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LEGO WARS
Army’s new state-of-the-art urban battlefield has been used for the first time during Ex Talisman Saber, Lt Peter Martinelli reports.
Edition 1170, July 12, 2007 |
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| Armoured support: Two ASLAVs move to give fire support and evacuate casualties during the exercise. |
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| Nerve centre: Maj Wayne Gough and Capt Paul Graham, from Combat Training Control, check the location of Australian and US personnel. |
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| New name: Three 2RAR soldiers provide cover as their company moves towards the Urban Operations Training Facility. The centre was christened Legoland by soldiers because of its stacked structures. |
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Covering fire: A 2RAR soldier provides fire support with an F89 Minimi as casualties are moved to ASLAVs as part of the urban training exercise.
Photos by Cpl Chris Moore |
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| Sprint to cover: B Coy 2RAR soldiers run towards cover in one of the containers of the Urban Operations Training Facility. |
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| Sharp eyed: A 2RAR B Coy soldier watches for enemy inside the Urban Operations Training Facility. |
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| Walking wounded: A 2RAR soldiers assists a “wounded” mate to an ASLAV during the exercise. |
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THE battle is raging but Pte Edwards has his feet up. The 2RAR digger is on his back, feet propped up against the wall of a cramped fake stall in what soldiers and Marines on Exercise Talisman Saber 07 have christened Legoland. It’s a bit snappier than the official name – Urban Operations Training Facility (UOTF).
B Coy 2RAR has broken into the urban facility, but Pte Edwards’ adventure in the sprawling “non culturally-specific” town has been brief.
“I’m dead,” Pte Edwards says with a grin. He resembles a banana – his Kevlar-clad head touches the far wall and his legs stretch up to a chest-high window.
“I looked around a corner and got shot,” he says.
The digger had been dragged to a market stall on the outskirts of Shoalwater Bay’s latest permanent installation.
All the buildings have facades painted to resemble a coastal medium-density village, the subject of a search by the two companies for a bomb maker.
Pte Edwards shifts to a more comfortable position. If he sits up the vest he wears over his webbing will switch to cheat mode and high pitched beeping will bounce around the confines of this little hut.
The Tactical Engagement System (TESS) vest can record up to 74 combat wounds by simulated small arms and heavy weapons. If first aid is not performed, then the wearer’s virtual health quickly deteriorates.
Pte Edwards and every soldier and Marine in UOTF is being tracked via satellite through the Live Instrumentation System (LIS), at Legoland’s nerve centre, the Joint Combined Training Capability (JCTC).
This acronym soup simply means that those on the ground have to move fast and be hyper alert.
Behind Pte Edwards, shouts and shots resonate from a row of connexes configured in a medium-high density housing area – the focus of a combined 2RAR/US Marine assault.
An Australian section has broken into the first building; the next few minutes are an urgent, confusing montage of voices.
“Get to the door, get to the door … Coming in the back door… Room clear… Is that a weapon firing? Where is that firing coming from?… Take well-aimed shots, boys.”
Boots thunder along metal stairs as the complex is searched and cleared room by room.
The soldiers carry heavy loads – TESS vests are strapped to bulging webbing, and most carry day-packs with extra ammo. All wear body armour.
Diggers cautiously glance through windows, careful not to expose themselves to the hidden insurgents, played by Marines in desert cams.
Warning shouts downstairs alert the Australians that Marines have entered the building. Californian, Midwest and southern accents mix with Townsville twang.
“Rodriguez, get your team in building six,” a sergeant yells.
The advance is systematic, but casualties mount for the combined force in the complex environment.
An ad-hoc casualty clearing area is established in a secured building, where half a dozen diggers lay on the floor with beeping TESS vests.
An Australian sergeant searches a detainee, who lies compliant, face down. His pockets have surrendered ear plugs, deodorant and head torch.
Metres away, the scene is repeated.
For a moment the insurgent and his Australian guard break role.
“I’ve got that stuff to swap,” the desert camouflaged Marine says.
“Wheeling and dealing,” the Australian laughs to his mates.
Seconds later a corporal umpire, strides into the room wheeling a “god gun” to reset the TESS vests.
“Play the game gentlemen,” he says. “If you are dead, lie down.”
ASLAVs soon arrive to extract the wounded. Two sections from 2RAR cover from top storey windows – Minimis and MAG 58s crowd the hallways.
“My platoon is literally a month and a half old and they are dead keen,” Lt Doug Tait, 2RAR, says.
“This has been a good ex; we have been worked hard.”
2RAR’s push into Legoland was the second of three training rotations into UOTF during Talisman Saber 07.
By all reports, the facility has been a resounding success. “It’s right up there with the best that any other country can offer as a training facility,” Chief Capability Development Executive Lt-Gen David Hurley said before 2RAR’s advance.
For the diggers, lessons learned at UOTF will be put into practice on operations that involve the “three block war”, a term coined by former US Marine Commandant Gen Charles Krulak and reinforced throughout the Army’s Future Land Operating Concept – Complex Warfighting.
The term “three block war” refers to the fact that soldiers could conduct humanitarian, peacekeeping and warfighting tasks in the space of three city blocks, a likely possibility in the current regional and global environment.
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