Soldiers with the Army’s 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team convoy their M109A7 Paladin howitzers across the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., during a training exercise Feb. 27, 2023. The M109A7 is the Army’s newest howitzer, and 2nd ABCT will deploy them to Europe late this summer. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
In late February, the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team left behind the flat, pine-covered training grounds of southeast Georgia’s Fort Stewart for the rough, barren, mountainous landscape that Fort Irwin has provided Army units that train there since 1981.
A soldier with the Army’s 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team is pictured in his M109A7 Paladin howitzer during a force-on-force fight at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., Feb. 27, 2023. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
For the unit — nicknamed the Spartan Brigade — the Mojave Desert training stop was meant to prepare them to deploy in late summer to Europe, where they will be tasked with assuring security for NATO allies and serving as a deterrent against a Russian incursion into NATO territory, more than a year after Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team man their M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tank, the Army’s most modern main battle tank, Feb. 25, 2023, while training at Fort Irwin, Calif.’s National Training Center. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Stryker combat vehicles from the Army’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the dedicated opposing force for National Training Center rotations known as Black Horse, are pictured during a force-on-force fight with the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team Feb. 25, 2023. The 2nd ABCT fought the 11th ACR in a rotation preparing them to deploy to Europe later this year. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
3rd Infantry Division soldiers man fighting positions inside a trench during a force-on-force battle at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California’s Mojave Desert on Feb. 27, 2023. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
A prototype drone known as the Enhanced Ground Reconnaissance Initiative, is tested by 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division soldiers at Fort Irwin, Calif.’s National Training Center during a rotation in late February. The drones were tethered to Bradley Fighting Vehicles to provide cavalry scouts overhead visibility during the training rotation. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
An M109A7 Paladin howitzer with the Army’s 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team drives across desert terrain at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., during a training exercise Feb. 27, 2023. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Army leaders had soldiers build a trench at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., in recent months to prepare American soldiers for the potential of trench warfare. NTC leaders said the use of trenches in the war in Ukraine informed their decision to prepare troops for a trench fight. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
