Indiana psychiatric institution transformed into urban training ground.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SOFT POWER

NORTH VERNON, Ind. -- It began as a reform school, the Indiana Farm Colony for Feeble Minded Boys. Later, it became one of the state's largest mental institutions with 3,000 patients and some 2,000 employees.

Today, the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, operated by the Indiana National Guard, hosts everyone from police and fire departments to Navy sea, air and land commandos who use its collection of Art-Modern buildings built in the 1930s as a backdrop to practice their skills.

"Everything is in play here," said Staff Sgt. Brad Staggs, the public affairs officer for the facility. The night before, he was awoken to the sounds of SEALs setting off smoke bombs and firing their weapons outside his temporary housing.

The commandos, who have to know how to pick locks, are free to practice that skill on any building at any time, he said.

Any first responder, civilian or military unit is welcome to use the 1,000-acre grounds free of charge as long as they pay for their own supplies and they agree to fix anything they break.

Muscatatuck began its second life as a training center after the state decided to close down the mental institution in 2005. New methods to treat mental illnesses that didn't require large facilities had whittled its patient population down to about 12.

There was a plan to raze the buildings and plant a tree farm, but the Guard stepped in and said they would take the land over.

"We're building it as a non-service-centric entity," said Brig. Gen. Clif Tooley, commanding general of Muscatatuck Center for Complex Operations. Training at Army, Marine, Air Force or Navy facilities tends to be molded toward that particular service. This is a place where civilians preparing to deploy overseas, for example, can come in and create their program according to their own objectives, instead of the military's, he said. He sees the center as a "shopping mall" for training, where organizations can choose between any number of scenarios.

The land has dozens of buildings, including a hospital, a coal-burning power plant, steam tunnels, dormitories for patients and staff, residences for the directors and a cafeteria. Most of these buildings have been left as is, Stagg explained. When the State Department sends civilians to train as members of provincial reconstruction teams they find an 80-year-old hospital that has peeling paint, similar to what they might encounter in Afghanistan. One of the oldest buildings, a former ballroom, has collapsed...