Army trains for evolving demands of the modern battlefield

FORT HOOD, Texas — The Army is adopting cutting-edge technology to adapt to the changing demands of the modern battlefield.

Operation Hood Strike brought active duty, reserve and Army National Guard units to Fort Hood, Texas, for a rigorous, hands-on stress test. Canadian troops also joined in the training.

“We are a total Army. We are a total engineer regiment. And we will fight with them in wartime. So we have to train with them here in peacetime,” said Col. Justin Pritchard, commander of the 36th Engineer Brigade.

The troops were immersed in a realistic combat scenario. Their mission was to cross Belton Lake and get closer to enemy territory.

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A soldier steers a seven-float raft on Belton Lake at Fort Hood, Texas. (RENARD News)

Engineers built a seven-float raft consisting of two ramps and five bays. Capt. Bruce Burgener, commander of the 43rd Multi-Role Deck Company, said this is the standard ramp and bay configuration for moving M1 Abrams tanks.

“Nothing less than that will move them,” Burgener said. “Our goal is to get as much throughput as possible to friendly forces.”

Burgener said his company received “a lot of new troops” and the training gave his high-ranking troops the opportunity to work with newer ones. He divided this training into three phases: “crawl, walk, run”.

“At this point, we’re about to walk the walk for our business,” Burgener said. “So we are slowly working to get to a stage where we will be able to work much more effectively with our new Soldiers.”

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Once all equipment and personnel are in place, the assault on the water begins. The Texas National Guard responded with Chinook helicopters to conduct reconnaissance and dropped sections of a bridge into the water.

Lt. Col. Travis Shahan, commander of the 961st Engineer Battalion, said air assets are critical to dropping large payloads in hard-to-reach areas.

“Sometimes when you’re building a bridge, it’s a little difficult to get all the equipment you need into the water,” Shahan said.

The Texas National Guard drops sections of bridge into Lake Belton at Fort Hood, Texas, from a Chinook helicopter. (RENARD News)

Troops crossing the bridge already know what enemy territory looks like because it has been mapped at the tactical command center. The map allows each soldier, from the highest rank down to line infantry, to know how they fit into the mission.

“If you work in an office, it’s pretty easy to plan this stuff. But when you’re here and the planes are flying over here at midnight… It’s a lot harder when you’re here trying to execute,” said Maj. Salem Maud, battalion executive officer.

A small-scale map located at the Tactical Operations Center shows troops what enemy territory looks like. (RENARD News)

Operation Hood Strike takes place every year at Fort Hood, but each year is different since the modern battlefield is constantly changing. While Col. Adam Rasmussen, commander of the 420th Engineer Brigade, said the Army was trying to get soldiers out of harm’s way, he said war was “still a human endeavor.”

“We want Soldiers who can innovate, and there is no better person to innovate on how to get a human out of a breach than a human who has endured the suffering of a breach,” Rasmussen said. “This human knows how important it is to bring an automated system, an unmanned system, or an AI system into the breach instead of a human.”

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By 2025, the Army has set a goal of recruiting 60,500 active-duty soldiers, according to Army Recruiting Command. They exceeded their goal by 103.47% and recruited 62,050 soldiers.

Recruiting Command said the Army Reserve aimed to recruit 14,320 soldiers in 2025. The Reserve fell short of its goal, reaching only 86.76 percent of its goal with 12,426 recruits.

“The way we recruit and retain is to get them here to go through a very challenging but rewarding training. They may not enjoy it 100 percent at the time, but at the end of the day they think they just did the coolest thing in the world,” Rasmussen said.

“They signed up to do just that,” Pritchard said. “Any time we can go out and do what they signed up to do in the military…It just encourages you, that’s why I served. That’s why I want to stay in the military and continue to serve the nation.”

Col. Adam Rasmussen, commander of the 420th Engineer Brigade, said the troops are becoming “deadlier” with every hour they spend training. (RENARD News)

The units involved in “Operation Hood Strike” are not preparing for a specific deployment. Rasmussen said training is always key to getting new Soldiers up to speed.

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“Every hour these soldiers spend on the battlefield, they become more deadly,” Rasmussen said.