April 23, 2014

by Sgt. 1st Class Brad Staggs, Atterbury-Muscatatuck Public Affairs

MUSCATATUCK URBAN TRAINING CENTER, Ind. -- Military training has changed and throughout history.

From swords to rifles, chain mail to body armor, and wide open fields to cities, training has morphed to represent the times and needs of the trainees.

From April 1 through 11, 25 representatives from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States came to the Indiana National Guard's Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, Ind., to discuss this very subject.

"The purpose is the collaborative effort of different coalition and NATO nations in the urban training front," Maj. Shawn Eaken, director of Operations Group Grizzly at MUTC who also serves as the NATO group's secretary.

The NATO Urban Operations Working Group was formed in order to develop an Allied Tactical Publication dealing with urban operations around the world. According to Eaken, the NATO working group hopes to complete their work by spring of 2015 so that urban operations training doctrine can be in place quickly to help nations work together.

The group concentrated on all aspects of urban operations training and what can be done to make it easier for Soldiers from all nations, even including a board game. Lt. Col. Sébastien de Peyret of the French Army invented a game which, he hopes, will help people understand how forces can move through an urban area. The game, called "Urban Operations", features a city layout and pieces which can move around on the board representing combatants and non-combatants.

"It is only in the trial phase now," de Peyret said while showing the way the pieces move together to create a realistic scenario. "Very soon, the buildings will be three-dimensional pieces which can be placed on the board to give a feeling of depth."

"A lot of work has been done on standardizing the NATO doctrine," said United Kingdom Army Maj. Ian Hastings. "Urban doctrine for NATO doesn't exist and it's a pretty critical piece of work to be done since we will most likely find ourselves in an urban environment for years to come."

The next meeting and doctrinal session will take place in Belgium the fall. The advantage for all member countries is the chance to see how other nations train their military members and use ideas to enhance their own training.

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Photo caption: Maj. Mario Petschar of Austria and Lt. Col. Thomas Huber of Switzerland work together at a breakout session during the annual NATO Urban Operations Task Group meeting which is taking place at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, Ind., with 25 participants from 17 countries around the world. (Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brad Staggs, Atterbury-Muscatatuck Public Affairs)