Islander helping Army test technology in desert The first day on the job was a brutal one for Manuel Garcia. Sent to one of the most desolate stretches of California’s Mojave Desert, the Army staff sergeant found himself in the
Islander helping Army test technology in desert
The first day on the job was a brutal one for Manuel Garcia.
Sent to one of the most desolate stretches of California’s Mojave Desert, the Army staff sergeant found himself in the middle of a blinding sand storm with 60 mile-an-hour winds.
But for Garcia, a 1981 Waimea High School graduate and son of Bernardo and Josefina Garcia of Kekaha, the horrendous conditions fit in perfectly with the game plan.
Garcia was part of a 7,000-soldier force from the 4th Infantry Division of Fort Hood, Texas who traveled to the Army’s National Training Center, armed with digital technology that has completely changed the face of battlefields for the Army.
Going digital gives Garcia and his fellow soldiers an unprecedented look at the battlefield, allowing everyone – from field commanders to individual foot soldiers – to know where they are, where their buddies are and where the enemy is located. Just about every combat vehicle is outfitted with the digital system.
Garcia and his digital division brought numerous weapon systems hot off the experimental drawing board. In addition to what amounts to a tactical Internet in each vehicle, other advances include an infantry fighting vehicle equipped with air defense missiles, a self-propelled howitzer that can compute data and fire on the run, and a state-of-the-art engineer vehicle called the Grizzly that practically makes minefields and wire entanglements a simple nuisance.
Tanks, personnel carriers and attack helicopters are also equipped with the new digital packages.
The road for the Army’s version of digital warfare has been long: More than six years of testing, experimentation, classroom work and countless field training exercises to perfect the technology and get soldiers completely trained on the new equipment.
The desert “battlefield” for what has been called the largest exercise in the history of the National Training Center is an area nicknamed the “box,” a 350,000-acre playing field the size of Rhode Island that contains some of the most isolated and rugged terrain in the U.S.
In an area so desolate that only coyotes and rattlers are considered inhabitants, Garcia and his fellow soldiers are making history with new ways to fight on the battlefield, officials said.
Garcia’s unit tested the technology against soldiers from Fort Irwin who dressed in former Soviet Union-style uniforms. Dubbed OPFOR (Opposing Forces), they are hand-picked by the Army and comprise some of the best infantrymen, tankers and field artillerymen anywhere, Army officials said.
The “enemy” and “friendly” forces alike are equipped with sophisticated laser-sensitive gear that sounds an alarm when hit by the other side, providing a sense of realism to the training.
The training “is about as realistic as you can get. We’re testing our new equipment against an opposing force that is the best in the business,” said Garcia, a platoon sergeant with the 62nd Quartermaster Company.
“We had several field problems before coming here and spent a lot of time preparing our equipment for this exercise,” he said.
Rich Lamance writes for Army and Air Force News Service.
