Mission: Assault on Ore Grande

The most memorable experience in Texas was the assault on Ore Grande village and our encounter with the OPFOR. This operation was the culmination of 9 days of MOUT training. Leadership extensively planned the operation and conducted a recon prior to the mission. The mission was to enter the village and capture an individual, and to confiscate weapon caches. The village was hostile and consisted of 18 barracks buildings in three rows that we had to search by platoon. Units that performed this mission before us tried coming through the main gate and had sustained mass casualties. Leadership developed and briefed a plan by which we would use our vehicles to breech the North wall of the compound by dropping ladders into the compound and exiting from the vehicles. To further mask our intent, the commander briefed everyone that we would enter from the North side. We purposely deceived everyone in order to achieve the element of surprise against the OPFOR (opposition forces). We left our camp at about 0200 in order to raid the compound before first light. Only key leaders knew of the deception, but the plan would be the same. We arrived and entered the compound unnoticed and cleared the first two rows of buildings in record time and unobserved. In the center of the compound was the marketplace. The marketplace was filled with civilian actors who play the part of Iraqi citizens. The role of the actors is to impede our progress. Our forces massed at the crossing point which was the third row of buildings. Once the commander got the word that all platoons were on line and ready to cross he gave the command for smoke. Smoke grenades from the three platoons were tossed into the marketplace and created a screen to mask our advance. At this point the civilian actors became visibly worried, many thought we threw CS Gas and panic arose. The codeword to charge across the danger area was "FIX BAYONETS". The entire company shouted fix bayonets in unison and charged across the marketplace through the smoke screen. The charge scattered the civilians who ran out the front gate in terror and cleared our path for the assault. The movement through the rest of the compound was a running battle with the OPFOR, but we had hit them on their flank and annihilated them quickly. As the company arrived at the other side of the compound we found one of our vehicles disabled by an OC. We exited over the fence with the remaining vehicles and set up cover fire as the remaining troops got out. Our company was one of very few that successfully took the village, unfortunately we did it so fast we had to do it twice, which we did successfully and even quicker the second time. These training operations are monitored and regulated by designated personnel known as the OC's (Observer/Controllers).

Clear a room training

Learning the fundamentals of clearing a room was a relatively new concept for the teams. Muzzle control was an issue during training though the teams generally did well.

MOUT Training

MOUT was great infantry tactics training where we learned to clear rooms and buildings in an urban environment. Teamwork is critical for success.

This is home sweet home in Dona Ana, A little crowded, but not too bad

Dona Ana

It is go time, I am with my unit now and we packing up our gear and leaving to go to a different training site: Dona Ana. While there we will continue to learn infantry tactics since our unit may be converted to motorized infantry instead of artillery. Nothing is set in stone however. We are practicing battle drills and developing SOP's while here. Plan is to conduct SRM training, Detainee Ops, React to Exploded and Unexploded Ordinance-UXO's. as well as react to contact, searching vehicles and buildings, and I am to learn information operations.