U.S. Army Chaplain (Capt.) Iraheem Raheem of the 127th Aviation Support Battalion, left, plays the role of a Muslim religious leader with Chaplain (Col.) Charles Bailey, with Combined Joint Task Force 76, Monday during the Southern European Task Force’s training exercise at Grafenwöhr Training Area. (Ray-John Ramos / Courtesy of U.S. Army)
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — The command staffs from the Southern European Task Force and supporting units that will deploy to Afghanistan early next year will do so with some realistic, high-tech training under their belts.
The command staffs and some soldiers from the units that will comprise Combined Joint Task Force 76 went through several computer-simulated scenarios related to the country’s provincial elections slated for next year.
The weeklong exercise at Grafenwöhr Training Area, which ended Tuesday, simulated 10 days in Afghanistan, according to Staff Sgt. Rick Scavetta, a task force spokesman.
“[The scenarios] involve enemy movement designed to disrupt our operations,” said Capt. Raymond Mattox, plans officer for the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. The brigade, along with two rotating battalions of Marines, make up Task Force Devil and will augment SETAF for Combined Joint Task Force 76, Mattox said.
“We have to figure out what we want to do and what the enemy will do to try to stop us,” Mattox said.
The exercise also included several role-playing reporters, and exercise participants had to conduct press conferences and interviews as if the simulated events happening on their computer screens were real.
“Our primary focus is to make sure we set up the Afghanistan people for success,” said 1st Brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Capel. Although his remarks were related to the scenarios in the exercise, they also were fitting to what the task force hopes to accomplish in Afghanistan.
The Afghans “will be the ones raising the Afghanistan flag and saying: ‘This is my country,’ ” he said.
The tempo of the exercise scenarios was designed to be significantly more intense than the tempo of real-world events in Afghanistan likely would be.
“There is no part of this headquarters sitting back wondering when something is going to happen to them,” said Brig. Gen. John Sterling, the task force deputy commander.
“[U.S. Army Europe and the 7th Army Training Command] have done a great job of putting together all the people and things needed to provide us realistic training.”
Although the scenarios are simulated with some physical interaction with role players, Sterling said the exercise makes the staff members think about how they would handle such situations if they were to come up in the Afghanistan rotation next year.
“We are getting exposed to these challenges here, so we don’t have to face them for the first time downrange,” Sterling said.
“After this training is over, we will definitely feel like we have been in Afghanistan for at least a week,” task force Command Sgt. Maj. Iuniasolua Savusa said on Monday.
Soldiers currently deployed to Afghanistan went to Grafenwöhr to share their real-world experiences.
“This [exercise] is win-win for everybody,” said Lt. Col. Steve Tableman, chief of Civil Military Operations for CJTF-76. He deployed to Afghanistan in August with the 360th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) based at Fort Jackson, S.C.
“We are sharing the lessons learned from the soldiers who are already downrange, and there is also an exchange of good ideas from SETAF that we can take back with us.”
