Brownwood Mayor Stephen Haynes and Brownwood Chamber of Commerce Marketing Manager Ray Tipton were honored with an invitation to participate in Fort Hood’s Central Texas Community Leaders Day on Friday, September 10th hosted by Fort Hood’s senior commander, Major General William Grimsley. More than 100 Community Leaders and Representatives of Central Texas businesses participated in the up-close look at training and support facilities that soldiers use on a daily basis. The purpose of the event was to give those community leaders a small sample of what happens inside Fort Hood in the training of soldiers who may be deployed to the battlefield.
“We are extremely proud of our installation, our people, and our significant contributions to our Nation’s Global War on Terror,” said Major General Grimsley.
Officials gave those in attendance an overview of the history and operations of Fort Hood which included a mention of their Western Training Area which is located in Brown County. Participants got a small taste of some of the programs and training offered to soldiers to not only prepare them for dangerous situations, but help them balance their life on a more personal level.
One program offered to soldiers and their families is the Fort Hood Resiliency Campus which strives to balance a soldier’s body, mind and spirit through programs at the campus. Dozens of programs are available including stress control, fitness & yoga classes, confidence building, financial planning, and counseling just to name a few. Officials said that the Resiliency Campus helps to make a more complete soldier by offering support for their personal and family needs with a more preventative approach.
Haynes and Tipton, along with other central Texas leaders, moved to a more hands-on area of Fort Hood by getting to participate in the use of training simulators including close combat training, engagement skills training, and warrior skills training. These included a Humvee battle simulation, firearm simulations, and a tank simulator. There was also a quick tour of two live tanks to help get a sense of the size and capabilities of the machines. 
“It was an exciting and humbling experience to see how our soldiers train,” Tipton said. “It was great to see the technology they have at their disposal and to think that the very training we were watching could save their lives.”
The highlight of the event was the “Sites and Sounds of Iraq” combat training at Fort Hood’s Phantom Run. Soldiers train in an outdoor simulated Iraqi village complete with actors playing the parts of villagers, Iraqi police, and terrorists. This training is similar to a real combat situation giving soldiers a taste of what to expect when deployed. It trains them to deal with a variety of scenarios and helps teach them what to expect during dangerous situations. The realistic battle included mock explosions and special effects that made the experience as real as possible. There was even a mock marketplace to make the training village seem very authentic.
After the training exercise, the community leaders had the chance to talk with the soldiers and learned more about their experiences. Many of the soldiers present had already served one or more deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. They shared stories of their experiences and talked about how training exercises like these help them through real life battle situations.
Even the actors portraying Iraqi villagers during the exercise were natives of Iraq and Afghanistan and now travel to help the US military in these types of training exercises.
“It is always rewarding to get to meet with the men and women of our military and see first-hand the passion and dedication with which they defend our nation,” said Mayor Stephen Haynes. “The event was an excellent opportunity to learn what is happening at Fort Hood, including their use of the Western Training Area that encompasses much of Brown County.”
Photos above show Mayor Haynes (top) and Tipton (right) getting a tour of one of the tanks.
Click the photo gallery below for more photos of the event.
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