Two dozen Iraqis stand outside a gate guarded by a single unit of the U.S. Army, shouting curses and making violent gestures. People from the mob need medical attention, and a CNN crew is capturing it all on video. \nAn Army unit scrambles to control the situation, trying to keep the chaos outside the gate at bay. The soldiers call for an interpreter, check the TV crew's credentials and begin treating the casualties.\nThe process doesn't go smoothly. No one searches the Iraqis brought through the gate for bombs, there aren't enough batteries for the radios and one soldier yells to the CNN crew that he likes Fox better.\n"Some of these people are out to get us. They've got to be searched," Sergeant First Class Lash Bailey tells his unit. He emphasizes that the injured civilians could have been armed with improvised explosive devices, which are responsible for many of the American casualties in Iraq. \nHe reminds his troops of the bigger picture. Though safety is always a top priority, the soldiers must find a balance between security and humanity. \n"They are people. We still need to take care of them. We're there to help these countries and these people. If we don't treat them and they die at your front gate, what's gonna happen?" Sgt. Bailey says. \nHe asks the soldiers what their job is.\nThe soldiers answer in unison, "Protect."\nFluid Training\nScenes such as these play out not in a Middle Eastern desert, but at Camp Atterbury near Edinburgh, Ind., and the soldiers, Iraqis and TV crew bundle themselves in coats and scarves against the cold.\nBoth National Guard and Army Reserve troops train at Camp Atterbury before deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, respectively.\nThe soldiers cannot predict what will happen overseas, but in the training field they can practice reacting to scenarios they might face in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Soldiers can make mistakes and learn from them, rather than erring in combat and getting hurt.\nOne key aspect of their training is scenario training. A federal contractor hires Iraqi and Afghan nationals to play roles in the scenarios, who in turn train locals from the Edinburgh area to participate in the simulation. The locals learn to shout phrases in Arabic, as well as how real civilians would react to certain situations in Iraq.\nThe training procedures themselves have been changed to fit the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.\n"The training matrix is fluid. It's always changing to meet the needs of the deployed," Lieutenant Joseph Mason said. "When I deployed two years ago at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, our training was geared toward (nuclear, biological and chemical warfare) defense. It's still an important part of our training, but it's not as important, as the perceived threat is not as high as it was when we first entered (Operation Iraqi Freedom)."\nArmy officials continually adjust training in response to the soldiers returning from tours of duty so that the same mistakes aren't repeated by the next units to be deployed. In this unit, the 926 Engineering Company from Huntsville, Ala., training the Monday after the Iraq elections, about 20 percent of the unit has already been on a tour of duty in Kuwait.\n"A lot of them have seen other mistakes that have happened to their unit or to them personally and said, 'Hey these are the kinds of things we need to look at. These are the kinds of things we need to prepare for,'" Mason said.\nThe Camp Atterbury Forward Operational Base is representative of the estimated 20,000 soldiers that have come through Atterbury in the past two years. As units come through, they use their own expertise, such as engineering, to make improvements to the facilities.\n"There's a little something there that makes the training facility that much better for the next unit, and that has just gone on and on and on," Sergeant Lesley Newport said.
An Obvious Choice\nCamp Atterbury opened in 1942 during World War II, and since the Korean War its 33,000 plus acres had been used only for weekend and annual training, until it was reactivated in Feb. 2003 to train soldiers headed to Iraq and Afghanistan. \n"The structures we needed to be successful at deploying soldiers were there. The infrastructure was there," Newport said.\nCamp Atterbury is well-suited to training reserve troops. \nCamp Atterbury's beginning as a National Guard and reserve installation lets it cater to the specific needs of non-active duty troops.\n"Atterbury tends to have a better perspective as to the needs of a reserve soldier," Lt. Mason said.\nThe base boasts the space and facilities to train troops for changing conditions. Atterbury has received a new $8 million battle simulation center and has made range improvements that transformed a large, muddy field into a camp paved with gravel.\n"This is awesome. I lived for a year in the middle of the desert in a place that was very, very similar to this. When we drove through the (Command Outpost) the first time, it was a very bizarre kind of homecoming ... It has that feel to it of a secure military compound," Mason said.\nThe improvements to Atterbury influenced its selection to be a major deployment training center, rather than the changes coming as a result of being activated.\n"Much like a citizen soldier is activated to go to war, Camp Atterbury was activated," Newport said.\nAlthough Newport said "there's probably 100 more (bases) across the country that could stand up and do the same good kind of job," Atterbury could soon become an even more equipped training facility. \nFormer Governor Joe Kernan turned an institutional home for children over to the National Guard to become a new urban warfare training center. The Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, located near Camp Atterbury, includes about 80 buildings, a power plant, school and church. Specifics, like how much money will go into the project and how many people it can train at once, have yet to be hammered out. \nIt will likely turn out to be a "first-class facility," said Newport. "There's nothing like it anywhere. It'd be a great place to train for just the kind of war we're fighting."\nAdapting to the environment\nNot all aspects of Camp Atterbury are ideal for the Alabama unit.\n"When we got mobilized, the first thing I did was try to figure out where in the world was Camp Atterbury, Indiana," Mason said. "The only complaint that I have is that we ask you to coordinate a little warmer weather for us Alabamians."\nThe 926 Eng. Company had no idea how to drive or walk in the snow, but the snow has provided unique training opportunities. \n"I've seen a couple snowballs chucked at one another," Mason said.\nNewport explained the significance of snowball fights. "Any time there's ammunition, you always want to take advantage of the training opportunity."\n-- Contact Assistant Opinion Editor Janet Hamilton at hamiltoj@indiana.edu
