Soon, a communications system in the box will simulate thousands of Iraqi cell phone calls and other lines of communications so soldiers can train on intercepting intelligence.
http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/pittard_1547___article.html/iraqi_fort.ht ml More Iraq in the Mojave New Fort Irwin commander making improvements By AARON <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> AUPPERLEE, staff writer FORT IRWIN - Seeing himself as one of the more physically fit soldiers at Fort Irwin, Brig. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard did not think he needed preferential parking spots close to his office, the commissary and other buildings on post. He did not think he needed the eight spaces, so he changed his spaces into "expectant mother only" parking. The signs have a stork carrying a baby and sit at the front of many commonly used buildings at Fort Irwin. Pittard said he does not mind giving up his space and walking a few extra yards. "I view parking spaces almost as a symbol of what you value," Pittard said. "I take pride in walking by my old space - where it was - and seeing the stork, the expectant mother stork." Just more than a month into his command of Fort Irwin and the National Training Center, Pittard has already brought significant changes to improve the quality of life for soldiers stationed at Fort Irwin and the realism of the training of incoming troops bound for Iraq and Afghanistan. For the soldiers and families at Fort Irwin, Pittard has extended hours of shopping centers, spearheaded plans to bring in a top-notch fitness center, planned more activities for children and began talking with the Department of Defense about bringing a restaurant, like Applebees or TGI Friday's, to the remote desert base. He solicited comments from everyone - an expectant mother he ran into at a store set in motion the space changes - about what could be changed. While waiting at the post's hospital one day, Pittard said he passed out 3x5 index cards to other waiting patients and asked them to write down suggestions. Those suggestions ended up in an often-looked-at file in Pittard's office. He highlights the most pressing changes to make and places checks next to accomplished tasks. The file, rather thick, has a lot of yellow. "We're building on a foundation that has already been set," Pittard set. "It comes from really asking the community, and people are maybe tired of it at the leadership level, but I will find anybody." Pittard said that improving the quality of life is just one part of his tasks at Fort Irwin. He also has plans to improve the simulations used to train soldiers. For many soldiers, Fort Irwin is the last stop before they ship out to Iraq or Afghanistan. Taking advantage of the wide open spaces of the Mojave Desert, soldiers from the 11th Cavalry Regiment stationed at Fort Irwin train troops from other brigades in situations they will likely face in Iraq using model Iraqi villages and posing as opposing forces. Pittard said that if a new type of improvised explosive device explodes in Iraq, the people back at Fort Irwin can replicate that explosion within 72 hours. However, for Pittard, who recently returned from a command post in Iraq, the explosions were not loud enough, the mosques and buildings of the towns scattered throughout the desert not Iraqi enough and the Iraqi roleplayers who assist in creating a Middle East feeling, there just are not enough. "I thought the training was effective," he said. "The realism, however, it was so-so." Pittard hopes that by November, he will double the number of Iraqi-Americans who populate the desert to play Iraqis. By next year, he hopes to triple that number. He wants to increase the number of towns in the desert from 13 to 20. Plans for a new Medina Jabal, one of the existing towns will make it one of the largest urban training centers in the world, he said. He wants more Arabic spoken in the box, the desert training area; he wants more Iraqi cars driving between towns, more Iraqi cooking. He wants more Iraq in the Mojave. "I want all five senses to get the feel of Iraq. I want it look like it. I want them to see it. I want them to hear it, the sounds of it. I want them to be able to touch things and (say) 'Oh, that's like Iraqi.' I want them to smell Iraqi food ... in some cases, even taste Iraqi food," he said. "And that's just the set itself, much less the training itself. The training is absolutely world-class, and I just want to make sure that every around it is realistic." Pittard has hired Hollywood set designers to revamp the towns and is working with Disneyland to learn how to reload their simulators quickly to repeat the experience over and over again. Soon, a communications system in the box will simulate thousands of Iraqi cell phone calls and other lines of communications so soldiers can train on intercepting intelligence. The changes are coming, Pittard said, some slowly, some with urgency. He wants them all as soon as possible. "When I go through there (the box), I get frustrated," he said. "I just got back (from Iraq) in July, and I want it to happen now." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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