Ft. Irwin, CA (670 KBOI News) – The Idaho National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade is in dusty and dry Ft. Irwin California this month for some of the best training the Army has to offer.
It’s called the National Training Center…a maneuver area that’s big enough for large-scale force on force training to take place.
Captain Robert Taylor with the 116th says it’s a lot like the Orchard Training Area…only much, much bigger.
“The Orchard Combat Training Center, as well as the facilities on Gowen Field are great assets (but) this training facility just gives us the ability to maneuver,” said Taylor. “There’s more space, we can have the force-on-force with the tanks, as well as there are different villages, there are different pyros, we can live fire equipment here that we can’t fire there.”
One of the pieces of equipment they’ll live fire is the Mine Clearing Line Charge — or MCLC — which combat engineers use to clear mine fields.
The 116th will be back from NTC at the end of June.
— Jay Howell, 670 KBOI News
