By Army Sgt. Whitney Houston
128th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP WILLIAMS, Utah - Panther Strike, a
military intelligence training exercise that began more than a decade ago as a
battalion-sized exercise, has evolved since then into a an event with close to
700 military intelligence soldiers, trainers and professionals participating
from 14 states, Guam, Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, making it
one of the largest exercise of its kind in the U.S.
From the beginning stages of planning
for this year’s exercise, hosted by the Utah Army National Guard’s 142nd
Military Intelligence Battalion, 300th Military Intelligence Brigade, the goal
has been to expand the size and scope to make it into the one of the premier MI
training events, said Army Lt. Col. Joseph Green, commander of the 142nd MI Bn.
To accomplish that, planners shifted the focus
of the exercise from a relatively small exercise focused on human intelligence
gathering, to a large-scale, multi-discipline exercise that incorporates human
intelligence, signals intelligence, counterintelligence, and imagery
intelligence, all acting at the same time in a real-world, deployment-based
scenario, to prepare MI Soldiers for the kinds of missions they face when
deployed., said Green.
Incorporating that into a single, cohesive has
its difficulties including the creation of an opposition force, fully fleshed
out with roles that military intelligence Soldiers can collect information
about, analyze, and then act on.
“All of that is a very complex kind of
thing to try to draw up and manage and so creating a (training) insurgency that
can be (used) by all those different disciplines has been difficult,” said
Green.
Despite the inherent difficulties with
creating a training scenario beneficial to all MI disciplines, Panther Strike
leadership and planners maintained high expectations for the exercise’s current
and future roles.
“We have a big vision for the exercise
to be a mechanism to train our Soldiers to be mobilization-ready and prepared
in their collective military intelligence tasks,” said Green. “That’s what I
think we’ve achieved with this version of Panther Strike, and from here on out
the brigade is intent on keeping the same kind of blueprint, still moving it
around to its battalions, but keeping it at this level.”
That’s a big change from previous
Panther Strike exercises.
“In previous years, there was more of an
emphasis on Warrior Tasks and battle drills than you see in Panther Strike
2012,” said Army Capt. Timothy Kelley, plans and operations officer with the
142nd MI Bn. and the lead planner for this year’s exercise. “We really wanted
to make this an intelligence-centered exercise.”
Soldiers spent the first week of the
exercise training on equipment and tactics unique to their specialties. During the second week, the Soldiers moved to
a forward operating base on Camp Williams and training transitioned from the
classroom setting to a hands-on scenario in which Soldiers could put to use
their skills—and the prior week’s training— into practice.
The result was a much more engaging exercise
for those participating.
“Panther Strike was awesome,” said Army
Pfc. Keiyonna Lighten, an intelligence analyst with Company B, 48th Brigade
Special Troops Battalion. “Anytime we have exercises that combine a lot of
experience from different groups and different intelligence professionals from
across the country, it’s going to contribute to your success and your
development as a Soldier.”
Kelley, and those involved in planning
and putting Panther Strike together, worked hard to create a training
environment that is intelligence-centric, that revolves around the skills,
equipment, and knowledge that Soldiers of all intelligence fields would benefit
from.
“By making Panther Strike more of an
intelligence exercise, we’ve gotten a lot of attention from within the
intelligence community, and a lot of support,” he said. “For example,
Intelligence and Security Command has a lot of resources and assets that we
have been able to tap into and coordinate for this exercise. A lot of our
training teams that came out are INSCOM teams, or are from INSCOM units, which
brings a level of legitimacy to the exercise.”
Camp Williams itself has even benefited
from Panther Strike, and those physical improvements will trickle down to all
MI Soldiers who come to Utah to train. One such resource created to enhance the
training experience of Panther Strike participants is a detainee holding area
connected to the training FOB on the camp.
“They’re being used in Afghanistan, and
for this exercise we were able to get some to Utah, emplaced and operational,
for Panther Strike,” said Kelley. “They will stay here and remain an asset for
the intelligence courses that the 640th Regional Training Institute conducts
throughout the year,” he said.
And preparations are already underway for next
year’s exercise.
“I think next year’s Panther Strike
audience will have a fantastic experience as well,” Kelley said.
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