[ WAR IN IRAQ ]

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DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Ground troops from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, observed airstrikes and an artillery barrage yesterday on the cinder cone in the background.

Soldiers train
on Big Island in
live-ammo exercise

The wide, dusty acres at
Pohakuloa present a realistic
setting for coordinated combat

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

POHAKULOA, Hawaii >> Soldiers from Schofield Barracks attacked "enemy" positions in the desolate volcanic terrain of the Big Island yesterday in a live-fire exercise.

Army Capt. David Bresser, personnel officer for the 25th Aviation Brigade, said what the soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division were doing during a portion of a nearly month-long exercise is no different that what is happening in Iraq today.

"What they do here," said Bresser, a 1995 West Point graduate, "is exactly what the 101st Airborne Division is now doing in Iraq. We use the same type of aircraft. We have the same type of missions. We train to the same standards."

Lt. Col. Mike McMahon, the 25th Aviation Brigade's executive officer, offered a similar assessment as he viewed yesterday's massive display of firepower ranging from soldiers firing live rounds from their M-4 carbines to rockets being launched from OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters and from the top of Humvees.

"The terrain here," said McMahon as he stood on an observation post at the 6,500-foot level at the expansive 108,975-acre Pohakuloa Training Area, "is similar to what we fought on in Afghanistan or any other place we may have to fight."

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM A fire-support position atop a small hill provided suppression fire during an assault on a bunker.

In the blinding whirlwind of fine reddish volcanic dust kicked up by three UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, 33 soldiers of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, hug the earth, waiting for the choppers to leave.

Command Sgt. Maj. Arthur Coleman, the battalion's chief noncommissioned officer, said, "The job of these soldiers is to get out of the helicopters and move to their positions as quickly as possible."

That is because within 10 minutes another "serial," or flight, of three Black Hawks carrying 33 more soldiers hit the same LZ, or landing zone, followed by a third wave of 28 soldiers riding in several CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

"We want this terrain," Coleman said. "We want it bad. We want it today."

Since March 23, more than 1,200 soldiers from the 25th have been participating in a combined live arms fire exercise called "Wings of Fury."

McMahon said the point of this type of training is "to give the soldiers a realistic picture of what the battlefield will look and feel like."

The massive firepower of the 25th Division's artillery and helicopter gunships was unleashed yesterday, backed up by six A-10 Thunderbolt tank killer airplanes and Humvee mounted rockets.

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Soldiers from the company were inserted into the battlefield by Black Hawk helicopter.

The Air Force A-10 "Warthogs" are an important part of the military's arsenal in the current Iraqi war.

The "battlefield," which included a series of trenches to represent bunkers held by enemy soldiers, were first hit by artillery fire and then by Kiowa helicopters and Warthogs.

Then the soldiers of Bravo Company were flown in on Black Hawks. Their objective was to take out the bunker complex with grenades and hand-to-hand fighting, if necessary.

While a squad of soldiers using live ammunition laid down a barrage of heavy machine gun fire from nearby high ground to keep the enemy from reinforcing the "bunkers," members of Bravo Company made their way to the first obstacle, a concertina wire fence. Combat engineers were summoned to use bangalore torpedoes to blast a hole in the wire.

Once that was completed, the engineers used white tape to mark a safe lane of passage for the soldiers of Company B to follow.

Squads of seven soldiers at a time then entered the trench system working their way, "clearing each room by using live hand grenades."

McMahon said this was the first combined live ammunition exercise for the 25th in two years.

The only places where live ammunition is used on Oahu are at Makua Military Reservation and Schofield Barracks, but only on a limited basis and without the full battlefield effect with missiles, rockets and the use of air power.

Staff Sgt. Ricky Salinas, a squad leader, also believes these combined arms exercises make a difference.

"It's in a bigger play zone," said Salinas, an eight-year Army veteran. "We can get everyone involved. It's different than regular training. Here you are using live rounds. Your blood gets pumping. There is even a difference in the sound a live round makes compared to blank ammo."

Before the soldiers leave the volcanic ash of PTA on April 17, they will go through the same scenario several more times, also doing several cycles at night.

"I think in the end," McMahon said, "the soldier will finally see realism. He will feel comfortable when he actually has to engage the enemy because he knows what other assets we have in front of him which are also taking on the enemy."

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