Special Forces Prepare For Afghanistan In Utah Desert

Dozer523 · 07-15-2009, 08:46

From the Early Bird News (AKO) 15JUL09

CBS
July 14, 2009

Special Forces Prepare For Afghanistan In Utah Desert
CBS Evening News, 6:30 PM

KATIE COURIC: Tonight, our chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan has an exclusive report on one of America's most potent weapons.

LARA LOGAN: These Green Berets are on a night mission to take out several high-value Taliban leaders. Every minute bringing them closer to their target.
The shooting starts before they even land. The soldiers touching down in hostile territory. Gunfire lights up the night sky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shift fire. Shift fire. Shift fire.

LOGAN: But the operation is swift and decisive. The Special Forces soldiers secure the area and eliminate their targets. This operation has the feel of Afghanistan and the terrain is strikingly similar, but we're not on Afghan soil, we're thousands of miles away from the middle of the Utah desert on a Special Forces training mission. The enemy here is a paper target. But these soldiers know from experience that the targets and the dangers they'll face in Afghanistan are very real. That's why they've chosen the remote mountains at the Dugway Proving Grounds for their training. This military facility is the size of Rhode Island and the closes you can get inside the U.S. to the conditions these soldiers face in Afghanistan. We can't identify any of them for security reasons. Difficult terrain to operate in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they don't send us to places that are easy.

LOGAN: They execute mock assaults on enemy compounds and work through an interpreter to treat Afghan civilians, practicing the strategy to win over the people. We spoke to a team member who served in Afghanistan before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty much a good mock-up of what we actually expect in Afghanistan.

LOGAN: It's pretty realistic to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely.

LOGAN: It needs to be. The soldiers told us the enemy they now face eight years into this war is one who knows their tactics and has adapted to stay two steps ahead. When these soldiers are not training, they're deployed. The operational tempo for Special Forces is relentless. And the demand for these elite soldiers is growing. Their skills are rare. Here we watched as they practice parachuting for more than 10,000 feet in the dead of night. A high-altitude jump designed to bring them unseen and unheard on to a target.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excellent job.

LOGAN: They can be dropped miles away then drift silently through the black sky reaching their targets undetected. Elite soldiers at the tip of the spear in President Obama's new strategy for the Afghanistan war.

Lara Logan, CBS News, Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah.

**The Reaper** · 07-15-2009, 08:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dozer523

Elite soldiers at the tip of the spear in President Obama's new strategy for the Afghanistan war.

Lara Logan, CBS News, Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah.

Obama has a new strategy for the war?

What is it?

TR

bluebb · 07-15-2009, 09:06

We keep doing what were doing but when we win Obama gets the credit.

Blue

**Team Sergeant** · 07-15-2009, 09:16

Dugway Proving Grounds, such a lovely place and what fond memories! (NOT) Hope those guys brought along their chemical detector kits....

Utah Bob · 07-15-2009, 09:25

Lara Logan. Yuummmmmm.

TOMAHAWK9521 · 07-15-2009, 09:31

DUGWAY?! Couldn't they pick a less shitty place to train? I swear those red lights around the containment facility started flashing every time we opened a water spigot to fill our canteens.

Smokin Joe · 07-15-2009, 09:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOMAHAWK9521

DUGWAY?! Couldn't they pick a less shitty place to train? I swear those red lights around the containment facility started flashing every time we opened a water spigot to fill our canteens.

Well there is always Hawthorne, Nevada but I think the Navy has that all wrapped up.

Richard · 07-15-2009, 10:24

News piece and videos are here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...eaturedPost-PE

Dugway - Hunter Liggett - PTA - Twenty-Nine Palms - NTC - White Sands - they're all on my list to never have to 'wander' again.

Richard's $.02

mojaveman · 07-15-2009, 11:04

Let's hear a few comments from the Orogrande veterans. I couldn't think of a more God foresaken place.

**Team Sergeant** · 07-15-2009, 11:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojaveman

Let's hear a few comments from the Orogrande veterans. I couldn't think of a more God foresaken place.

I can....Orogrande doesn't hold a match to Dugway Proving Ground as god forsaken. You were saying????

TS

Quote:

DPG was officially established 12 February 1942, and testing commenced in the summer of that year. During World War II, DPG tested toxic agents, flame throwers, chemical spray systems, biological warfare weapons, antidotes for chemical agents, and protective clothing. In October 1943, DPG established biological warfare facilities at an isolated area within DPG (Granite Peak). DPG was slowly phased out after W.W.II, becoming inactive during August 1946. The base was reactivated during the Korean War and in 1954 was confirmed as a permanent Department of Army installation. In October 1958, DPG became home to the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) Weapons School, which moved from the U.S. Army Chemical Center, MD.

In March 1968, 6,400 sheep were found dead after grazing in south Skull Valley, an area just outside Dugway's boundaries. When examined, the sheep were found to have been poisoned by a deadly nerve agent called VX. The incident, coinciding with the birth of the environmental movement and anti-Vietnam protests, created an uproar in Utah and internationally.

Today DPG continues its role in the testing of chemical agents, pathogens, and toxins, now conducted in sealed containment chambers (rather than open air testing as in the past). Other activities at DPG include Army Reserve and National Guard component maneuver training, and U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/dugway.htm

mojaveman · 07-15-2009, 11:28

Ok TS,

How about Cairo West?

I'm sure you've been there.

I can name a few other horrible ones too.

Aoresteen · 07-15-2009, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluebb

We keep doing what were doing but when we win Obama gets the credit.

Blue

But if there are setbacks, blame Bush!

jbour13 · 07-17-2009, 11:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smokin Joe

Well there is always Hawthorne, Nevada but I think the Navy has that all wrapped up.

Nope, was in use by us just 9 months ago. Froze my ass off running from ODA's as OPFOR up in the mountains.

Nothing like being treated well by America's Best at 9000ft Altitude. Flex cuffed with no gloves, on my knees in the dirt at around 18 degrees in Levi's and a jacket. Hey....at least they shuffled me away out of the wind

Looks like some places here. Sucks unless you like going to the El Capitan for nickel slots.

Smokin Joe · 07-17-2009, 12:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbour13

Nope, was in use by us just 9 months ago. Froze my ass off running from ODA's as OPFOR up in the mountains.

Nothing like being treated well by America's Best at 9000ft Altitude. Flex cuffed with no gloves, on my knees in the dirt at around 18 degrees in Levi's and a jacket. Hey....at least they shuffled me away out of the wind

Looks like some places here. Sucks unless you like going to the El Capitan for nickel slots.

Ain't it a great town.... LMAO, I haven't been there in a few years. I can't say I miss it.

Penn · 07-17-2009, 15:22

I spent 9 months in Dugway. They would bus girls in once a month for us to dance with...90 miles from the nearest town then, I would think its the same today...did some say Toxic environment?