Stalwart Guardian 04

[Jarnhamar]

isn't FIBUA/OBUA/MOUT/FISH offensive operations?

I love running around the woods just as much as the next guy but isn't it safe to assume any operation we do in the future will atleast involve urban settings? I'd think it wise to ALWAYS include atleast some training in urban areas in both the offensive and defensive.

 

[Redeye]

It is part of offensive operations, but I suppose te powers-that-be are tired of FIBUA (and I think that a few of the troops at least are as well), and so the plan is calling for more offense over a long trace - I've heard a bit about the plans - culmination is potentially going to be a Battalion deliberate attack, which would be quite a go, I think.

 

[Argyll_Socks]

How did you guys like the FIBUA stuff? My Enemy Force buddies claim the attacks on the FIBUA site were pretty one sided, but I'm curious to hear what it was like from another point of view. Do reservists use simunition often? Any thoughts on the house clearing drills?

We got slaughtered...  There was a minefield and my section commander literally threw me in right on top of the smoke grenade I just threw out...  I was oblivious to the markings of the minefield since my bloody mask fogged up despite all my attempts during the march to the site to keep it fog-free.  If you ever see a photo of around 2 dozen bodies... I'm the one closest to the wire.  I only took a round to the finger all the way up there until I was told that I was dead, then the guys in the building probably had a thrill shooting me up while I was down  :-\

As for Armoured Recce... they weren't even there (yes, they were supposed to be) to guide us into our ORV for the raid.  The raid itself went alright, the Americans had a shock when I emerged through the red smoke with my C7 slung... and my pipes playing Monymusk and Campbells are Coming  ;D  Provided a great morale boost for our lads, that's for sure!

Overall, I didn't think Stalwart '04 lived up to all they hyped it up to be.  Last year was better in my opinion.  Hopefully next will be an improvement...

 

[Tpr.Orange]

SG04 in my opinion was alright. I was posted with the 3 CS BN Maintainers forward repair group (FRG) plt as a weapons tech. I got to come out and fix up some of the weapons, except for the one in the water of course which we were told to get until we realized the coordinates were in the middle of the lake. I found that one of the biggest issues for us was that went sent out on a Mobile Repair Team (MRT) nobody in the 32LIB would be able to give an accurate grid that would allow us to find the vehicle or weapon that needed to be repaired. Several calls required us to look around for over an hour, to locate people whos grids were off by 3 or 4 kms. As for parts, they were in short supply but thanks to the 2 GS Bn we were ok for the time being. I Got to fix a Carl G that was hucked onto the beach by the 2fer... the trigger mech snapped off the welds where the dovetails are which was pretty fun. I also managed to get some great OJT in prefire checks, and general servicing of the weapons. Felt good to help out guys from the 32 LIB. We got called out once, and after fixing one weapon a line started to form asking for more help. All in all i think from what ive heard this EX was much much better then last years. IMPs, were better then the hay boxes and all in all i had a great time. There was deffinatley no short supply of work to be done for all of the techs, and it seemed as though everyone we could help was thankful.

Good ex and hope to see everyone again next year.

 

[Spc_Cameron]

SIGH!!!  Beer.. the good ole days... why even to this day I tell tall tales of the beer we had "while in the field " to the young Pte's, fresh out of Benning with that wide eyed deer caught in the headlights look....

I miss Canada...

 

[Northern Touch]

How did you guys like the FIBUA stuff? My Enemy Force buddies claim the attacks on the FIBUA site were pretty one sided, but I'm curious to hear what it was like from another point of view. Do reservists use simunition often? Any thoughts on the house clearing drills?

Haha, Yea, I thoroughly enjoyed getting shot in the head with a nice double tap, although the chalk I was in did get props from the RCR guys (refs and safety guys) for actually showing initative and flanking right instead of heading for the bank.  They told us after we were all nice and dead behind the car that we were the reason our company finally gained entry to the second building. 

Our first run through was a complete slaughter, I got into the bank and just sat around while some platoon comanders argued until they finally stopped the whoel assault since it was such a cluster fuck.  The second time through was much better.  We gained the bank and the second building was back and forth the whole time, although I wasn't in any of the buildings (I was outside the whole time) so I can't say for sure.  I do know that smoke was used MUCH better the second time although I think we still lacked enough grenades or weren't using them properly.  I had a buddy in a certain part of the bank or second building who told me the enemy force would jsut run around the corner, toss a grenade in the building and run off again, and it wasn't until the very end someone finally decided to bord up the window.  This is of coarse after a minimum of 10 grenades or some ridiculous number like that.  If anyone from the 48th is here they could probably tell you better then I could since I believe we attacked with them.

Of coarse, the enemy force did have iron sights, we did not and by the time we got there (friday) they had been there for a week and pretty much new EVERY place to go and kill us.  Great learning experience though.

In the end though, a 4 man RCR chalk ran pretty much through everyone, around our position and then shot up the HQ.  :-\

 

[portcullisguy]

SG04 in my opinion was alright. I was posted with the 3 CS BN Maintainers forward repair group (FRG) plt as a weapons tech. I got to come out and fix up some of the weapons, except for the one in the water of course which we were told to get until we realized the coordinates were in the middle of the lake. ...

Were you on the live-fire blocking op on the Wednesday?  I had to have a wpns tech fix my C6.  I broke the trigger mech (or it just finally gave up the ghost).  I thought it was screwed for good, and I'd be hauling a 30-lb show-piece paper weight for the rest of SG04.  And worse, I had only loosed off about a belt and a half during the live-fire.

But as we were "withdrawing" from our position, the CSM pointed me over to a couple of rather nice lads near an LS who whipped out a brand new C6 trigger mech for me, and duly replaced the crap broken one on my gat.

Good as new!

That made my week and I left with a grin.  Thanks, wpn techs!  I didn't know one trade could make another so gosh darn happy! 

 

[Jarnhamar]

Theres some really interesting views from all sides of the ex.

Someone mentioned that the higher ups wanna stay away from FIBUA? Reading the posts from the guys who were there it looks like we need to work on FIBUA more than anything else. Everyone needs more practice. 
Stopping in the middle of an assualt to argue then starting over because it's a cluster fuck seems pretty bad to me.

 

[devil39]

Theres some really interesting views from all sides of the ex.

Someone mentioned that the higher ups wanna stay away from FIBUA? Reading the posts from the guys who were there it looks like we need to work on FIBUA more than anything else. Everyone needs more practice.  
Stopping in the middle of an assualt to argue then starting over because it's a cluster **** seems pretty bad to me.

Chances are they are changing the phases of war to work on for the upcoming year.   Pretty hard to specialize in all phases of war in the Reserves, and FIBUA has been practiced for a couple of years now.   Likely time to build up some experience and expertise in another type of operation.

 

[Pikache]

What would help is to standardize FIBUA (aka OBUA aka MOUT aka whatever) drills as some people still practice older drills.

Like every unit sends someone on a FIBUA course (the new NATO one or whatever) and ensure that the new drills get passed down to everyone.

 

[Tpr.Orange]

Were you on the live-fire blocking op on the Wednesday?   I had to have a wpns tech fix my C6.   I broke the trigger mech (or it just finally gave up the ghost).   I thought it was screwed for good, and I'd be hauling a 30-lb show-piece paper weight for the rest of SG04.   And worse, I had only loosed off about a belt and a half during the live-fire.

But as we were "withdrawing" from our position, the CSM pointed me over to a couple of rather nice lads near an LS who whipped out a brand new C6 trigger mech for me, and duly replaced the crap broken one on my gat.

Good as new!

That made my week and I left with a grin.   Thanks, wpn techs!   I didn't know one trade could make another so gosh darn happy!  

That very well could have been me, but i had so many 6s to work on that it might not have been ...well if i did your welcome and ill pass on the thoughtful comments to my other maintainers.

Cheers!
anytime!

 

[Sharpey]

My oppinions on the raid...

First off, the Company I was to lead to the ORV showed up out of order, meaning the timings were now out to lunch. With terrible comms I had no quick method of contacting the ORV so I had to let it slide. I Recce'd that area the day before and picked the path of least resistance to the ORV that was not chosen by me but, well, I won't go there on here. And as my squadron learned from the day before, those woods in the pitch dark are a hell of a challenge for the maybe 20-30 of us, let alone 150 troops!

Once underway under the cover of the early morning darkness, we slowed down and stopped on many occasions as it seemed many of the maybe 150 troops trudging along behind me veared off the route into la la land. Once at the ORV, I passed the Company onto another Armoured Recce Unit and my task was done. Simply a guide no more, no less.

The results of the raid I am unaware of. I know it was hot and heavy in that ORV location earlier that day as I spent many hours there, even on top of the enemy location. Hopefully it whent well but I saw nothing as I handed the company over and bailed off to the boat home.

Despite a few hiccups, I felt it whent very well. The boys workign with me did the best they could under the "circumstances" and got the job assigned to us done.

So overall, I think SG was more valuble than last years wasted vacation 

 

[Fusaki]

What would help is to standardize FIBUA (aka OBUA aka MOUT aka whatever) drills as some people still practice older drills.

In my opinion, that would be a waste of effort. While section and platoon drills should be practiced and practiced and practiced, standardizing the drills throughout the army can stifle initiative and creativity: the fundementals of FIBUA even at the pte/cpl level. Every time I'm out at the FIBUA site an NCO comes along and says "This is the way the Brits do it" or "This is the way the JTF does it". Then he'll say "But this is the way we're going to do it." The fact of the matter is, there is no "right" way. FIBUA isn't a sicence, its an art. So much of it is a judgement call, simply because you're fighting in 3D in an environment that may go from hostile to passive and back again in seconds. Each one is different. This kind of stuff should be left to the section commanders, platoon commanders, and 2ics to decide and they shoud be encouraged to take in as many different ideas as possible.

Tactics need to be in a constant state of development, or else the enemy will be able to adapt to us before we can adapt to him. I think I'm trying to make the same point Capt O'Leary made in his paper on section attacks, but in a different context.

 

[Argyll_Socks]

Oh... one thing that wasn't quite right about the OBUA.  I only got to do it once, which was the second time around... there weren't enough Sim. kits to go around and about 2 sections had to stay back and rack out while everyone else got the fun   The first raid was actually a success... the second however we were toasted (our OBJ was to capture the townhouses)

 

[leopard11]

anybody know when the SG site is going to be updated with the 2004 pictures, all i see on that site is the pictures of the 2003 concentration, id be nice to see some of the pictures that were taken this summer, and the videos i saw getting filmed while we were at the different "stands". so if anybody knows where these pictures are or if this has been answered somewhere else, please re-direct me.

 

[Jasmine]

: Another typical complaint from a "Toon" who has no idea what the fuck he/she is talking about. Was it because no one was there to hold your hand? Were your feelings hurt because the soldiering was much to hard for you? Maybe in the future you could make an effort to be part of the solution to do your part in making such an endeavor as SG04 a success instead of being part of the problem!

 

[48Highlander]

: Another typical complaint from a "Toon" who has no idea what the **** he/she is talking about. Was it because no one was there to hold your hand? Were your feelings hurt because the soldiering was much to hard for you? Maybe in the future you could make an effort to be part of the solution to do your part in making such an endeavor as SG04 a success instead of being part of the problem!

In the future you might want to quote the person you're responding to.  As it is, I can't figure out who your post is directed at.  In any event, your post is way off.  I haven't seen or heard a single person complain about lack of hand holding, or the soldiering being too hard.  If anything, people complain that the soldiering is too easy, and that quite often we get treated like children.  I think the main problem this year was lack of flexibility as far as timings and equipment are concerned, which is always a problem when you try to do stand-based training with large numbers of soldiers.

 

[GerryCan]

" in our AAR for our first attack that had us at 95 of 140 in the coy as casualties. But we got ours in the second attack, when we just about wiped them out to a man when they fucked up bad and overcommitted to rushing the nice little kill zone we had set up.

Well I was there all week and I thought that for the majority it was a job well done by all, although I don't ever remember you guys ever coming close to 'almost wiping us out', but I'm not going to try and wreck your SG04 story for you.

The funniest thing I seen was on the last day, we just finished our second defensive and it went off well. They gained entry to one building and we crushed them. Afterwards we were told that they were sending in some elite troops from QOR to attack us next. Well they got it worse than anyone the whole week, it was pretty funny. Any training with Sim rounds is good training and I wish we had the chance to do some offensive urban ops more often, but I'll take what I can get.

Oh yeah, someone mentioned cheating. We were wearing MILES gear, so If we were running away, you were probably shooting up your buddy beside you :blotto:

 

[foerestedwarrior]

I knew about the lost C7, which apparently fell into Chalk Bay, out of the hands of a G&SF soldier.  

for any one who did the "rope bridge" crossing, that was really 2 ropes in the water across the river, for us to pull our selves across one, you will remember that they didnt allow you to put your slings around any part of your body for "safety Issues", so one of our guys dropped it, if you REALLY want to know who it was, there will be enough people around 32LIB that know who it was, trust me, if you havnt heard of him, you have just finished basic, or arnt in 32CBG

oh and the busted up CarlG(triger mech snaped off), the girl that whent to get it out of the canoe, had my nuke bag with 600 rnd of c6 in it, throwen at her, and it almost knocked her over, then they canoers threw the 84 out of the canoe onto the rocks. well, atleast you got some invaluable experiance.

 

[Northern Touch]

Well I was there all week and I thought that for the majority it was a job well done by all, although I don't ever remember you guys ever coming close to 'almost wiping us out', but I'm not going to try and wreck your SG04 story for you.

Well, I sure don't remember doing too well.  I remember getting DEMOLISHED the first time through with a slight but noticable improvement the second time around.  Probably because the first time was just horendous (SP), but it was a lot of fun.