PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — Battle staff of the Army’s aviation brigade in South Korea are readying for an exercise next week to test their ability to respond to the fast-breaking changes of warfare.

The 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, headquartered at Camp Humphreys, will take part in the exercise along with other elements of the 2nd Infantry Division. They will use methods and computer networks they’d rely on in wartime.

The Nov. 3 through Nov. 7 Warpath II is a command post exercise and will not involve masses of ground troops in field maneuvers, said Sgt. Maj. Robert Bousley, the brigade’s operations sergeant major.

"For example, for the division staff and the brigade staffs, we’re actually in our tents that have been fielded. So we’re almost like in a field environment, working with the systems we would normally be working in the field."

For the 2nd CAB, that’ll mean about 250 soldiers going through the command post battle drills at Camp Casey in Dongducheon, and at the Walker Center at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, Bousley said.

Brass at division headquarters will send through computer networks various mock battle situations and tasks to the division’s combat elements — tanks, artillery, helicopters and others, he said.

That will challenge their ability to use the networks and come up with the right responses, just as they’d have to in wartime.

"The main skills that are going to be honed are your staff integration and planning," he said

The 2nd CAB’s aircraft include Apache helicopters that can strike at enemy targets, Black Hawks that can ferry troops to and from battle and rush the wounded to medical stations, and Chinooks that can haul water, ammunition, supplies and equipment.

Earlier this month, in Warpath I, the 2nd CAB’s part of the overall scenario was to give aviation support to U.S. and a South Korean ground forces making a simulated river crossing, Bousley said.