Page 68 - QDG Vol. 9 No. 2 CREST

66 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
US Army National Training Center
Since October 2020 I have had the privi- lege of working at the US Army’s National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California. Many QDGs will remember this as the location of Exercise Diamondback, the Mojave Desert installation trains 6000 troops a month in a bespoke $35 million force-on-force then live fire package. As Squadrons from The Regiment did in 2016 & 2017, we often have coalition units join the US Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), themselves either “Armoured” or “Stryker” combined arms units operating within a DATE scenario that requires them to attack and defend across
a huge area that stretches from Barstow to Las Vegas (a decidedly more attractive location).
My original role here
was as a Cavalry Opera-
tions trainer – working to
coach the Bradley units
that operate as the eyes
of the BCT. They perform reconnaissance by force,
and each armoured cavalry
unit even has a reserve Sqn of tanks to achieve their mission sets. Since June 2021 however, I have been the Brigade plans coach, working to keep the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP – their equivalent of the 7Qs) on track to enable an effective cascade of training.
It is an unforgiving location, in California by name only. During the Summer the
During the Summer the heat gets up to 55 degrees
...and then we’ll wrap it up after lunch and head to Vegas
heat gets up to 55 degrees Celsius, yet training carries on. There are packs of wild coyotes, tarantulas, black widows, poisonous snakes, water hunting desert bees, endangered tortoises whose
presence can shut down training and the local town is best passed at high speed. I did have the pleasure of joining A Sqn QDG in Fort Polk, Louisiana, in March of 2021 (See the Ex Rattlesnake article for further detail). As I worked to enable their training on Ex Rattlesnake, it was
great to reconnect with members
of The Regiment who I hadn’t seen in years, especially following them across (and occasionally off) the logs over the alligator infested swamps as they moved through terrain judged by the enemy to be completely impassable.
It has been an amazing year supporting the US Army, and absolutely an uphill battle of learning while attempting to execute my role. I’d encourage any member of the serving Regiment to join me out as a rotational guest OM for their own personal development, if you are interested and are supported by your CoC, please get in touch.
AM
Maj Dumont – wide load