I worked at Fort Irwin, the Army's National Training Center for desert operations. Military operations over a wide expanse like this is critical for flexing all facets of the combat force and all that it entails. There is no way to properly train the combined arms team without flexing the home station spin-up, putting your personnel and equipment (PAX) on conveyance via land, sea and air to the intermediate staging area. Maneuver forces will converge on the staging area; cover down on their equipment where everything will be assessed for serviceability and all major equipment and systems will be brought up to combat readiness or leadership heads will truly "roll." Final orders for entrance into theater will be issued and in-theater staging areas will be secured and occupied. Command and control (Communications), supply "trains" and all supporting efforts will become established and support operations become the pivotal point of continuous combat operations.
This is the nature of the beast and without a training area that provides the maneuver space to truly test individuals, teams, command and ALL supporting elements to include the higher level command and staff it really does a disservice as a "canned" training event. The SNAFU that results from moving your combat teams across the desert are not flexed and the sweat that should have been magnified in training will result in bloodshed on the battlefield. Training in this area attributed to the success we had against the Germans in Africa and throughout our efforts during WWII. Without it we would have been at an even bigger disadvantage moving PAX to the several theaters we fought in and from not to mention the ability of commanders to see their forces fire and maneuver from air assets all the way down to the rifleman on the ground in a coordinated effort.
It was awesome working at NTC and it provided a great understanding of the bigger picture and a true appreciation for the oddities one finds in the desert from long moved-on indigenous peoples, flora, fauna, artesian springs, mines and remnants of times long past...it was an experience!
Collecting artifacts was addressed in a document I found from 1985 and stated the following plan:
Collecting/Treasure Hunting:
Each camp has been exposed to over 40 years of unrestricted collecting by "treasure hunters." The surface of the camps has been scoured in search of items left behind by the troops. Numerous holes have been dug in an effort to expose collectables. What remains now has been left behind because it is of little or no value to collectors. These remaining "odds and ends" add interest and realism to each of the sites and provide a human dimension that is entirely missing without them. To ensure that this important aspect of the camps' atmosphere survives, all of the camps, with the exception of Camp Pilot Knob, will be closed to artifact collecting. This will protect the few remaining surface items by eliminating digging which is visually impairing and hastens the deterioration of surface features.
- Information from an old briefing out of NTC. Great lengths are taken to make sure Off-Limts areas are clearly briefed and explained.
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- Great archaeological sites and resources.
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- Snakes. Everybody likes to know about snakes.
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- Invertebrates and their potential for discomfort.
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- Leave the tortoise alone. If you scare them they react by urinating that releases a lot of body fluids that are crucial to their survival. They can potentially dehydrate and irreparably harm the tortoise.
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- And, of course there are animals who benefit by being near humans like the raven and the coyote.
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