Surrounded by clear blue skies and bright orange sand, Omani and U.S. forces conducted a simulated assault here against dozens of enemy fighters, Jan. 31, in the culminating event of Inferno Creek 18, a three-week training exercise conducted by the U.S. and Omani armies.
The joint exercise allowed multiple elements of the militaries to practice working together with the countries each contributing scouts, mortars, infantry, engineers, and other elements that
The success of the training mission relied on seeds planted three weeks earlier, when leaders met to work through the military decision-making process, or MDMP, according to Army Lt. Col. Jonathan M. Genge, the U.S. task force commander for the exercise.
“It’s been great since day one, the Omanis coming in right on time, every day, for MDMP, energetic, ready to tackle the task of the day,” he said. “They’ve come in with their experiences [and] we’ve learned from that as well. They took the lead in a lot of things with MDMP as well as [course of action] development, the wargaming.”
New Challenges, Experiences
For the grunts on the ground, working with the Omanis presented new challenges but allowed for great experiences.
“I feel pretty excited about
The first elements hitting the objective were the scouts. Omani vehicles dropped off U.S. forces near their planned observation posts and most of the Americans dismounted to go on foot the last few hundred meters to observe the battlefield. A few of the Americans went with the Omani vehicles, which acted as mobile weapon platforms during the fight.
“At first, before the maneuver force gets to the objective, we will be observing the objective area, identifying key personnel, key weapon systems, any obstacles that could hinder their movement up to the objective,” said Army Cpl. Jacob Kehler, the sniper team noncommissioned officer for the exercise. “Once they get up to 100 meters or so, right before their assault on the objective, we’ll transition up north to where we’re expecting an enemy armored reconnaissance unit.”
As the maneuver force, made up primarily of Omani and U.S. infantry and engineers, made its way up, the scouts and infantry automatic weapons teams laid down a base of
“It really tests our preparedness and our rehearsals,” Kehler said, “to be able to coordinate between different units, us being scouts and the infantry and the added personnel of the Omanis. So the coordination between all units really has to be on point, it really tests how well you can conduct everything going on, how proficient you are at communication between the units.”
An
Developing Combined Force Skills
While the exercise was complex, junior leaders emphasized to their soldiers the importance of learning to work with other forces.
“We were up in Iraq for a couple weeks back in November,” Kehler said. “And, when we were up there, there were British forces, Danish forces and
Genge, the task force commander, agreed and praised the value of the exercise for reinforcing and building partnerships. He also expressed a hope that, while 2018 was the largest iteration of the annual exercise yet, it would grow even larger.
“Inferno Creek 2018 is an opportunity for the U.S. and our partner, the Omanis, to bridge a gap and build a relationship here in the Middle East and to develop ourselves at the company and tactical level and now make our way from the lower levels, the individual, all the way up to the battalion and, looking to the future, maybe make our way up to the brigade level and higher with not only just the maneuver but maybe a command post exercise,” Genge said.