Jade Helm 15: Special Forces Off-Post Training

I had just hooked up my static line to the anchor line cable in the back of the MC-130. I was hunched over from the weight of my 130-pound ruck and 40-pound chute. In the back of the Special Operations C-130 there were only five Americans. The crew chief, jump master, assistant jump master, me, and one of 10^th group's Tactical Air Control Party (TAC-P). With us were 12 members of the elite British SAS. They had been invited by the 10^th Special Forces group commander to take part in the first unconventional warfare exercise run out of the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC).

The SAS had come over with their personal gear and we had given them weapons and night vision goggles, but due to the differences in communications gear, my team sergeant had volunteered me to be assigned to them for the duration of the month-long exercise.

The SAS planned on conducting split-team ops, so a TAC-P was assigned to run comms for the other split. This exercise, while based out of Fort Polk, Louisiana, actually encompassed three states: Louisiana, Mississippi, and (don’t quote me on this, it was 15 years ago) Arkansas. It included 2^nd bn 10^th SFG(A), elements of the 75^th Ranger Regiment, U.S. Navy SEALs, and of course the SAS. (Does any of this sound familiar in regards to the current Jade Helm 15 exercise?)

There were role players who acted as the guerilla force that ODAs had to train and lead. The SEALs conducted operations along the coast and the rivers, one ODA conducted SR and then acted as guides for the Rangers, who jumped in and conducted an assault.

Then there was me and the Brits. Our mission was to conduct strategic reconnaissance (SR) on an enemy facility. The actual location was the John C. Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi.

I could feel my spine compressing, and I was praying to hurry up and jump so I could get out of the chute and only worry about my 130-pound ruck. The tail on the MC-130 lowered, and I took in one of the most memorable sights I experienced in my 20 years of service.

Framed in the opening was one of the massive test stands. It lit up the night like the Las Vegas strip. It was amazing; I had no idea how massive they were, and I knew we were right on target. As the test stand faded, the green light came on and we hobbled off the ramp into the darkness.

Off-post training or realistic military training (RMT)

If you haven't read it, take a few minutes to read the Jade-Helm-PPT allegedly released by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). While researching all of the controversy and conspiracy surrounding Jade Helm 15 (JH15), a common theme always seemed to pop up. The same questions were asked over and over:

“What is RMT?”

“How often does this kind of training happen?”

“Why do they need to train off-post? They have plenty of facilities that are on military bases.”

I will attempt to answer these questions and hopefully minimize some of the fear and borderline hysteria that is occurring because of this exercise.

What is RMT?

According to the Jade Helm 15 PPT, realistic military training (RMT) is:

“Training conducted outside of federally owned property. The RMT process is designed to ensure proper coordination between DOD representatives and local and regional authorities. The process includes the following measures:

·         Risk assessment, medical, and communications plans

·         MOU, MOA (note: Memorandum of Understanding and Memorandum of Agreement), and licensing agreements (training areas, staging areas, role players)

·         Legal review

·         ID of training, staging areas, role players, airfield, drop zone (DZ) and landing zone (LZ)  surveys

·         Letters of invitations obtained from local officials (mayor, county commission)

·         Coordination with local, state, and federal law enforcement

·         Public affairs review

To hone advanced skills, the military and interagency require large areas of undeveloped land with low population densities with access to towns.  The proposed areas offer the conditions conducive to quality training because of real obstacles to challenge Joint and IA personnel during planning and execution of their tasks. These challenges include:

·         Operating outside the normal support mechanism

·         Adapting to unfamiliar terrain, social, and economic conditions

·         Operating in and around communities where anything out of the ordinary will be spotted and reported (locals are the first to notice something out of place)

·         The opportunity to work with civilians to gain their trust and an understanding of the issues

Basically, what it all boils down to is training in terrain or environments that can’t be found on military bases. Imagine conducting reconnaissance on the back 40 of a military base. Your unit has coordinated with range control, and no one, other than your unit, is supposed to be there.

Now compare that to conducting reconnaissance in a state or national forest, where you not only have to worry about your opposing force, but now you have to worry about hikers, hunters, and campers. People on four-wheelers, horses, or in trucks.

Many of these people will call the local authorities (police or forest rangers) if they spot 8-10 armed men in camouflage lurking or sneaking around. Now imagine if those police or forest rangers were aware of the exercise and were cooperating with the opposing force. What if they called up the opposing force and let them know some people had been spotted?

What do you think is more difficult and creates more challenges to overcome? Ask Marcus Luttrell about the difficulty of working in an area where people can show up out of the blue.

How often does this kind of training happen?

All the time! In the last four years before I retired, I worked at the Special Forces Advanced Mountain Operations School. The summer (Senior Mountaineering) course was six weeks long. Five of them took place on:

PRIVATE PROPERTY

CITY PARKS

STATE PARKS

NATIONAL FOREST

The winter (Master Mountaineering) course was five weeks long, and all of them took place off-post. We ran three summer courses and one winter course. Just for the standard courses, that adds up to 20 weeks of realistic military training. That doesn't include instructor training, schools, and courses that we attended—all off-post.

That was just for the mountain school. 10th Group, also located in Colorado, conducted similar training all over the state beyond what we did. I worked very closely with every local, state, and federal entity where we would conduct our training. I submitted land-use agreements each time we used a location.

Talk to the ski patrol or member of the public at many of the local ski resorts to see what they think of Special Forces. We trained at Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, and the list goes on.

I have conducted off-post training all over Colorado, in Wyoming, North Carolina, Virginia, California, Washington, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Louisiana. I very well could have missed some, and keep in mind, this is just my experience.

What is Pineland?

From the USA Today article titled, "Fake Nation Tests Tomorrow's Special Forces:"

Pineland is a contradiction that exists for the best of causes. It is a real place that does not exist, or, perhaps, a fake place that does. It is a military training ground etched onto the landscape itself—a community with a backstory hewn from whole cloth that helps real American soldiers stay alive in real American wars. And much like the country that contains it, Pineland is a society founded upon an idea—that freedom and a fire to fight for it are more than slogans.

A generation ago, a Green Beret named Ed Brodey 'created' Pineland using a set of 1964 encyclopedias as his guide. He has detailed geography (looks a lot like the East Coast), history (mirrors that of the United States, including Pinelanders fighting on the western front in World War II) and ethnicity (Iraqi refugees flooded Pineland after the Gulf War).

What is Robin Sage?

From Professionalsoldiers.com on the history of Robin Sage:

"For more than 50 years, the Robin Sage exercise has been the litmus test for soldiers hoping to earn the coveted Green Beret of the Special Forces. It is during Robin Sage, held in the rural counties of North Carolina, that soldiers must put all the skills they have learned throughout the Special Forces Qualification Course to the test in an unconventional-warfare training exercise.

"In 1952, Colonel Aaron Bank, the man known as the father of Special Forces, created Robin Sage which was designed to put soldiers in 'real-world' scenarios that would test their training and adaptability. The first exercise was played out in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia, and later in the Pisgah and the Uwharrie National Forests in North Carolina.

"In its earlier days, the exercise was known as Cherokee Trail and Gobbler’s Woods; however, the current operation derives its name from the town of Robbins, North Carolina, a central area of operations for the exercise, and former Army Colonel Jerry Sage, a World War II veteran and an Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, officer who taught unconventional-warfare tactics."

Robin Sage facts:

• The exercise is conducted over 8,500 square miles.
• It's conducted in a 15-county area: Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davidson, Guilford, Hoke, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly, and Union.

Image courtesy of seanlinnane.blogspot.com

• Approximately 1,000 people participate in the exercise, including students, cadre, civilian auxiliary, and military role players.
• Approximately 400 North Carolina residents volunteer support for each iteration of Robin Sage.
• Robin Sage is conducted eight times per year, and is part of the Special Forces Training pipeline.
• The exercise incorporates extensive cooperation and coordination with local law enforcement and governments in those counties, according to the command.
• Under Robin Sage, more than 100 Special Forces candidates will help 'liberate' a fictional country called 'Pineland,' with boundaries that overlap Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davidson, Guilford, Hoke, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly, and Union counties in the state.

Continued from the USA Today article:

From the outside, Ramseur resembles a small town going about its business. But it's like one of those old, black-and-white episodes of "The Twilight Zone": Behind the scenes, everyone is playing a carefully calibrated role.

Cheryl Lake, the Quick Check manager, donates Gatorade, water and coffee. Ramseur police set up checkpoints. And the main character? The town itself. At almost every business there are certificates of appreciation from the Special Forces; providing Fort Bragg with a place to help its soldiers has become part of the community identity.

"Ain't no one else can claim it," says James Parrish, a 54-year-old Pinelander with a beard that rivals Snyder's.

Like other families in Ramseur, the Parrishes have made Pineland a tradition that crosses generations. Parrish's son, Craig, volunteers as a driver, and the Pineland uniform will eventually go to his grandson, an 11-year-old aspiring Special Forces soldier.

Parrish never served in the real-world military. Joining the Pineland "resistance" is his way of compensating.

"It is a passion. It is a chance to pay back the soldiers," he says. "And maybe we're just a bunch of rednecks that like to raise hell."

Pineland has bad guys, too. Here, Jose Cuervo, the local strongman, has a reputation for torturing Pineland guerrillas.

Cuervo is played by Dale Needham, a soft-spoken volunteer firefighter. On the night of the team's final mission — the night the Special Forces students get to rub Cuervo out — Needham is late. He is putting out a house fire. A real one.

It isn't easy being the enemy in your own town. For the past two weeks, Needham has stayed away from the team's camp, which sits on his mother's land nearby. Balancing real life and Pineland life can be a tricky deal...

But for anyone passing through, Pineland is invisible. There are clues, though, if you're looking. If you stop at the diner for some persimmon pudding, you might see two younger guys emerge from a back booth and pay the check in Don. Once, a team left a real American $5 bill as a tip. They were pulled over by a cop in short order.

"We know it is make believe, Snyder says, "but we have to treat it like it is real."

Pinelanders don't sit around on porches and wax philosophic about what it all means. Strip away its details and Robin Sage is simply military support—citizens doing things to make sure that if war comes, the United States has the advantage.

Robin Sage happens six to eight times a year and it is always preceded by press releases in the local newspapers and radio stations. A recent release has some very familiar language to the Jade Helm 15 ppt:

• Throughout the exercise, candidates and Robin Sage role-players not only conduct missions, but also live, eat, and sleep in 'Pineland.'
• All Robin Sage movements and events have been coordinated with public safety officials throughout and within towns and counties hosting the training.
• Residents may hear blank gunfire and see occasional flares.
• Students will only wear civilian clothes if the situation warrants, as determined by the instructors, but will also wear a distinctive armband during these instances.
• Personnel role-playing as 'Pineland' law enforcement officers wear distinctive hats and armbands, as well.
• Training areas and vehicles used during exercises are clearly labeled.
• Approximately 200 military service members from units across Fort Bragg will also support the exercise.
• These military members act as realistic opposing forces and guerrilla freedom fighters, also known as Pineland's resistance movement.
• To add realism to the exercise, civilian volunteers throughout the state act as role-players. Participation by these volunteers is crucial to the success of this training, and past trainees attest to the realism they add to the exercise.

My point with this article was to not only explain that off-post training happens all the time, but also to point out that exercises exactly like Jade Helm 15 have occurred before (although the size of Jade Helm 15 is much bigger than most others). Those who have been working with Special Forces in North Carolina have a great relationship with the Green Berets, and have been doing it for generations.

When I went through, our guy had his kids come out and hang out at the G-Base, and in fact his 12-year-old son carried an AK-47 and took part in the final assault. At the end, we let his six-year-old shoot a 100-round belt of blanks through the M-60. That little bastard was funny as hell. He had to use both hands to hold the grip and pull the trigger. He pulled the trigger once and didn't let up until all 100 rounds were fired. The recoil pushed him back about two feet. He stood up and walked away—acting like it wasn't that big a deal. We weren't the first team that let him do that, clearly. He was already a pro.

The people of Pineland do it for one reason only: They are patriots who love this country, love Green Berets, and it is a way for them to help. They know how important this training is, and realize that it will save people's lives who are sent overseas.