Big lesson learned at Bright Star
exercise: Preparation makes perfect
By David Josar, Stars
and Stripes
David Josar / Stars and Stripes
Capt. Brain Merrick, a member of the 1st Infantry Division based in Wurzburg, prepares
Wednesday night to depart Egypt for Germany. |
MUBARAK MILITARY CITY, Egypt — The swirling sand, lack of trees and absence of any
ground vegetation was definitely unlike Germany.
For the 94 soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division in Würzburg, who spent the past
three weeks in the Egyptian desert during the Bright Star joint training mission, they
were reminded repeatedly of some of the things they would need to do the next time they
deployed to such an austere environment.
"It taught us some things we didn’t think about before," said Master
Sgt. Larry Lane, a spokesman for 1st ID troops in Europe. "It reminded us of the
reasons why we have to practice."
Usually when the 1st ID drills, it’s in a training area somewhere in Germany.
"If we forget something, we just hop in the truck and send someone back to get
it," said Capt. Brian Merrick, a support and services officer. "We realized here
we had to do a better job of planning … like we had to think of bringing water,
mosquito netting, getting a feel for being farther away."
The 1st ID soldiers from Germany who were selected to participate in Bright Star were
picked for their specialties. There were representatives from Signal Corps, military
intelligence and various headquarter elements.
The soldiers became an important part of running a command and control center in a
Bright Star exercise last week that required coordination with soldiers from France,
Egypt, Greece, Germany and the United Kingdom.
"What I saw was some of the best soldiering I’ve seen," said Gen. Mike
Combest, 1st ID assistant division commander for maneuvers. "They did very simple
things, very well."
Combest said much of the success of the training mission was the diligence demonstrated
by the noncommissioned officers.
"They gave excellent leadership in the basics," Combest said. "It was
nothing fancy, not gee-whiz, but just the basics."
Combest said the 1st ID has a reputation of training hard, and the soldiers’
success the past few weeks demonstrates that. "Our performance shows why that
reputation is accurate," he said.
Still, Lane said, most scenarios for which 1st ID soldiers in Germany prepare are
Europe-based.
"So for us to come here in a small group, and perform a command and control
operation in such a different country was a challenge for us," he said. "But we
pulled it off."
More than 50,000 troops from 10 countries have participated in Bright Star since it
began Oct. 8 in Egypt. The coalition forces have participated in joint training exercises
where they learned about each other’s weapons and tactics and then practiced working
together on a mission.
Run by the U.S. Central Command, Bright Star is CENTCOM's largest joint training
mission. About 23,000 U.S. troops from all services are participating.
Bright Star began in 1980 and has been held every other year since. More troops
participated this year than in any of the previous exercises.
Sgt. Robyn Pigman found Bright Star the most rewarding opportunity of her four-year
military enlistment.
"This honestly was the high point of my career," said Pigman, a member of the
101st Military Intelligence Battalion. "It was the best opportunity to use my Arabic
language skills. On a daily basis I just don’t have much of an opportunity to do
that."
Pigman is trained as an Arabic interpreter. During Bright Star she found herself
translating documents and messages in Arabic.
Sgt. Steven Pattie, who works on computer network encryption systems, said he realized
you couldn’t forget even one item, no matter how minor, when deployed in the desert.
His unit forgot to bring enough of keys needed to send and receive encrypted messages
over their computer network.
"If you were in Grafenwöhr or Hohenfels, you can just send someone back in a
truck [to Würzburg], but you can’t do that in the desert," he said.
Physician’s assistant Capt. Denis Robert, deputy division surgeon, agreed.
"It allowed us to see how difficult it can be in such an austere environment,"
he said.
If the unit forgot a crucial supply, troops were pretty much out of luck, he said.
"If we didn’t have it, you’d have to see if you could beg, borrow or
steal it," he said.
The desert wasn’t the only challenge for the soldiers from the 1st ID.
"This is a difficult environment but we also had to learn to get along with the
different cultures," Combest said. "And we did that very well too."
RELATED STORY:
"Brains of
the operation" squeezed into tight, deployable package
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