Army Trainers to Become Fighters in Iraq

[Judi Lynn]

October 17, 2004


Army Trainers to Become Fighters in Iraq
The elite Black Horse Regiment, a California fixture for 10 years, will hand over its duties at Ft. Irwin to National Guard troops.

By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer


FT. IRWIN, Calif. — The Army calls it "The Box," a vast battleground in the heart of the inhospitable desert dotted with dusty villages marked up in Arabic graffiti declaring, "Saddam Hussein, the Great Arab."

But this desert is the Mojave, not the Iraqi. And it is where Army ground troops come to get a glimpse of future assignments in the Middle East.
For years, The Box has been a stage for the Army's elite "opposition force" — soldiers expert at assuming the roles of enemy fighters, be they the Taliban or Iraqi insurgents. Their mission is to toughen new soldiers with elaborate simulations — staging sniper fire, riots, suicide car bombings and potentially dangerous culture clashes.

Staging such scenes has long been the work of the fabled 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, or Black Horse Regiment. But starting next month, the 3,500-member unit will begin shipping out to Iraq from the Ft. Irwin National Training Center, near Barstow.
(snip)

"No one ever thought the Black Horse would be taken out of the National Training Center; they are just too valuable here," said Maj. John Clearwater. "But the Army is stretched too thin, and Iraq is a big mission."
(snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blackhorse17oct17,1,7470120.story?coll=la-home-local
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[eagler]

1. So I'm assuming it'll be the girl scouts who will eventually be used

to invade Iran or maybe they'll just use them for border patrol

[ogradda]

2. lmfao

you better watch that - some freeper might see your post and show it to rumsfeld...the way things are going he might like that idea.

[Divernan]

3. Bush is destroying the military infrastructure.

When all these elite troops are killed or maimed, he will just HAVE to reinstitute the draft - or privatize more of the military.

[scarletlib]

4. Rumsfeld and his neo-con crew are doing more to destroy the

military than any pacifist organization could ever hope to do in years of lobbying and legislation.

When he and his crew get out all that will be left is an empty broken shell. Oh we will still have weapons of mass destruction but not much else. He has broken the morale, the spirit and the infrastructure. It will take a long time to put it all back together again and depending on the country's financial status it may never get back to where it was.

[wolfgirl]

5. Duh....

of course they are trying to destroy the military infrastructure...it's been happening for years. They think all they need is a missile defense system and mini-nukes.

Besides, once the military figure out what Bush & Co are doing, if they are still on US soil, they just might revolt! As it is, if they are overseas, they can't doing anything here.

[UpInArms]

6. eating the seedcorn

News of the deployment surprised some Black Horse troops, whose families had set down roots in the community while believing they would never be sent into actual combat. It also hurt to learn that they would be replaced for at least a year by a National Guard unit with less than two months' experience as an opposition training force.

[Tansy_Gold]

7. You took the words right out of my fingers.

n/t

[oneighty]

8. Elite forces to be blooded

"Good luck" I say to them. Do not believe the myth that you cannot be harmed. Protect yourselves. Come back in one piece-alive.

180

[mbperrin]

9. "No one ever thought...."

just about sums up this whole Administration's approach to everything.

[PsN2Wind]

10. Everyone should have to go once

before the first troop has to go twice. How better to learn about simulating those damns "ragheads" than doing your turn at fighting them. After all "they are all volunteers".

[Ohio rules]

11. Actually, what better unit to go into Iraq

then one practicing in the desert for ten years teaching others how to fight in the desert.

otherwise its a case of that old saying;
"Those who can't, teach"

[PsN2Wind]

12. I agree

Also when the "safe units" start being deployed to unsafe areas it does help to focus the attention of them and their dependants on what is taking place in the real world.

[Rose Siding]

14. This decision alone will cost lives

Training here is already being cut and now they are cannabalizing the trainers. Poorly trained troops will be more likly to, not only get themselves killed, but others, including civilians.

[Rose Siding]

13. Major Clearwater has gone out on a limb with his critism.

Thank goodness for him. And he's right. The military took heat for sending the last training unit, and they were forced to respond. It made only marginal sense- that the Iraqis need training is one thing, but WHY not bring groups here, and train them to train?! (as opposed to training on a wartorn battlefield where they will become THE high-value targets)

[tlcandie]

15. They dun want

Muslims on sacred American ground. :shrug: