Just curious to know if any members have gone thru the NTC and if you got yer’ butt kicked like we did by the “Aggressor Forces”. We, an Arty unit from Planet Ord went there back in the 80’s and got taught a lesson by the “Warsaw Pact” tactically trained forces. They out flanked us bad. Anyone else have a similar experience?
It’s not fair, isn’t it?
I’ve never been through Irwin, but I currently work at JMRC, in Hohenfels. Before that, I’d rotated through JRTC in Fort Polk, and I was an Observer/Controller at the JMTC in Hohenfels. (It became the JMRC, when NATO, the UN and the EU started sending units through here on rotations.
We still kick Blufor butt pretty much every day. But it’s easy when it’s your backyard, and you go to war every day.
I think pretty much everyone that rolls through NTC and JRTC gets rolled right out again by OPFOR, they work on that terrain so much they probably know if you move a single pebble, and they have perfected the tactics they use to the point that they make pretty much anyone that comes through their turf look stupid.
Operation Desert Sting 1 and 2
With 4/64 AR 2Bde 24th ID (M)
2 rotations, 1 in 83 and 1 in 84
And yes… We got a butt’s handed to us on our first rotation… the second one we did pretty good.
The first one was spooky as I watched hundreds of VISMODS rolling towards us from the horizon as our kill lights were flashing like a x-mas tree. very impressive…
My Platoon died in a loud and grotesque military manner during a night battle…:eek:
Excellent training and one of the reasons why the first gulf war only took 100 hrs… talk about the ultimate dress rehearsal for that war…
Nope. Only JRTC time.
You guys are right, the OPFOR definately had the advantage of knowing the terrain. Was very disconcerting to see OPFOR armor coming at us from the rear when our Arty was layed in and pointing in the opposite direction. I mean, they should not have been anywhere near our rear. Lordy!
We also got ambushed during a night move (Lt. got lost). Killed by enemy air during another displacement…one disaster after another, but good training.
During the debrief, we were told most units that go thru the first time don’t fair too well.
I imagine you guys that were in Germany also went thru “Graf”…
BTW, I was just thinking about that whole NTC experience and Camp Roberts…
Did any you fellows see any of those “pygmy rattlesnakes” that inhabited that area?
They warned us about the wildlife, but of course, some knucklehead tried to pick one up and was bitten on his thumb, had to have part of his thumb sliced off.
We did a"hip shoot" pulled off the trail to do a quikie fire mission and after it was over we looked down and saw this rattler curled up just below the breach of our M198 howitzer. Our boot prints were all around it. It was very agitated and striking about at us. Someone grabbed an entrenching tool and struck it. As he lifted the shovel back up over his head part of the rattler fell on him freaking him out to our delight.
Were lots of huge scorpions too, they were like a see thru color. weird.
Definately had to check your gear in the morning before putting it on.
…
Yea we went to the NTC before we deployed to Iraq in 90 …they kicked our ass…Bad.
when we deployed we applied that “spanking” in combat and came out on top.
After we rotated back to Ft.Riley we went back to NTC …and we beat them 2 out of 3 …close but hell those guys are good thats all they do.
Went to NTC in Novenber of 96 as OPFOR.
We did very well. The only time we got our ass handed to us, was our first battle with a Bradley. Other than that, we did all the slaughtering. 
I can honestly say I have never been through there as a blue force unit. But… I was stationed there from 1992 to 1998 as OPFOR.
It was a good duty station at the time because you knew you weren’t going to get deployed. But now it is a different story.
Sometimes the rotations sucked because that’s all we did and when you play in your own back yard every month you learn the limits and what you can push too.
A co 1st BN 52nd INF, E troop 2/11 ACR, G troop 2/11 ACR rout re-con and forward patrol.
Infantry leads the way, Scouts out, and all that good stuff too.
our unit did a rotation right before we deployed to iraq, its changed alot due to the kind of war in iraq.(even had real iraqis or arabs). its not like the old ntc that most of ya replied about. witch i would of rather experienced. but i cant say it was the best, but it was ok training. i just made the best of the situation. but it had some fun high speed training. we got our asses kicked alot but we also got alot of good comments. and most of the OCs said we were one of the best troops they seen come through, our OCs that were assigned to our platoon even said that they would go to war with us, witch to me kind of said that we did pretty good.
Never been to NTC, but plenty of trips to JRTC at Ft Polk and yes we got our asses handed to us everytime. It doesnt help when a Mi-24 flies over guns blazing and everyone drops their rifles and snaps away with their cameras.