, we had 36 of the 42 stood up on the active (side) and 16 out of the 28 in the Guard. When we say stood up, it means they are organized and in subsequent years they will be fully equipped. We are making great progress.”

During a recent trip to Afghanistan, Harvey said he had a chance to visit with and observe elements of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division in action.

“They are doing an outstanding job. They are doing an effective job of fighting the Taliban in the mountains, but they're also doing an excellent job on the nonkinetic side,” he said. “There is an engineer group assigned to the 4/10 that is building roads, including the so-called ring road that's going to connect all the major cities, and a number of side roads, which really wins over the population. The local villagers, elders and tribal leaders are all very grateful for that. One of the big projects they just finished was a bridge over the Peche River. A small boy came up to one of the Soldiers and said, through an interpreter, ‘my mother appreciates this bridge because she doesn't have to wade through the cold water every morning.' This is how you win over the local people and I think that slowly but surely we are making progress. The level of intensity for counterinsurgency is clearly up, but we are also making progress in reconstruction, stabilization and infrastructure efforts as emphasized by that bridge. What you have to demonstrate to the Afghan people is that they are going to be better off with a democracy and free-market economy, and they have to see that demonstrated in action.”

Harvey addressed another facet of the American military presence in Afghanistan -- one that recalls a sunny Tuesday morning in New York that changed the way America defends itself.

“Let's remember that just a couple of weeks ago, we recognized the five-year anniversary of 9-11. The Taliban was the group that provided the safe haven to Al-Qaida, the people that killed more than 3,000 Americans -- Americans that woke up one morning and went to work and were killed because they were Americans. Let's remember what the fight and what we're doing over there are all about.”

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

"History teaches that when you become indifferent and lose the will to fight someone who has the will to fight will take over." COLONEL BULL SIMONS

Army Secretary ‘impressed and assured’ after JRTC, New Orleans visit