Army Scouts preparing for dangerous mission

DONA ANA BASE CAMP, N.M. — It’s the middle of the night on a gunnery range in the New Mexico desert, and soldiers with the 2-116th Cavalry Brigade are talking about what it really means to be an Army Scout.

“We’re the eyes and ears,” Spc. Tom Dobbs said. “We paint the picture.”

The Scouts were based at the Idaho National Guard armory in Hailey before being activated for an 18-month deployment that will include a one-year tour of Iraq.

They’re beginning their second month of combat training at Dona Ana Base Camp in New Mexico just west of the Texas border.

Scouts have one of the more dangerous missions.

“Our primary mission is to go out and find the enemy,” said Sgt. 1st Class Alan Layton, who was a Twin Falls County sheriff’s deputy before being deployed.

Scouts go out on the reconnaissance missions to make sure the roads are safe for convoys to travel. They set up listening and operations posts and escort convoys.

If there’s going to be trouble, they’ll likely encounter it first. And when there is enemy fire on a convoy, they mobilize as the Quick Response Force, getting to the scene of a confrontation in 15 minutes or less to lend a hand.

Commanders will have them check on the security in their soldiers’ quarters.

For instance, they’ll sneak into someone’s barracks or office and try to find information.

The Scouts aren’t above having some fun. There was the time they “misplaced” some of the medics’ cots.

Back when they were weekend warriors and out doing war games at the Gowen Field Training Area in Boise, they sneaked into the operations center of the Nevada National Guard members, who were playing the enemy, and lifted their flag. It is now proudly displayed at their armory in Hailey.

They call it their “Wall of Shame.”

“If we can sneak in and take your guidon (a small flag or pennant carried as a standard by a military unit), we beat your security,” Layton said.

Layton had 46 Scouts at the armory in Hailey, but when they deployed, 16 were moved to the infantry. He’ll take 30 Scouts to Iraq.

He’s not sure just what they’ll do once they get in-country, but there has been some talk that some Scouts will provide protection for the commander and major.

It will be a return trip for Dobbs, who was an Army Ranger in Desert Storm and remembered just where he was when the battle of Khafji broke out.

It was a rest day for the soldier, and Dobbs, wearing shorts, a T-shirt and flip-flops, was flipping burgers on the grill when the shooting started.

“I fought with my gun and my spatula,” he said with a laugh.

There’s a real closeness within the group. The Scouts stick together.

“This platoon is really tight,” Layton said. If one person is hurt, we’re all hurt.

And when they return from Iraq, they’ll be even closer.

“When you come back from the battlefield, he’s your brother,” Dobbs said.