Greetings from insurgent city: guardsmen act as foes to aid Iraq-bound soldiers.

• Author: Pappalardo, Joe
• Position: URBAN COMBAT - Mock town Tiefort City for military training to combat insurgency - Cover Story

FORT IRWIN, CALIF.--The patrol came into town just after 9 a.m. The soldiers, hailing from the Pennsylvania National Guard's 28th Infantry Division, were tasked with identifying and apprehending an insurgent. They expected trouble, and they were not disappointed.

Clouds of dust churned from the wheels of Humvees and M113s as the patrol rolled through the streets. As the residents began to stir, the now dismounted soldiers set up perimeters and started the edgy house-to-house search for their target. Hell broke loose soon after they began--a sharp crack and a plume of smoke heralded the detonation of an improvised explosive device, the bane of soldiers and Iraqi police.

Shortly after, grenades flew from windows of one building. The crackle of small-arms fire and screams of scared civilians floated with the dust, the high-value target hunt forgotten. A team of 28th Guardsmen rushed the house where the grenade thrower was holed up, and from inside came a flurry of gunshots. Soon, wounded and killed U.S. soldiers are carried out on makeshift stretchers made from discarded wood panels.

It's just another morning of training in Insurgent City.

The mock town is one of nine at the National Training Center here, where troops on their way to Iraq learn some of the hard skills they will need to survive while deployed. Over the course of two weeks they will face an array of simulated snipers, mortar attacks, complex street diplomacy and hidden explosives.

Responsible for this mayhem is the Nevada Army National Guard's 1st Squadron, 221st Cavalry, which took over as the opposing force, or OPFOR, from the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment last September. That regiment, currently deployed to Iraq, is expected to return to Fort Irwin in February.

A reporter from National Defense recently witnessed this training while embedded with the OPFOR troops in their mock home, called Tiefort City after a nearby mountain peak. There were 964 players in this dramatic war game, played out at this scorching desert Army base. There are three kinds of players: Iraqi-American contractors as civilians, and National Guardsmen acting in two roles, insurgents or civilians. The first week always features stand alone scenarios, while the second week is a rolling free play, during which all actions influence the larger scenario and the training continues around the clock.

Tiefort City, a collection of almost 50 prefabricated buildings, is the largest of the urban areas at Fort Irwin. Each rectangular shelter looks and feels like a shipping container, and is as sparsely adorned. Stacked prefab houses create multi-story buildings. There are plenty of open windows for snipers, many sharp corners for ambushes and beneath it all are a network of tunnels.

Tiefort City boasts a population of 175, with 40 of them contractors employed and managed by Titan Corp. Titan garners about $1.9 million per rotation. Its role players are security-screened by the company. Nearly every officer at Fort Irwin downplays the fear of insurgent moles at the NTC, but officials acknowledged that several players have been removed for "immigration issues." The contractors are not allowed access to cellular phones or cameras during the two-week training cycle.

The OPFOR Guardsmen live full time in the ramshackle buildings where the scenarios take place. They spend two weeks in the towns while the trainees live in the forward operating bases.

Cities are designated black, gray or white, depending on their level of hostility.

Many of the 221st's troops, having seen field duty in Iraq and other unpleasant places, prefer their tour at Fort Irwin. Boredom, sand flies and heat are the main enemies.

While...