Live-fire action caps Bright Star
exercise in Egypt for tank crews
Story and photos by David
Josar, Stars and Stripes
One of nine M1A2 tanks
that U.S. forces
used Wednesday as part of a mock battle between coalition forces during Bright Star, a
joint exercise between the United States and nine other countries. |
MONKAR AL WAHSH, Egypt — As Pfc. Dustin Avery steered his M1A2 Abrams tank through
the Egyptian desert, he finally discovered where his machine belonged.
"This was built for this," said Avery, who is one of 23,000 U.S. military
personnel participating in exercise Bright Star. "This is the best terrain for this.
We’ve never been able to drive like this before."
Avery, 18, had just completed the last live-fire training exercise of Bright Star on
Wednesday during the exercise designed to bring together U.S. forces with those from the
militaries of nine other countries.
For Avery, this was the first time he could test the limits of his tank, which has a
top speed of 41.5 miles per hour, outside his base at Fort Carson, Colo.
Avery’s gunner, Cpl. Ryan O’Donnell, 21, was equally impressed.
"Everything went great. We couldn’t have done anything like this back
home," said O’Donnell, who also is from Fort Carson.
U.S. M1A2 tanks take aim
and move. |
That’s one of the purposes of the exercise, which began Oct. 8 and brings together
more than 50,000 soldiers.
"What’s important is we have all these different countries working together.
They are getting over their language barriers and learning how to fight together, if that
time comes," said Sgt. 1st Class Scott Lawrence, spokesman for the exercise that is
coordinated by the U.S. Central Command.
For more than an hour Wednesday afternoon, military units from the United States,
Greece, Kuwait, Egypt and Italy staged a mock battle to test their skills, which were
honed over the past several weeks.
Other countries participating in Bright Star include Spain, Jordan, Germany, the United
Kingdom and France.
At first the different militaries trained together on the various ranges and
familiarized themselves with each other’s equipment. Beginning this week, they
drilled on specific tactical exercises, and on Wednesday, they brought everything
together.
Tank driver Pfc. Dustin
Avery, left, and gunner Cpl. Ryan O’Donnell. |
"It’s a lot like game day," Lawrence said, with the units having
practiced different skills and rehearsed different plays.
Lt. Col. Bonnie Hebert, another Bright Star spokeswoman, said there was "minimum
risk" in the live-fire exercise that featured artillery blasts, the shooting down of
a drone plane, tank charges, and air attacks from Apache and Gazelle helicopters.
The battlefield was a two-kilometer-by-two-kilometer zone in the middle of the desert.
More than 100 dignitaries from participating militaries watched the choreographed
scenario from a covered review stand that protected them from the blinding sun. In front
of them, tanks stretched in across a one-kilometer line. Attack helicopters covered the
battle group’s flanks as a pair of Egyptian F-16s flew overhead to start the
exercise.
Gen. Tommy Franks, CENTCOM’s commanding general, watched briefly through
binoculars, but left midway through the exercise in a convoy of Black Hawk helicopters.
The U.S. tank crews trained in Egypt for the past three weeks, 2nd Lt. Dave Childress
said.
"Everyone got along and everything went smoothly," he said after the mock
battle.
Other U.S. troops manned Bradleys and 155 mm howitzers.
Periodically, military personnel who watched erupted with spontaneous applause.
An Egyptian helicopter
takes off after completing its role in a joint live-fire training exercise. |
The afternoon’s game plan was fairly simple. Under control and command of Egyptian
forces, soldiers attacked. They attacked with helicopters, tanks, artillery and pounded
the enemy until it retreated or was destroyed.
The line of tanks, about a half-kilometer in front of the reviewing stand, fired
repeatedly at wooden targets in the desert. The gunners quickly found their marks and left
billowing black smoke in its place.
Still, there were lengthy lulls in the attack as forces communicated their intentions
with one another and prepared for the next scripted maneuver.
Attack helicopters flew in low over a ridge in the desert and took out more mock
targets.
About 500 soldiers participated in the exercise, while more than 1,000 others supported
it.
The first Bright Star was held in 1980 after Egypt signed the 1979 Camp David Peace
Accord, a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. It has been held every two years since
then and is the largest Central Command exercise.
Next week, Bright Star ends after the coalition tries to solve several
computer-generated battle simulations.
Staff Sgt. James Patrick, who commanded one of the tanks in the mock battle, said
Bright Star gave his soldiers a good learning opportunity.
"This was very much like a real battle," Patrick said. "We had to deal
with the heat and the terrain and the conditions that are very like those of actual
combat."
Although no plans have been announced to redeploy any of the U.S. troops involved in
Bright Star to support the war on terrorism, Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, commanding
general of the 3rd U.S. Army, said that could happen.
Patrick said his troops would be ready to go. The 3rd Army is the Army portion Central
Command.
"Today we showed that the [United States] is prepared to go into battle by itself
or with a coalition force, and we can be very effective," Patrick said. "We are
extremely ready if we need to go. In my mind, we’re ready."
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