Troops exchange tactics, techniques in joint exercise

Spc. Vincent Fusco
20th Public Affairs Detachment

DONNELLY TRAINING AREA, Alaska — Soldiers of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, were on point with the Indian soldiers of 4th Rajput, Indian Army for Yudh Abhas 07-01, a bilateral training exercise held Sept. 9 through Monday.

The militaries of the two nations shadowed each other for an exchange of combat tasks, tactics and culture.
“We have done some medical training, some engineer training, and now we are to eliminate as much of the insurgency as possible,” said Indian Maj. Karwan Akash, 4th Rajput, Indian Army, about training objectives.

Each platoon in B Co. was paired with a group of Indian soldiers for the exercise, according to Sgt. Jason Lewton, a Cody, Wyo., native and the noncommissioned officer in charge of drivers for the Indian Army with 2nd Platoon, B Co., 3-21st.

“We started training on marksmanship, then platoon-level attacks on troops and then the attack on Bondsteel, the (military operations on urban terrain) village,” Lewton said.

The Soldiers from B Co. were not just there to teach combat tasks, but to observe how the visiting soldiers accomplished those tasks and interacted with the forces of another nation.

“Their tactics are kind of similar to ours,” Lewton said. “They do a lot of the stuff I noticed we did seven years ago, before the war in Iraq.”

Lewton and Akash noted the Indian soldiers were very energetic about training with opposing forces and the role-players from Defense Training Services: Iraqi-Americans who spoke fluent Arabic and played true-to-life characters for the exercise.

“It’s an eye-opener,” Akash said. “We get to know more about what can be done to improve the training.”

In spite of working in near-freezing temperatures with wind chills and constant rain, Akash says his soldiers had no problem adapting to Alaska’s cold and wet autumn.

“India has many climates to train in,” Akash said. “We train (in) the harshest of the elements.”

Lewton said while the language barrier was one of the most significant challenges in working together, the training provided an opportunity to learn each other’s language.

In addition to a military exchange, Yudh Abhas 07-01 has been a cultural exchange as well, with soldiers teaching each other phrases and words from their language and learning about climate and society.

“It’s helped the American and Indian soldiers learn how to understand each other,” Akash said.

With India’s history of combating terrorism predating the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lewton was impressed with the visiting soldiers’ overall level of proficiency.

“They’ve been really successful in all the field exercises preformed so far,” Lewton said.

“They’re coming on as fast as any unit I’ve seen in the U.S. military.”

The four-day capstone mission at the end of the exercise was the around-the-clock operation of a forward operating base, during which the Indian and American troops encountered attacks on the base and mass casualty missions inside and out of the base.

“Working with the Americans has brought certain tactics we are trying to establish, and so far we have achieved that,” Akash said.

“It’s one of the first real chances we’ve had to interact with another culture,” Lewton said.

“I truly enjoyed working with them, and I hope we get more opportunities to do this with other countries.”

The exchange will continue in October when the Soldiers of 3-21st travel to India for the second part of the exercise, Yudh Abhas 07-02.

“This is the most forthcoming step of two nations facing a common problem,” Akash said.