Fighting in the streets Fort Campbell training ground reflects

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- The kids are strangely missing from the elementary school. The mayor forgot to show up for work at the municipal building. And no one can find the patients from the Red Cross hospital.

This 28-building ghost town of a city built recently in an isolated section of Fort Campbell is the newest training ground for soldiers as they confront a new world of urban warfare where the line between enemy fighters and innocent civilians is often blurred.

The goal: Combat the enemy while leaving the innocents unharmed. This is not an easy task when the enemy is hiding amid a bustling, sometimes hostile population.

The deaths of 18 soldiers on the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 awakened military leaders to the reality that American soldiers must be better trained to fight in urban areas.

The new Military Operation on Urbanized Terrain, or MOUT, site, at Fort Campbell is just one of several high-tech training grounds that that have been built on Army military posts in recent years.

Ground was broken on the MOUT in 2000 when peacekeeping was more of the Army's focus. In the post-Sept. 11 world, military leaders say it is needed more than ever.

Hiding among civilians

There has been heightened concern since the terrorist attacks that small bands of al-Qaida fighters hiding in Afghan marketplaces and other urban settings around the world will target American commandos. Or, that a future entanglement with Saddam Hussein could lead to an ugly fight on the streets of Baghdad.

Simply put, "The foe understands our aversions to killing civilians," and won't hesitate to hide among innocent civilians, said Lt. Col. Jim Larsen, director for plans, training and mobilization for the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell.

Larsen, who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan this year, said much of the success of Operation Anaconda -- the largest ground battle so far of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan -- was because civilians were isolated from the mountain fighters.

Al-Qaida and other enemies "won't make that mistake again," Larsen said.

Compared with 22 percent in the 1950s, 75 percent of the world by 2010 is expected to dwell in an urban setting, Larsen said.

The first phase of the MOUT site at Fort Campbell was complete in May at a cost of $14.4 million. Soldiers can now rappel down multistory buildings and hunt for the enemy in a city's 300-meter underground sewer system that connects a handful of the buildings.

A second, $11.6-million phase could be constructed as early as next year with 10 additional buildings, a lighted soccer field and mock landing strip with a tower.

Eventually, the city will have sound effects that mimic children playing, bombs going off, planes flying overhead and residents screaming in different languages.

The drills can be videotaped so commanders can go over them later with the soldiers.

As part of the training exercises, volunteers and soldiers -- some in women's clothing -- play the role of civilians.

Soldiers then must decide whether to fire, take the individual as a prisoner, or move on.

The site is primarily used by the 101st Airborne Division, a rapid-deployment air assault division trained to deploy anywhere in the world in 36 hours. At its peak, the division had 3,500 soldiers fighting in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and elsewhere in central Asia. Special Forces fighters and military reservists also train at the Fort Campbell site.

Sounds bouncing around

The setting is important because in an urban environment it is easier for soldiers to lose track of other fighters with sounds bouncing off walls and fighters darting in and out of buildings, Larsen said.

In a more traditional war environment, you "almost always can see your buddy and that's key to being able to fight," Larsen said.

Some of the same skills developed in urban training transform work in rural environments as well. For instance, similar techniques are used to clear an apartment as a cave like those cleared by the U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Fort Knox, also in Kentucky, has a similar MOUT site. Troops could conduct a division exercise with brigades simultaneously "attacking" the MOUT sites at Fort Campbell and Fort Knox while remaining in communication, said Mike Mazuk, installation ranger officer at Fort Campbell.

Urban training is essential because when fighting inside a city, "it's not just the enemy that has a vote, but the civilian population and what their allegiance is," Larsen said.