Red Arrow Brigade completes Warfighter exercise

By 1st Sgt. Vaughn R. Larson

Wisconsin National Guard

The Wisconsin Army National Guard's 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team last saw significant infantry combat nearly 70 years ago. To maintain those fearsome battlefield skills that earned the Red Arrow its reputation requires practice - but it's difficult to come by large-as-life training scenarios. Homeland security missions as well as deployments conducting missions such as base security, convoy escort and detainee operations have also taken their share of training opportunities that might otherwise go to large-scale infantry operations.

The 32nd Brigade's Warfighter exercise, conducted May 7-16 at Fort McCoy, Wis., provided a virtual battlefield with realistic demands designed to hone battle management skills and point the Red Arrow in the right direction.

"This is something we used to do quite a bit back before 2001," said Lt. Col. Michael George, 32nd Brigade executive officer. "By and large, the young enlisted and junior officers have not been on staff as long as some of us older guys, so they have never been through one of these exercises. Then when you add in the complexity of all of our digital systems, that adds another component or dimension. When you look at what we've accomplished these past 10 days, I think it's extraordinary."

The Fort Leavenworth, Kan.-based Mission Command Training Program has put units ranging from brigades up through corps through the virtual wringer since the 1980s to teach commanders and their staffs how to manage offensive and defensive operations.

"We came here to meet some training objectives," said Col. Thomas Christensen, commander of Operations Group Bravo which ran the exercise, "and I think we did that. We've seen some great improvement throughout the exercise."

One of the first casualties in the exercise was the flow of information. As the Warfighter continued, staff members and subordinate units improved how they communicated vital information to paint the most accurate picture possible of the battlefield.

"What gives us agility? Our ability to know our situation," Christensen said. "Commanders, we have agility because we understand what is happening and we can adjust off the plan … there's always something else we need to be looking at and tracking."

"That's really hard work [when] the guys you get data from are fully engaged," said Col. Martin Seifer, 32nd IBCT commander.

Maj. Gen. David Elicerio, commander of the Minnesota Army National Guard's 34th Infantry Division, served as the commander of the exercise's notional 52nd Infantry Division during the latter days of the exercise. He lauded the 32nd Brigade as a learning organization.

"There was nobody in this organization who said, 'We're as good as we can get,'" Elicerio observed. "The trick is, how do we get to where we need to be? Look and see what you can inculcate into your culture - that's when you're winning on this thing."

Randy Anderson, a retired brigadier general who served as a senior mentor for the exercise, agreed.

"If anybody feels bad about their performance, don't - I think you learned a lot," Anderson said. "You will never learn a lesson until you burn your fingers … We weren't expecting perfection - we were expecting improvement."

Anderson said that many of the skills called for in Warfighter exercises have atrophied over the past 10 years. 32nd Brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Rafael Conde acknowledged that the learning curve was steep.

"I think you guys came to the fight and you had a hard task," Conde said. "I think we learned a lot. We grew a lot in the last four days."

Conde challenged the brigade to consider how to achieve a "return on investment" from the exercise within the constraints of a limited training calendar.

George said the Warfighter succeeded in revealing what the 32nd is good at and where it can improve.

"The exercise really gave us a look at how we go from here into the future - how we set up and operate these digital systems, how we organize as a brigade headquarters, how we conduct planning," George said. "The exercise was useful in showing us the big picture."

Seifer noted that the operation order developed for the exercise contained specific training objectives, but winning the battle was not one of them.

"As I look through there, we did every one of [the training objectives] well, some better than others, and some we did really well," Seifer said. "We took huge steps in the last 10 days."

Christensen applauded the Red Arrow.

"It was great to work with you guys here," he said. "This is a great organization - the 32nd is motivated, ready to learn, ready to get better."

Army to Transfer Manning to Leavenworth

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 19, 2011 – The Army plans to transfer Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, charged with leaking classified military information in the WikiLeaks incident, to a new Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Jeh C. Johnson, the Defense Department’s general counsel, announced today.

Johnson explained the rationale noting that it is the right time to transfer Manning to a more appropriate facility for long-term pre-trial confinement.

“At the request of Private Manning's defense counsel, an assessment is under way to determine whether Private Manning is mentally competent in this case in the event it goes to trial,” he said. “On Saturday, April 9, the inquiry phase of that process, known in military justice terms as a 706 board, was completed, and Private Manning's presence in the Washington, D.C., area is no longer necessary for that purpose.

“At this juncture of the case, we have decided that the new joint regional correctional facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., is the most appropriate facility for Private Manning for continued pretrial detention,” he said.

Manning’s transfer from the pretrial confinement facility at Marine Base Quantico in Virginia is “imminent,” Johnson said, but citing standard policy, he declined to provide precise details.

"This is the right decision at the right time," Army Undersecretary Joseph W. Westphal said, reinforcing Johnson's explanation.

"This [facility] became available in January for pretrial [confinees]," Westphal said. "We were looking at the situation where he would need an environment that was more conducive to a longer-term period, and this is why we made the decision to move him at this time.  We needed to wait until the 706, and his participation in the 706 review process was over."

With the medical review of Manning’s competence to stand trial expected to take additional time, and a pretrial phase that “may continue for months beyond that,” Johnson said, the decision was made to transfer him to Fort Leavenworth.

Army Corrections Command reviewed the new facility and determined it has the expertise and capability to provide continued, long-term pretrial confinement for Manning, Johnson said.

“The facility, which opened in October and opened a pretrial confinement capability in January, is a state-of-the-art complex with the best and widest range of support services available to pretrial prisoners within the Department of Defense corrections system,” he said.

The facility has resident medical and mental-health care staff appropriate to meet Private Manning’s health and welfare needs for the remainder of the 706 Board process into the pretrial phase, Johnson said.

“When he is transferred to the Joint Regional Correction Facility, he will receive support from experienced, trained professional staff that has been doing this for well over 20 years,” said Army Lt. Col. Dawn Hilton, the facility commander. “And he will receive the mental health, physical health and emotional health [support] that he needs to go through this judicial process.”

"The Quantico brig is a Level 1 facility that is not intended for long-term incarceration either pre- or post-trial," she said. Typically, pretrial prisoners are not incarcerated at a Level 1 facility for more than a couple months."

The Joint Regional Correctional Facility in Kansas is a state-of-the-art, Level 2 facility, Hilton said. "So what that means is that I have the capacity to hold not only the pretrial prisoners, but post-trial prisoners with sentences up to five years.  And with that comes all the support staff that Pfc. Manning may need," she said.

"I have the experienced staff who not only work at the Joint Regional Correctional Facility, but also at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth," she continued. "So it's more than just the facility. It's the staff that comes with the facility. My facility is different than the [Quantico] brig.  I am developed, designed and staffed with the experienced staff to provide those services for long-term incarceration."

Johnson emphasized that the decision to transfer Manning should not be interpreted as any criticism of the pretrial facility at Quantico.

“We remain satisfied that Private Manning’s pretrial confinement at Quantico was in compliance with legal and regulatory standards in all respects,” he said. “And we salute the military personnel there for the job they did in difficult circumstances.”

As at Quantico, Manning will be allowed to receive a limited number of outside visitors at Fort Leavenworth, subject to his and the command’s agreement, Johnson said. In addition, he said, the Army will allow a limited number of media representatives to tour the Leavenworth pretrial facility.

Manning will return to Washington as necessary, for legal proceedings, with his case remaining under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington.

Johnson emphasized that as the case progresses, Manning will be assumed innocent until proven guilty.

“It is important to remember that while Private Manning is charged with very serious offenses involving classified information and national security, in our system of military justice, as in our system of civilian justice in this country, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty,“ he said.

Pretrial confinement, common to both systems, “has been determined to be appropriate in this case,” he said.

Manning, an Army intelligence analyst, is suspected of being involved in one of the largest leaks of classified material in U.S. history, Johnson said. The leak involved hundreds of thousands of diplomatic and military documents, including classified records about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The WikiLeaks organization published many of these documents online, drawing criticism by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and other defense officials, who charge they put deployed U.S. service members at increased risk.

Following a seven-month investigation, the Army added 22 charges against Manning in March, charging him with loading unauthorized software onto government computers to extract classified information that was unlawfully downloaded, improperly stored, and transmitted for public release and use by the enemy.