# 99020. Victory Forge: Overcoming Obstacles

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By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Note to visitors: This is part of a three-story series. Here's 
the full Web version, or visit the DoD home page, www.defenselink.mil.

FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- "You have a length of rope and you have to 
get your team and all your gear up that 15-foot wall. Oh, and 
you can't touch anything below four-and-a-half feet. That's 
contaminated. Time is of the essence. Do you have any 
questions?"

The lead soldier asked no questions. She eyed the 15-foot 
concrete wall, the front of a World War II-style bunker. Basic 
trainees here use it as a training prop during Victory Forge.

"I could tell her more if she'd just ask," said the drill 
sergeant after the soldier went back to her platoon. "It's still 
the first day. They'll learn by the end of Victory Forge."

Victory Forge is a 72-hour exercise that climaxes Army basic 
training at this post. The Army created Victory Forge using the 
Marine Corps' 54-hour-long Crucible as a model. While the 
Crucible and Victory Forge rely on team-building exercises, the 
big differences are that Army men and women train together and 
their exercise is totally tactical -- conducted as if in a 
combat zone. Marine men and women train separately, and the 
Crucible is a training environment.

The operations order to Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 60th 
Infantry, is a dry read. "Company will conduct Victory Forge 
Operations in vic[inity] of [Defensive Position] Dog House. This 
will consist of the company breaking down into three mega squads 
per platoon. Each mega squad will be sent to recover a downed 
pilot and encounter a series of tactical obstacles and teamwork 
building challenges, to include a squad-on-squad ambush." 

Reading about the operation is one thing, confronting the 
reality of a 15-foot cement wall is another. The young soldiers 
have to scale the wall, get all their gear up it and continue 
their mission. 

The leader went back to the treeline where the squad had taken 
up position. She briefed her squadmates and got their input. 
Then, they approached the wall. Some soldiers established 
security while others picked up the rope to see what they could 
do. 

"How about this tree right here?" asked one recruit. "I can get 
up that tree and carry the rope after me."

The troops agreed to try it. The tree was about six inches in 
diameter at the bottom, but got smaller quickly. Still, the 
soldier was able to get up the tree, but found he was too far 
from the top of the wall. "Push me over to it," he said. Three 
soldiers started leaning the tree toward the bunker. Finally, he 
reached it and clambered over.

"I'm going to attach the rope to a tree up here," he said, and 
did so. As he readied to throw the rope down, the leader 
reminded everyone to catch the rope. 

"It can't touch the contaminated area," she warned.

Once the rope was down, the soldiers debated how to get everyone 
up. "Let's tie the gear to the rope and we can haul it up 
together," suggested one. 

"No, let's try to climb wearing our gear," said another. 

They all looked to the leader. "Let's try it with gear first," 
she said.

They hoisted a tall soldier wearing his backpack and carrying 
his weapon up over the contaminated area. He grabbed the rope 
and, after much pushing and pulling, managed to get over the 
top. "That's not going to work for everyone," he said.

"How about knots in the rope?" a soldier asked. The two on the 
top tied knots. Unfortunately, they were slipknots, and the next 
soldier up learned how they got that name.

"C'mon, people! We're running out of time!" the leader said.

The soldiers ultimately modified their plan and started getting 
people and gear to the top. At one point, they decided to throw 
their M-16s to the top. 

"I don't think you better do that," warned their drill sergeant, 
who until that point had stayed on the sidelines. Instead, they 
tied their gear to the rope and hauled it up. 

One of the soldiers touched the contaminated area and was 
declared a casualty. "You've got to take him with you," the 
drill sergeant said. "And he can't move now." The soldiers 
rigged a sling and hauled the casualty to the top.

Finally, all soldiers and gear made the top -- but not in the 
time allotted.

The drill sergeant gathered the squad. "Okay, leader. What did 
we learn?" he asked.

"Drill sergeant, I guess we learned to discuss the plan more 
fully," she said. "We just sort of came up and tried the first 
thing that came to our minds. We also learned that we have to 
move quicker."

"Right. Did you modify your plan?"

A chorus of yeses. "We had to, drill sergeant," another soldier 
said. "In fact, we had to modify just about everything. We 
especially had to modify it when we had a casualty."

"OK. Get the equipment back in place and let's get ready to 
move," said the drill sergeant. "You still have a lot left to 
do."

It was, after all, just the beginning of Victory Forge.

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 Soldiers use ingenuity, web belts and three boards to cross a "river" at Fort Jackson, S.C. The soldiers were taking part in Victory Forge, the 72-hour tactical exercise that climaxes Army basic training at Jackson. Lance Cpl. Michael J. Supples, USMC