Schofield sets stage for urban warfare

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry regiment, the "Wolfhounds," conduct simulated urban assault exercises at Schofield East Range. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — As tanks from the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division prowled through Baghdad yesterday, Sgt. Ryan Taniguchi practiced thousands of miles away for what might come next: checking buildings and houses for enemy soldiers and clearing them, room by room.

Three soldiers sighting down their rifles and protecting each other's backs move almost as one, racing from a two-story "apartment" to the back of the "Center Plaza" building at Schofield's urban training facility. Blank fire rings out in a back room, followed by the shout, "One, one alpha, one enemy killed in action!"

After the first room is cleared, another team enters, and another enemy falls through a second doorway.

Electronic sensors worn by at least one of the soldiers sings out — the sign of a near miss.

But there are no "casualties" for the unit of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, on two runs through the drill.

"Both times, we took out the enemy," said squad leader Taniguchi, of Kailua.

The 25-year-old soldier, who has been in the Army for seven years, is limited in what he can say about the progress made by the Army in Iraq.

"What I relate to right now — and I'll keep it this way — is I train my soldiers on what we're doing with the task at hand," he said.

But parallels are clear to the house-to-house checks that British soldiers have conducted in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, and which American troops are likely to encounter in Baghdad.

Sgt. 1st Class David Bass, a tactical advisor to the platoon leader, tells the soldiers to stay away from the windows after they've cleared a room.

"Keep that in mind — 360-degree security," he said. "When you come into a room, you own it. Now the threat is outside."

Bass, 31, who is from Georgia, said there's a lot to think about when it comes to urban warfare.

"The individual soldier, he's concentrating on keeping his weapon up and rotating the selector lever from safe to semi (fire) once he goes into a room, finding the enemy, engaging the enemy," he said. "He's concentrating on what he's being told by his team leader or his squad leader. He's nervous about what he might find on the other side of the room."

Lt. Col. Scott Leith, commander of the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry "Wolfhounds," said it's a series of steps that are taught, and infantry soldiers work on them over and over.

There are 18 concrete-block buildings, some intact, some partially in rubble, in the Military Operations on Urban Terrain, or MOUT, site.

Soldiers fire blanks and plastic bullets in the building complex, which includes a town hall, gas station, high school and a couple of hotels, and hold live-fire and grenade exercises elsewhere. Leith said the 27th Infantry Regiment is at the MOUT site for several days each month.

Also practiced is "target discrimination" — necessary in an urban environment where civilians may be present.

Soldiers have to look up, quickly differentiate between 4-inch-square colored targets in different shapes, and shoot the right one.

"It's quick reaction — get up, pop off a few rounds, and get back down," said 2nd Lt. Christopher Coviello. Other exercises are conducted at night with night vision goggles.

About 30 of Leith's soldiers are in the Middle East, part of a group of 80 replacement soldiers that deployed last month. About 18 soldiers from an earlier deployment from Schofield with chemical, armor and combat engineering specialties were with the 3rd Division as it raced toward Baghdad.

Asked how ready the Wolfhounds would be if assigned to go to Iraq as follow-on forces, Leith said "that would be a decision made a much higher level — but we're certainly prepared to go into any environment."

The last soldiers given orders to the Middle East from his unit had five days' notice, "so we're ready to go tomorrow if we need to go."

"The only thought I have after watching several of the newscasts is that urban warfare is tough but our technology doesn't go away when we hit the streets," Leith said. "The lasers and aiming devices they have, and their night observation devices, provide them an advantage in technology that's unequaled. We own the night — and we'll own the cities in the night also."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.