Fort Lewis brigade to return to Iraq

OLYMPIA – Soldiers from the Army’s first Stryker Brigade Combat Team are in the midst of their last major training exercise as they prepare for a second tour in Iraq.

They arrived at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., in the Mojave Desert earlier this month and are scheduled to head to Iraq in June.

“We’ve been so run ragged out here. It’s actually less stressful for us in Iraq, believe it or not,” Sgt. Hans Crawford, 20, of Olympia, told the Olympian newspaper after awakening from a few hours of sleep atop a ridge where his unit set up several communications towers.

The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based in Fort Lewis, Wash., is preparing to replace the 172nd Stryker Brigade of Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Lessons learned from the escalating insurgency are scripted into training scenarios, part of the Army’s effort to make the the 1,100-square-mile training center as realistic as possible.

A dozen mock Iraqi towns have been built. About 500 Nevada National Guard unit members and about 250 Iraqi nationals recruited from immigrant communities in Southern California play the roles of restive townfolk and insurgents.

Mortar fire keeps soldiers awake at night. Stragglers are taken hostage in the underground tunnel systems. Suicide bombers strike from any direction.

Laser systems are fitted to soldiers’ rifles and body armor. Sensors beep when a soldier has been shot or killed.

During the first five days of the training exercises, troops saw continuous fighting with mock insurgents, who had seized control of several towns.

The experiences are designed to simulate the worst possible scenarios encountered in Iraq, said Maj. John Clearwater of the National Training Center’s public affairs office.

“We stretch the unit out to the breaking point in two weeks,” he told the Olympian.

The brigade is expected to finish training early next month.