Anatomy of an attack: A step by step fictional siege in Saber Junction

INTERACTIVE FEATURE By Michael Darnell

Stars and Stripes

Published: August 29, 2014

HOHENFELS, Germany More than 5,800 troops from 13 NATO and four partner nations are participating in Saber Junction 14, an annual U.S. Army Europe-led training exercise spread across four countries.

The bulk of the American forces involved in this years exercise comes from the Armys 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team and the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, while troops from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Sweden and Ukraine make up the non-NATO forces involved.

The training began Aug. 25 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, with a simulated attack on the fictional town of Boyat.

The attack came from the northeast, heralded only by a single mortar blast. The townsfolk scattered as the sound of gunfire erupted from a wooded ridge 800 meters from the town border. Suddenly, a line of armored vehicles bursts into sight.

Capt. Aljosa Kaucevic, commander of the 1st Company, 20th Infantry Regiment, Slovenian armed forces, was one of the soldiers tasked with the defense of the shantytown.

In the morning, once we entered the town, we first did a key leader engagement with the local leaders, where the mayor, police chief and the other elders were present. We talked about the situation. I informed them that there is an imminent threat from the Aranian forces the enemies in this exercise and that were here to provide them security and defend their town.

In order to do that, Kaucevics soldiers had to repel an attack from the JMRC opposing forces team consisting largely of American and Lithuanian infantrymen. Soldiers from both sides wore MILES gear the Armys high-tech laser tag system.

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Anatomy of an attack: A step by step fictional siege in Saber Junction