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http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story....&Story=7158020
TR
Special Forces training turns to likelihood of combat
By Kevin Maurer
Staff writer
Spc. Nicholas Geris wasn't happy that he lost four men in the raid.
But better here at Camp Mackall, where the bullets aren't real and the dead can get up at the end, than in Iraq or Afghanistan. There, a Special Forces soldier's first mistake could be his last.
Special Forces hopefuls move in on their target during an exercise at Camp Mackall.
"The key is to learn as much as you can and not get wrapped up on a mistake," said Geris, a 27-year-old soldier from California. "The worst that I am going to get is a bad after-action report."
The raid Geris led was part of the training program for Special Forces soldiers. The program started in the spring, with an arduous three-week selection process just to get a chance to become a Green Beret.
In the August heat at Camp Mackall, the soldiers began the real Special Forces training. They call it Phase II - with the selection process being Phase I - and it focuses on small-unit tactics and missions and training in survival and evasion of the enemy. Later phases will teach military specialties and languages.
Instructors say the way Phase II training is run these days reflects the fact that new Green Berets are likely to be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, where chances are good they will end up in a fight with the enemy. The latest classes have spent more time on combat skills and more time on the shooting ranges than used to be the norm.
Geris and his teammates were in the fourth week of Phase II. Until this time, patrols and ambushes had been led by instructors. Now, though, the men were playing by what instructors call "big boy rules," when the planning and execution is turned over to students and the planners have to deal with limited resources and time.
"We take them out of the box. We want them thinking," said Master Sgt. James Beal, the senior instructor for the fourth week of Phase II. "You've got what you've got. Make it happen."
Plan of attack
Geris' mission was to rescue a hostage in a guerrilla compound on a tight schedule with only what his men could carry on their backs. He had to improvise a plan.
The degree of difficulty was clear from the beginning. After hours spent on strategy and a long, sweaty march through thick pine forest and marsh, the students almost walked into the guerrilla camp by accident.
Slowly sneaking back a few hundred meters, the students were forced to change the attack plan twice. Geris kept his cool the whole time, making changes on the fly.
Geris and Pfc. Mike Hubbard, a 19-year-old recruit who was selected for Special Forces training out of high school, huddled over a map of the area.
"Can you attack from the east?" Geris asked.
"I can do whatever you want," Hubbard said. He was the assault team leader.
"That is not what I am asking you. Look at me. Can you attack from the east?" Geris asked.
"I can attack from the east," Hubbard said.
The meeting broke up as the leaders went off to brief their men.
Geris found time for a small joke: "Good thing I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night."
Gathering up Hubbard and Pfc. Danny Johnson, who was in charge of the teams' heavy weapons, Geris led them closer for a look at the compound. They could make out some of the buildings but not enough to get a true lay of the land.
Returning to the rest of the soldiers, Geris made a few modifications of the plan, including limiting the opening burst of the machine gun because they could not see targets. Under the new plan, soldiers fired along the perimeter of the camp, not directly into it.
"I am sorry you are not going to be able to shoot," Geris said to Johnson.
Shortly afterward, the soldiers stormed the compound. The first burst from the guerrillas "killed" Hubbard - something the soldier learned when the instructors told him he was dead. Just two minutes into the raid, Geris' plan of attack was in shambles.
Geris knew he was tight on time and couldn't afford to get pinned down.
"Bravo team bound. Let's go! Clear that building!" he yelled as he knelt by the side of a building clutching his M-4 rifle.
The students pressed on, covering each other as they approached a small house. But another burst from the guerrillas hit two more soldiers trying to enter the building.
Geris, his voice breaking as he screamed commands, struggled to keep control over his men as they moved forward, clearing the bunkers.
Less than 20 minutes after the start of the raid, Geris and his men huddled in a thicket.
Four "dead" soldiers lay in a heap in the middle. Another had been told by instructors he was wounded. Geris, carrying three rifles - two from dead soldiers - alternated between ordering his men to set up a perimeter and calling on the radio to other members of the team.
Almost all of the soldiers were carrying extra weapons and gear. The soldiers - a little disorganized - were drenched in sweat as they set up a security perimeter.
The hostage - an instructor's son - squatted near the dead soldiers.
After a head count, Geris realized he was missing a man. He sent three men back to find him.
The others found cover or treated the wounded soldier. The instructors prowled around the makeshift camp, making comments, nudging the soldiers in the right direction.
Hubbard, dead, sat in the shade watching. He looked dejected after being killed early in the fight.
"I enjoy this stuff," Hubbard said. "It sucks when I get killed early on and I am out of it."
The missing soldier was quickly found, and the last of the team members made it to camp. Geris and his men picked up the dead and wounded and staggered to a landing zone and an imaginary medevac helicopter.
Then the role-playing was over. The soldiers were left to walk back to the training camp, where another mission awaited them.
Geris was unhappy.
Planning the mission had taken longer than he wanted. Almost walking into the camp was a mistake and having four dead and one wounded was more than he bargained for, too. But he felt good about his decisions under fire and thought he had handled the pressure of leading his troops.
"The best-laid plan only survives first contact," Geris said.
As he walked back, his teammates - those living and the ones recently resurrected - told him he had done well..
As the sun beat down and despite the pending long after-action review, in which the instructors would pick apart his every decision, Geris' spirits rose. He had learned some lessons, lessons that took him and his fellow soldiers a step closer to earning the green beret.