EXERCISE ONE

Miami Florida on a spring weekend in 1975 people sunning on the beach sailing in Biscayne Bay or relaxing at home around the pool nothing much going on except a small invasion [Music] the invasion is the beginning of a major Naval Reserve exercise in the Miami area and exercise that will run for two days and involve 21 naval reserve units and elements of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard Reserve and the National Guard the chief coordinator for the exercise captain Peter Segura's describes it as a simultaneous test of operational readiness by the many specialized reserve units in South Florida exercise operation will include minesweeping activities on board the USS thrush fire suppression training at the Dade County Fire College simulated training in ship handling damage control first aid and legal proceedings at the Naval Reserve center and the invasion and counter-attack on Fisher Island observers will be stationed in all of the operation areas to assess the training provided and the readiness demonstrated during each phase of the exercise the battle for Fisher Island takes place on the first morning of the exercise the wargames situation is set up according to a carefully planned scenario in a surprise move a small strike force from an unfriendly nation in the Caribbean is occupied Fisher Island located at the entrance to the Port of Miami the presence of this force has effectively closed the fourth - shipping the enemy is reinforcing his position on the island as friendly forces from the mainland prepare to repel the invaders and reopen the port at the Coast Guard Station across from Fisher Island friendly forces are briefed on various aspects of the counter invasion including size and position of the enemy force area geography and tactical Assault plans the first step toward reclaiming the island is carried out when a frogman team has dropped just offshore to conduct a detailed reconnaissance of enemy positions using the intelligence information gathered by the frogmen a small and thuvia's assault group lands on the island and engages the enemy the simulated battle generated by this engagement will last the remainder of the exercise and result in the enemy force being driven from its emplacements and off the island the battle for Fisher Island is a small part of a major simulated operation involving 39 Majan era ships and one real one the minesweeper thrush the thrush is responsible for keeping approaches to Fisher Island clear of Mines so that Shore bombardment forces logistic vessels and the incipio salt group can get through at the same time the Seabourn and amphibious parts of the exercise are being conducted units at the Miami Naval Reserve Center and nearby Dade County Fire College are being drilled in a variety of combat related situations bridge and CIC teams conduct General Quarters drills and run through fast paced maneuvering problems damage control party cope with simulated enemy shell damage while maintaining watertight integrity firefighting teams use various techniques and equipment to douse dangerous shipboard fuel fires and first aid personnel treat the simulated victims of such an explosion and fire other activities such as communications drills battle messing in a mood court-martial add a sense of realism to the exercise and give each unit an opportunity to exhibit its special skills at the conclusion of the exercise directors observers and assessment team leaders gather to conduct a detailed critique of each phase of the two-day operation the session is introduced by captain SK Jacobs director of public relations good morning gentlemen before we commence with this morning's debriefing of the exercise I'd like to report to you briefly about the public relations coverage we have present at our landing exercise two of the local TV stations three of the local radio stations and three of the newspapers also the VIPs in attendance included among others the mayor of Miami Beach the vice president of naval affairs or the Naval Reserve Association come down to the six naval districts representative and the miami district recruiting commands representative all in all it was a fine cell and it was appreciated by all this time I'd like to present your debriefing officer because the manager Jose thank heaven good morning gentlemen this morning we want to debrief on the basis of three areas that we set out as the objectives of the war game the first being that of training the second being that of morale of the men and the third being that of the public relations which captain Jacob has already hit part of I'm just going to give a brief rundown of exactly what happened yesterday and during this period of time I'll be calling on each of you to make comments relative to your own areas as you know we made our first lines from the Coast Guard base at Miami Beach in our operation we came around to the southern part of Fisher Island that was done primarily by the eye uwd as opposed by the CV I'll call on Commander orange at this time and they comment on the seeming landing the opposed landing to see if he has any comments pro or con relative to the three areas that we're looking at gentlemen oh and all I think the exercise was extremely well planned and and from the training and morale standpoint outstanding our Seabees of course were involved in contagions of the exercise we acted on one hand during the daylight portion exercise as aggressors and then in the evening we played a dual role as an aggressor and in the defensive perimeter I believe the exercise came off very well we had no real outstanding problems perhaps the the greatest problem was penetrating the the beach through the pleasure boats and curiosity seekers we found that perhaps as difficult as penetrating the defensive perimeter that the other unit had set up but I'd say that it's this type of training exercise it makes our program of are meaningful so Temma commanded field had two functions in the exercise he wore one hat as the commander task force for which was the amphibious task group anymore the second head as the commanding officer of the USS Guam his overall responsibilities were to coordinate the action of the invasion and also at the same time after the invasion had taken place coordinate the action of the defense manda theory has some comments relative to the briefing yes I believe that our unit has so many various rates that normally we can't perform enough different exercises to put them to work today we had battle mess English we handled we had helicopter operations in the afternoon our bridge and navigation teams were working all the time our damage control parties were at the fire college as you know and I believe all in all all of our people were kept busy performing exercises that valuable trained and they thoroughly enjoyed this enhancing their professional training commander dick Dolan had charge of the destroyer group which was composed of four destroyers his unit was the largest of all units that participated in the exercise commander Dolan who your comments concerning the overall effectiveness of the exercise I have said my standpoint the exercise was excellent all respect we had some 80 people from the same area repaired maintenance you're not participate it was sort of a unique role for this type of unit they said we may and four destroyers simulated grids and four classrooms over here got underway conducted various drills all the way up ahead six gun fire support missions and fish island is an excellent exercise all the way around the enthusiasm in the mountaintops the denim and our John Baldwin was the commanding officer of the fleet training group his function was two part one was that he was in the planning phases of it coordinating all of the activities and looking after all of the observer functions on upon a post-exercise basis commander Balan I'd have to say that the overall grade trying to this exercise would be excellent we found a very good note of realism was put into the exercises by having the firefighting occur one of the teams to success through the exercise was the excellent communication which enabled me to keep track of my observers and to get into a good job gentlemen six months ago when I directed you to begin planning for this operation the name of the game was operational training and to take advantage of all of the many functions of the various reserve units in this area the Dave rode in a helicopter over all of the various functions that were going on we saw the minesweeper crush in operation we saw beaches being invaded and these invasions being resisted we saw the Naval Reserve Center where we knew inside was going on a vast amount of both simulated and actual training of All Hands we even went out to the firefighting college and watched our people as various groups pass through there as a part of the training program and as I reflect on your remarks here it is obvious to me that we have accomplished what we set out to do and I think each one of you are to be congratulated and I would ask you to be sure to congratulate each and every one of the officers and then your unit [Music] you