OP Irene - 17th anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu (pic heavy)

[EagleDriver]

I love to MILSIM, and had the opportunity to participate in the Lion Claws series Operation Irene. It is held at the Zussman Combat Training Facility at Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA (yes, where the gold is!) The US forces are commanded by (retired) Col. Danny McKnight, the real commander that was at Mogadishu. The Delta Force was commanded by (retired) MSgt Max Mullen, and the "Freedom Fighters" were commanded by (retired) Sgt. Igor Dobroff (who served in Afghanistan with the Soviet VDV.) http://www.tacticalmilsim.com/tacsim...acsim-writers/

I have attended MILSIM games at military training facilities, and this one is similar, as it is comprised of two main MOUT (Military Operations on Urban Terrain) facilities. The difference here is that Zussman is used to train Special Operations teams, so there is a full time (paid and volunteer) staff of role players. They do a great job, and it is really something when you make entry to clear a house, and someone starts screaming "Get out of my house!"

The other part of the facility that made it incredible was the pyrotechnic effects. They have small wires strung high up, and they can launch RPG's so they fly over your head. They are connected to devices at the end, so the RPG "explodes". In some instances, this starts a fire in a car, or an area of a building (that is marked off for safety reasons, of course.) It was great during the day, but at night, it was just awesome.

They also have a "Technical" which is a vehicle with a mounted .50 machine gun. The technical drives around forcing you to duck and take cover. If you hit the technical with an M203 or anti tank round, it stops, and pops pyrotechnics so that you can see you hit it.

The scenarios are all based on events that happened during the battle, and it even ended with a convoy and troops running the "Mogadishu Mile."

I was sore and tired at the end, but it was well worth it. It was a great way to commemorate the anniversary of "BlackHawk Down."

[Caveira]

Re: OP Irene - 17th anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu (pic heavy)

I'm not jealous.........................




.....................like f*** I'm not!

[aribos]

Re: OP Irene - 17th anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu (pic heavy)

Looks like a great day, hopefully some of the guys were in full mil-sim gear and OP Irene/BHD loadouts.

Who had the job of falling out of the blackhawk? :P

[EagleDriver]

Re: OP Irene - 17th anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu (pic heavy)

It was a guy who actually hurt his ankle during the night op, so he volunteered to be carried!