I remember when I deployed to Afghanistan being surprised by many things. Going to a different country let alone a combat zone was a shocker from the frozen tundra of Northern New York. But one thing that surprised me the most that I did not expect, was how closely I was going to work with partner forces. I figured I would be working with Afghan Police and Army but working with the Romanian Army as closely as we did was very surprising.
There is no question in my mind that America has the premier fighting force in the world. There was also no question in the Romanian’s mind that we were the best Army in the world. They were very excited to learn from the American soldiers.
As a sniper section along with the Special Forces guys with us we were able to train these soldiers on long range shooting, CLS, machine gun employment, Battle Drill 6 (room clearing), and much more. Not only were we doing our normal jobs as soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, but now we were involved in training our partner forces to be “up to snuff” with us.
As we were working, eating, and enjoying the company of our Romanian counter parts I encountered a man who I will call “The Fox”. Fox was a corporal in the Romanian Mountain Recon. As a sniper and reconnaissance soldier myself, we naturally started to discuss tactics, weapons, optics, and much more along the lines of our jobs.
Through the conversations we had, I started to realize that though we as the American Army had much more equipment and technology (like drones and radios) to do reconnaissance, there was tons we could learn from these soldiers. One of the main things was, how to do Recon in the mountains! Something that here at Fort Drum we do not encounter that much.
I sat down and interviewed Fox about things that they did and how their lack of technology forces them to be experts at field craft. We talked how they trained doing actual reconnaissance in their home villages to practice and hone their skills as they do it “live”.
The following is part of the paper I wrote as a AAR (After Action Report) of our work with the Romanians and what we could learn from them:
During my deployment to Afghanistan I was at New Camp Vance Complex (NVC) formally known as Sullivan. While there our mission was defense of the complex and the assets in it. Our original idea was that the snipers would do mayor cell functions and go into action if and when an attack happened. This worked for a while, but with the Covid 19 pandemic this strategy changed.
There was a lack of infantry like experience in the leadership of the QRF squads as an artilleryman and an intelligence analyst where put in charge of the QRF squads. This lead to two of the snipers (myself and another) taking over as the squad leaders so we could train the young infantrymen up properly to be good soldiers. It was when this change happened that I encountered the Romanians.
Though I had worked with some of the Romanians while in the BDOC office (I was the movement, range, armorer, and Covid NCOIC) when I moved down to the QRF squad I worked with many more. The Romanian company here was from a mountain battalion.
In the Romanian Army Mountain Soldiers and battalions are looked at as the elite infantry fighting forces. They go through a selection process and rigorous training to get into these battalions. They are taught and tested on climbing and skiing.
In my interaction with these Romanian soldiers they noticed that we were mountain troops as well. They were shocked when they found out that Fort Drum was in a swamp, not a mountain! When I told them that in the 10th Mountain Division we never trained on mountains, they were shocked. Especially when I told them that I estimated only 1% of the division has ever skied!
While interacting and working with these soldiers I befriended a man who we will call Fox. Like me, Fox is in the reconnaissance section of his battalion. We stared to share stories, talk tactics, and theories about the best ways to conduct reconnaissance. With all our technology in the American Army, we do not have to rely on field craft as much as the Romanians do.
These conversations planted some doubt in my mind as to our functions in the mountains. If we were to face an enemy like them in the mountains without our technological advances, I believe we might not be as successful as we think. With these doubts in my mind, I came up with a list of questions to ask the Fox about how they conduct recon to maybe implement some things and get better.
1: How does he mountain unit use you in setting up there climbs?
The recon squads are used in company movements to set up the rope systems to assist in movement. They get the route from the platoon leader or company commander and go on ahead to set up all the rope systems and climbing spots. The Recon Squads act as repel masters and assist the mountain troops in moving to their objectives.
This is a good function and one I feel the scout teams should train on if 2-22IN is to move to a “mountain battalion” or the 10th MTN is to go back to a mountain division. Having a small element with the ability to set up repels and rope systems to cross through the mountain terrain with ease would help with movements. This is also an asset in water crossings. With three scout teams, we could have all trained up on this and one team that is the “exert”. With leaders who are repel master and mountain trained setting up these movements.
2: What “Rope Systems” do you use/ need to know?
The Indian Bridge
Double Indian Bridge
Line with angle, equipment and people slide on carabineer (He could not remember the name)
He named these few that they use but told me that there are many rope systems both civilian and military that work great. As long as we know a few that can cover many situations. Know a zipline, one to move from peek to peek, water crossing, lowering casualties, and set up repelling going up and down cliffs.
3: How big are your recon squads?
The recon squads are two men. When moving, they may move with multiple recon squads together then branch off.
All the scout and recon teams I have been a part of have recon elements are broken into 6-8 man elements. One those elements are split into a hide and surve sites with only one element doing the recon and the other acting as a retrans site where they can sort out the communications and translate for higher headquarters. The Romanian Recon may move like this, but they split into two man teams where all do the observing.
4: How much rope and how many carabineers do you bring with you?
Each Soldier has a minimum of 2 carabineers on them.
50 to 70 meters of semi dynamic rope.
100 meters of 9-12mm rope.
100 meters of 6mm rope.
6 feet of 9-12mm rope for Swiss seat, attachment loops, shelter, and any other creative use you can think of.
50ft of 550 cord.
5: What winter/Snow Equipment do you use?
Skies are brought in winter missions. Snowshoes are really used. They will make field expedient ones if needed.
Skiing is a main part of their mountain troops. The ability to ski allows for speed in maneuvering in a winter environment. They will do raids on enemy patrol bases and camps. Skies give them the ability to move swiftly and silently through open snowy terrain. They are also good for infill and exfill when speed and surprise are extremely important.
I believe that we as a scout platoon should train on skies mainly in cross country skiing. This would give us the ability to move with speed through the snowy terrain that we traverse. This would be useful as a Reconnaissance element, we carry lots of gear and it would make the movements with heavy rucks easier and faster. This is a skill that would have to be trained, but with the amount of time during the day we typically have doing random details, I believe that after some time, we would be proficient with them.
6: Besides rope and skies what extra equipment do you bring with you?
Small axes and knifes for starting fires and setting up camp.
In the Romanian Army they do not have enough money to have long range optics and even radios. They use their cell phones and other cheap Motorola radios that they can buy personally. We also do not set up camps with fires like they do as fire can give away our positions.
The Romanian Recon elements also only use their AKs. They do not pack out light machine guns or SAWS. No grenade launchers either. I am a firm believer that you need a grenade launcher and or a M49 with you in the Surve AND Hide sites. This gives the scouts the fire power to better break contact.
I believe there are some good lessons to be learned from countries who value the “mountain” in their mountain troops. It is my personal opinion that with the war in Afghanistan going to the way side, this will give us an opportunity to focus and retrain on mountain warfare.
The Army’s model of schooling is to send the leaders to schooling and that way they can come back and push their soldiers in the skills they learned. Sending leaders in our formation to the mountaineering school here at Fort Drum would be a start towards developing these skills. I believe that at least the Team Leaders in the scout teams should go to repel master so they can start to learn how to set up these repels and rope systems for platoon/company size elements.
Talking to a lot of the soldiers they want to feel as if they have “earned” their mountain tab. I believe we should adopt the model of the 101st which sends their new soldiers to Air Assault School to become Air Assault qualified. The same should be done with our basic mountaineering course.
I believe another way to help move toward adopting a mountain mentality is to do our mountain peaks in the mountains. To see if we can work out a deal with New York State to use a portion of the Adirondack Mountains Range as training for war games. This would start to condition soldiers for mountain combat just like the 25th Infantry in Hawaii trains in the jungle. If this is not available we can use the mountain warfare training center in Jericho Vermont once a year to train.
Also I believe that the soldiers need to be given the time to make these new skills a priority in training. The Romanian Mountain battalion has a rockwall, repel tower, and ropes hook ups in their battalion area. We could also do cross country skiing for PT to learn how these systems function.
I hope that in the future we can start to implement these lessons learned and move to become a ready to fight unit in the mountains. Having a division, brigade, or even just a battalion that is sharp on all tactics mountain is crucial to our Army’s preparedness for any enemy anywhere.
What I hope soldiers and vets alike can learn from this is that no matter how good you are, you can always learn. John Stryker Myer says, “A Recon man who thinks he knows everything. Is a Recon man heading for trouble.” We may have the “better” tactics and technology then those forces that we work with, but that does not mean that we cannot learn from them. In order to be able to adapt to the future enemy we may face, we need to be willing to learn our jobs/skills from every angle. This takes humility.
