August 11, 2021
Provided by Landry Brewer
Elk City City Manager Tom Ivester, who also serves as a Colonel in the Army National Guard, recently took part in annual training with 4,000 troops from the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team at Fort Irwin, CA. The Oklahoma troops were joined by 2,000 others and went through a 3-week training rotation there.
The National Army training center for mechanized/armored units at Fort Irwin in the California desert is the size of Rhode Island and features mock cities built to simulate populated areas.
The training there is meant to prepare troops for battle. According to Ivester, who has seen actual combat, the training center does this exceptionally well.
Most of the mock combat is a sophisticated version of Laser Tag in which opposing forces fire blanks at each other. If “wounded,” troops are “treated” by medical personnel and rotate back into battle after 3 days.
The last 3 days of the rotation included live-fire training at plywood targets and old armored vehicles.
Among the higher-ranking officers present, Tom was 1 of 16 members of a Senior Trainer Cell that provided oversight and mentoring to the troops in the field.
In addition to daytime temperatures in the southern California desert that rose to 118 degrees, the troops also had to contend with wind-whipped sand assaulting them.
Ivester described it as going into your house’s attic during the daytime, turning a hair dryer at your face and tossing sand in front of the hot air that’s blowing toward you.
Portions of this article are used with the permission from the City of Elk City. Copyright 2021 Paragon Communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
