Joint services tackle Mountain Peak

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Douglas Ellis
  • 23d Wing Public Affairs
Fort Drum, N.Y. --  The 10th Mountain Division hosted its largest exercise in over a decade to prepare soldiers and Airmen for future training and deployments.

More than 10,000 service members participated in Mountain Peak, a large-scale training exercise July 23 through Aug. 2.

"The most unique aspect of Mountain Peak is that it is the largest local exercise that any Army Division has held since Sept. 11, 2001," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Zachary Wood, 20th Air Support Operations Squadron commander. "They are rolling every aspect of training into this, including opposing forces."

On the third day, a platoon assaulted pop-up targets in a village using live ammunition and captured a high value target during a training scenario. Afterward, a training observer briefed the soldiers on improvements that could be made.

"Anytime you get a chance to go in the field and work out kinks in your organization, that's one mistake you're not going to make downrange" said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Karl Skidmore, 3rd Brigade Combat Team 1-32 Infantry Battalion executive officer.

The exercise also gave experience to new platoon leaders before they deploy by giving them the opportunity to utilize air assets to safely advance in position on the ground.

"I'm seeing mistakes that I made when I was a young platoon leader, and thank God I made them here instead of downrange where it counted," said Skidmore. "That to me is what this is all about."

U.S. Air Force joint terminal attack controllers also participated in the exercise. Their role was to control the airborne assets and provide expertise on how to best employ airpower within the soldiers' scheme of maneuver.

"We give soldiers downrange the advantage of close air support, which is something that our current enemy does not have at this time," said Senior Airman Yorke Goddard, 20th ASOS JTAC.

During the training, JTACs gained more knowledge on how the Army operates on foot, which improved the way they employ close-air-support with soldiers on the ground.

"It is good to have them here because the more they understand about what we do on the ground, the better they can direct those air assets in support of us," said Skidmore.

Mountain Peak was a chance for soldiers and Airmen to work together before deploying with one another downrange. By training together, they gained a better understanding of how to benefit from each other in combat.

"It has really been an honor and a privilege to work with the Air Force in support of this exercise," said U.S. Army Maj. Brian Ducote, 3rd Brigade Combat Team operations officer. "I cannot say enough good things about the support that the Air Force has given us."