Fort Huachuca, Arizona – Recently, on a night with no lights, six soldiers were chasing a vehicle used by an improvised explosive device installation team. Soldiers tracked their enemies based on tire tread patterns. Armed with night vision equipment, infrared illuminators, and training received over the past few days, their mission was to locate the installed IED, secure the area, report its location to the command post, and launch a detonation weapon detachment. It was to be able to send troops.

Soldiers at the Raymond W. Bliss Army Health Center recently attended a two-week tactical tracking course to learn advanced skills that enable counterinsurgency operations through enemy tracking, intelligence gathering, and battlefield tracking. Enlisted soldiers were assigned to the RWBAHC, 111th Military Intelligence Brigade, and 18th Military Police Detachment, supported by Black Hawk crews from 285th Aviation Regiment, 2nd Battalion, C Company.

According to RWBAHC Deputy General Affairs Commander, “The training includes basic tracking skills, such as identifying and forming conclusions from ‘air and ground footprints’ that identify tracks such as footprints, spoiled food and broken vegetation. and information-gathering techniques were incorporated”. Brent Hayward.

Hayward said the training consisted of classroom instruction in the morning and hands-on exercises in the afternoon. During the PE, soldiers worked as a team to track down an assigned quarry after identifying the person based on his boot prints.

During the course, the Soldiers have to contend with almost all types of weather, not only during the training part, but also hot, rainy, snowy, how the elements age the spores, and in those conditions It provided trackers with a way to track effectively.

In addition, the soldiers used night vision equipment to track the city and surrounding environment, as well as a blackout quarry. The pursuit team was widely praised for its ability to maintain stealth and blend in with its environment.

“I believe every squad in the Army needs a soldier who has been trained in at least 100 hours of combat tracking,” Hayward said.

“Why do Medics have to learn Tactical Tracking? Meanwhile [large-scale combat operations] It is not unheard of for wounded soldiers to seek shelter and escape the carnage of battle. Hunters speak of wounded prey traveling long distances, taking refuge in obscure places, and sometimes disappearing entirely. Humans on the battlefield are no exception. An untrained eye is ill-suited for ‘follow-up’ and cannot find injured people in time to provide life-saving assistance,” Hayward said.

“Whether in LSCO or counterinsurgency, a trained Tracker doubles your strength. Trackers can maximize your squad’s immediate survival on the battlefield. Detects deviations from the environment.This sensitivity makes it particularly well suited for detecting camouflaged locations, IED placement locations, mines, and tripwires.Have these trained eyes at the team level The value added by is clear,” Hayward said.

Adam Scott, Staff Sergeant, RWBAHC Noncommissioned Office of Radiology, said the training provided new skills and improved proficiency in existing skills.

“While in the Army, this is the most beneficial training I have ever received. Attention to detail like this has been ingrained in us as humans for thousands of years for hunting/survival purposes. Reactivating these skills will improve your combatant’s lethality and survivability,” Scott said.

“This training focused not only on identification, but also on the age of trucks, waste and items left in the environment. In addition, surveillance was also a large part of this training, acquiring information on enemy elements to avoid detection, which included terrain navigation, camouflage and counters to prevent identification. It included the practice of tracking, a skill that greatly improves different aspects of a combatant in almost any situation,” said Scott.

“The instructors are true experts in their field and have many years of real-world experience in military and law enforcement tracking. I believe every soldier should go through this training. ‘ added Scott.

“Over the course of two weeks, I was amazed at how they were able to spot discrepancies in their environment and follow trails over miles to track someone,” said Major Anthony Threet. , RWBAHC Clinical Support Division.

“I think it’s a skill worth having… Seeing indicators like IEDs and booby traps more effectively can save lives on the battlefield. It can also be used for search and rescue operations, even after hours,” Threet added.

The exercise culminated in a realistic battlefield scenario, with the team tracking a key target through the Fort Huachuca training area, which included medical evacuation of the HVT and the use of Black Hawk helicopters for extraction of the pursuit team. .

“The pursuit team was tasked with obtaining the footprints of three enemy HVTs (all wearing enemy-issued uniforms) that had been wounded while escaping a snatch and grab attempt. After locating the HVT, applying the enemy POW process, and initiating critical care, they established a helicopter landing zone and were subsequently ordered for helicopter evacuation/rescue. All three teams completed this exercise flawlessly,” Hayward said. “These soldiers can cause some pretty serious headaches to their enemies if utilized properly.”

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Fort Huachuca houses the Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command, and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse multi-service population. Our unique environment includes 964 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected microwave ovens and is a critical component of our national defense mission.

Located in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, about 15 miles north of the Mexican border, Fort Huachuca is an Army facility with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the fort was designated a National Historic Site in 1976.

We are the home of the Army.Click here for details https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.