101st leaders attend Subterranean Training

Leaders from across the 101st Airborne Division attended aSubterranean Training course hosted by the Fort Benning Maneuver Center ofExcellence (MCoE) throughout the month of July on Fort Campbell.

The Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army has directed that theArmy take a look at dense urban environments and dense urban terrainspecifically, as it builds readiness to respond to contingency operations inany location around the world.

The MCoE teams explained how they analyze all aspects ofthis environment within megacities to include subterranean systems. Thesubterranean operational environment, which dates as far back as the AmericanCivil War, continues to be one that is complex and can create significantchallenges for today's soldier.

"We are here to make sure the leaders know how tooperate in those subterranean environments," said Capt. Grant Raber,Subterranean Mobile Training Team Operations Officer. "The Army is tryingto be proactive with starting the training now."

The MCoE sent teams of experts to instruct each 101st Abn.Div. Brigade Combat Team during a week of one on one training. Each week beganwith classroom instruction, as leaders had the opportunity to learn how toproperly maneuver a subterranean environment.

The week continued with hands-on training and small unitmovements in Fort Campbell's training areas. On Friday, the last training day,leaders conducted a culminating company-wide exercise.

Before the hands-on portion, senior leaders were given theopportunity to attend the alpha course. There they learned the doctrine ofsubterranean warfighting.

"I attended the Alpha course, which is designed forcompany commanders and up. At that course we learned the doctrine ofsubterranean warfare and we learned how to plan for these environments,"said Capt. Charles Bird, commander, A Company, 2nd Battalion 506th InfantryRegiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. "This course[Bravo] is between commanders down to squad leader, it's designed for theclearance of the Sub-T environment."

According to U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, thefuture operating environment is becoming more and more complex every day. Givenpopulation trends, future adversaries are expected to operate in dense urbanterrain. Dense urban terrains are characterized by dense populations andclosely packed infrastructure, which could include subterranean features.Training soldiers for this environment and providing them with the right mix ofcapabilities is essential to success on future battlefields.

The MCOE training teams covered some of the environments andobstacles U.S. forces are likely to encounter, such as an adversary seeking toexploit the subterranean domain through use of water, sewage, telephone, andother utility infrastructure to maneuver beneath a city.

"The instructors really did a good job setting up thetraining area to look like what it would look like while operatingunderground," said Bird. "Now that we [the leaders] have thistraining, we have to go back to the unit and train the soldiers to feelcomfortable operating in these environments."