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UDAIRI RANGE, Kuwait, December 20, 2005 - Before heading north for their year-long deployment to Iraq, units will first get a good taste of what is to come from the training they receive at the Udairi Range. The 1st Platoon "Warlocks" from C Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment were one of the first units to train on the newly constructed dismount exercise lane at Udairi. The unit's training consisted of a day reconnaissance and a night ambush mission in and around a simulated built-up town filled with an abundance of buildings, bridges, vehicles and third-country national role players. "While on security patrol in the populated area, the unit focuses on various threats and aspects of the improvised explosive device system," said LTC Christopher Ballard, chief of training for Coalition Forces Land Component Command C-3. The morning began with an operation order, in which the combat arms unit went over movement techniques, enemy prisoner-of-war searches, communication, signals and a map analysis of previous actions in the area of operations. The platoon then broke down to the squad level to further discuss the mission and rehearse each member's role before regrouping to head out to the starting point. During the day recon mission, soldiers successfully identified various insurgents and captured an EPW after they were attacked by hostile fire and IED explosions. Only suffering one casualty, the evacuation team carried the injured soldier to the designated medical evacuation point, EPWs were searched, and information was gathered. "You've got to put your head in the game and keep an eye on your team when you're out there," said PVT Danny Purcell, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry M249 gunner. After speaking to local officials and a final recon of the area, the platoon regrouped to discuss the night ambush operation. After conducting a second operation order and rehearsals, the unit moved out to the area of operation. The unit quietly maneuvered to strategic vantage points to keep an eye on the town and surrounding areas and waited for unusual activity or a hostile act to occur. They successfully stopped the emplacement of an IED on the side of the road and the loading of IEDs in a vehicle. After each major scenario, observer controllers held a quick after-action review to gain instant feedback and after the mission was complete a final review was conducted to give and receive feedback from both sides on what they viewed during the training. The unit constantly conducted training at Fort Campbell and at the various training centers in preparation to deploy, but SFC Mark Dodge, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry platoon sergeant, said this training is a lot better because it directly gets its tactics, techniques and procedures and programs of instruction from up north on a frequent basis. "Going from training in woods to desert is a different fight. It's going to reinforce what we've already learned," Dodge said. "Hopefully every unit gets the opportunity to do this. If not, they are missing some good training." Since the unit is a well-trained combat arms unit, the Coalition Forces Land Component Command's training division will be able to get feedback from them to further improve and modify the training. "We just started training on this lane last week, so
it is a work in progress," Ballard said. "In a dynamic
environment our training is constantly modified, so this is a
learning experience for all of us." (11th Public Affairs Detachment) 
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