Infantrymen of 178th take on urban terrain

Story and Photo by Spc. Jessika Ross, 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, 
Illinois Army National Guard

The troops of the 178th Infantry Battalion of the Illinois Army National Guard took part in a series of Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) classes at Range 41 and the Offense/Defense Building at Fort McCoy, during the week of July 14. This training is designed to prepare soldiers for possible urban combat situations such as those presently occurring in Iraq.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry screen their movement through urban terrain at Range 41 with smoke.

The MOUT training is conducted in a specially designed urban setting, which is much like a staged movie set.

The training site is constructed on an open field that contains cars, trucks, deserted buildings and alleyways created especially to serve as possible hiding places for the enemy. As teams of four soldiers move through the mock city, they concentrate on working as a whole, moving and communicating as a team. With the help of a smoke screen, they conceal their movement through roadways and into buildings trying to breach and clear rooms that may hold opposing forces.

"I am really enjoying taking part in this training, learning the different maneuvers and working as a team," said Spc. Miguel Aguilar, who is an infantryman with Company B based out of Elgin, Ill. "The most rewarding part of this training is getting the opportunity to train with different people, learning how they move and react to different situations," Aguilar added.

The MOUT exercise lasted three days, said Capt. Seth Hible, Company B commander. The training began with the teams focusing on individual skills such as learning how to move in a room, communicating with other team members and being aware of each other’s weapons and lines of sight.

The next phase consisted of turning individual soldiers into a team. "We progressed to team building activities, where a fire team of four soldiers practice their control of entering a room."

Hible described the last phase stating, "The culmination is on the last day when each team will receive the opportunity to take part in a live-fire exercise where they are allowed to enter and clear a room using targets and live rounds."

Urban battlefield scenarios are considerably different from those a soldier would experience on a traditional battlefield, Hible stated.

"In a traditional environment there are more obstacles that a soldier can use to protect himself. He’s got, for instance, trees to take cover behind. Likewise, the enemy is in a more fixed position. He can only come at you from four directions, left, right, front and back," Hible said

He continued, "In a MOUT environment, a soldier is limited in his own protection in terms of cover. He can move down the street and take cover behind a parked car, but he can be attacked from more than four directions. There are opportunities for the threat force to use second story windows, rooftops and sewer systems. The threat pretty much exists everywhere as opposed to a traditional environment."

After annual training, the 178th plans to build on this urban training by progressing from the team to the squad and platoon level.

Hible reflected upon the three days of training stating, "With the state of world affairs and the relevancy of the Guard, this is the best training environment that I have seen; we’ve got excellent instructors. And the progression is soldier centered. This is focused and run by the team leaders and the noncommissioned officers. It’s been as much of a lesson for us preparing this exercise as it has been for the troops conducting it."