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The only thing worse than getting attacked is getting attacked
and knowing in the back of your mind it will happen again. The
million-dollar question is when the next one will come.
The
four men inside a foxhole had been asking themselves this question
all day. When I last visited them they were in t-shirts digging
holes with an entrenching tool. Now they had a respectable fighting
position.
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From left to right: Canadian Army Cpl. Max Fournier, Marine Lance
Cpl. Zachery Trent, and Canadian Army Cpl. Luca Cymbalist man their
hasty fighting position and await an enemy counter attack during
Exercise Maple Resolve, May 31, 2016. The men were part of an
electronic warfare unit attached to Company C, 3rd Battalion
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry during the exercise.
(Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. William A. Parsons, 214th Mobile Public
Affairs Detachment)
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“What'd you think, Max? Are they going to hit us again?”
One of the Canadian soldiers asked.
A mustached man
sitting beside him nodded in response.
“Yeah, they
will,” added a U.S. Marine standing behind the machine gun.
“At first dark or first light?”
“It'll probably
happen at first light.”
At a casual glance these four
guys looked and acted like your regular light infantry team.
Upon closer inspection, the radio gadgets poking above the
foxhole revealed their real job: they were an electronic
warfare unit attached to an infantry company.
A
couple of things seemed out of place here. Why was a
valuable asset like them fighting along the perimeter of a
patrol base? And what had happened to the rest of the
company on this hill?
As it turned out, a lot had
occurred during the past 24 hours. The soldiers in the
foxhole caught me up to speed. To summarize:
An
assault on a hill went terribly wrong.
Originally
their mission called for intercepting enemy radio
transmissions, determining which direction the signals came
from, and even jamming them when necessary. Now the four
were part of a skeleton crew whose sole purpose was to avoid
being wiped out.
The four men were members of Romeo
Troop, 21st Electronic Warfare (EW) Regiment in the Canadian
Army. Two of them happened to be tag-along U.S. Marines who
both specialized in electronic warfare and signals analysis.
There were the two Canadians: Cpl. Luca Cymbalist,
the de facto leader of the team now; and his reserved
counterpart Cpl. Max Fournier, a soldier who sported a
distinctive mustache and French accent. On the U.S. side:
there was Lance Cpl. Daniel Newton, a fresh-faced Marine who
turned 21 only a few days ago; and to round out the quartet
was Lance Cpl. Zachery Trent, an astute bi-speckled signals
analyst from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.
This
motley crew of radio experts had been attached to Company C,
3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
(PPCLI). The battalion was regarded as one of the superior
light units in Canada's Army, and possessed the ability to
wage mountain warfare or airborne assaults against its
enemies.
Slap these units together, and you had an
interesting and versatile ensemble of characters. And so did
the enemy, apparently.
Company C had marched into
‘Vertical Village' with over 100 troops. Close quarters
fighting ensued. By noon they had the hill and only 19 men
left. Romeo Troop also lost several soldiers in the attack,
including its leader. By that time the four comrades
realized their roles had suddenly changed from electronic
warfare specialists to grunts.
During the assault,
Romeo Troop broke away from the main unit and saw action up
close. For the two Marines, this was the first time they had
employed their military skills in a realistic field
environment.
“When we broke off we encountered a
five-man squad which was acting as an artillery battery,”
said Trent. “We silenced the guns.”
After the
fighting subsided, Company C gathered its remaining troops
and established a perimeter around the hilltop village. Not
much else could be done now except lie low and see what
would happen at sundown
What these fellows are
enduring is a military exercise called Maple Resolve.
Conducted at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, Alberta
province, the training area sprawls over 220 square miles of
prairie wilderness. Its history goes as far back as the
1940s, when it was a detainment camp for German prisoners of
war. Back then Wainwright was so isolated, the rumor goes,
little security was necessary for the prisoners, as escape
meant almost certain death outside the camp.
Now a
military facility, CFB Wainwright is the annual site of a
large multinational training exercise currently operating
from May 24 to June 6. Over 6,000 Canadian troops are
participants, along with 1,200 U.S. Soldiers, and 150
British troops. For units such as the 3rd Battalion, PPCLI,
the exercise is a validation process, which will prove
whether or not these men are ready for the real thing.
Engagements against the British-led opposing force are
more than just war games involving laser tag: they are
brawls over the right to defend the homeland. But before
they can defend their country, they must to defend a mock
village on a hill.
Cymbalist explained to me his
Troop was gradually trying to integrate with frontline
units. The 21st EW saw Maple Resolve as an opportunity to
demonstrate the electronic warfare branch was more than
capable of bringing their expertise to the forefront of
combat. Just a few days earlier, Cymbalist and Fournier had
jumped with their experimental radio equipment alongside
other paratroopers.
“We've always been trying to get
guys more qualified and have more capabilities to integrate
with the light [infantry] environment,” Cymbalist added.
There was a lot to prove on this exercise. Right now the
priority was simply staying in the game. And waiting.
“We're low on ammo,” said Cymbalist.
“How many
mags of his did the Sergeant Major give us?” asked Newton.
“Four.”
“What did he have?”
“I think he
said five.”
“The Sergeant Major is walking around
with one mag?”
Someone let loose an exhausted
chuckle. Days of marching with little sleep, no wash, and
eating only what they could carry, was now taking its toll
on the men. As sundown approached, their body posture began
to reveal the fatigue. Now came ‘the waiting moments'.
I feel obligated to briefly explain this dull phase of
field operations, precisely because it is both unmemorable
and yet such an essential part of the field experience. Most
folks back home want to hear about the combat or high drama
of military life. Nobody asks what it is like during the
moments in between the action... the waiting moments. The dig
foxholes in the sun moments. The idle banter moments. The
think about home moments. The wish you had a pair of dry
socks moments.
More personal secrets and life
stories have been exchanged during these long waits than any
other place I can think of. It does not matter where – it
can be a training exercise or a remote observation point in
Afghanistan. And yet it is all dreadfully monotonous to the
men experiencing it.
“I think I'm going to eat again
out of sheer boredom,” Cymbalist muttered to no one in
particular. He had now flopped on the ground while wearing
his rucksack.
It had gotten noticeably darker out.
Maybe something would happen. Maybe nothing would happen.
Regardless, the war game had turned into the waiting game.
By U.S. Army Sgt. William Parsons
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
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