PHILLIPS OF PHILLIPISTAN — Lt. Col. Richard L. Phillips, in face paint, briefs Capt. Bill Morisette on his troops' entry into "Phillipistan," a dangerous, mythical country that will train Antelope Valley troops of the National Guard for their journey to the Middle East. DENNIS ANDERSON/Valley Press

Mock warfare prepares Guard for real thing

By DENNIS ANDERSON
Valley Press Editor

The arid, angry country lies just east of the Pacific Ocean and west of the "Republic of Joaquin" and north of "Obispia."

The real ground is near the Salinas River Valley and the Gavilan Mountains, the country John Steinbeck wrote about in "East of Eden." But Phillipistan is a virtual battleground of the mind.

"Make no mistake about it, Phillipistan is a bad place, where bad things can and will happen," said Lt. Col. Richard L. Phillips, who conceived of the mythical country as a final way station to get citizen soldiers of the National Guard ready for war.

About 50 soldiers of the 1498th Transportation Company, the "Big Awesome Truck Company" that hauls M-1 Abrams battle tanks to the front, come from the Antelope Valley. Other principal areas with troops assigned to the "BAT-C" Guard unit hail from Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego and compass points across the state.

"There's going to be land mines out there, armed civilians, there's going to be possible poison gas, and all the stuff that we are training to avoid," said BAT-C 1st Sgt. James Norris, who brought specialty truckers to the unit from his former Bakersfield Guard unit.

By the evening before the starting gun fired on this massive field training exercise, the headquarters of BAT-C the 1498th was a hive of activity. Lieutenants spread field maps. Troops drew fresh gear and weapons equipped with laser-targeting gear, and everyone prepared for five days in the field in a "tactical mode," where every minute could provide a fresh hazard or opportunity for problem solving.

When this unit arrives in the Middle East, it joins regular Army units. Its job is to support tank-heavy divisions such as the "Spearhead" or "Old Ironsides" armored divisions which need their tanks hauled to jump-off points for invading Iraq.

Addressing his 200-plus soldiers on the eve of the Phillipistan mission, the unit commander, Capt. Bill Morisette of Huntington Beach, imparted final words of encouragement and advice.

"We have been through a lot," he said. "I know you are tired. I know that some of you are sick. But we've pulled through things like this before, and this is what is going to save our lives when we get to 'The Sandbox.'Ê"

The Sandbox is military slang for Iraq.

Lt. Col. Phillips, his face painted in camouflaged war stripes, is insistent that Phillipistan must pose a difficult hurdle for troops before they reach the rigors of the "theater of operations."

"This is the last place where you have an opportunity to fail," said the colonel, who commanded a Pershing nuclear missile unit in NATO.

"It was a tough assignment, and no one wanted it because officers got relieved on a regular basis," Phillips said. "There was no margin for error."

Phillips has earned a reputation for being unforgiving of error and unrelenting in his zeal to ensure that the troops he trains enjoy the highest possible chance for survival.

"Our lower-ranking soldiers are extremely well-trained," he said. "What we need is leader training that is 'outside the box.'Ê"

That's a management maxim, but the mythical land of Phillipistan actually is referred to as "The Box."

On the eve of moving into The Box, Capt. Morisette summarized the mission for his officers and issued the "Operations Order." The Ops Order describes the mission of his specific unit, and it warns his subordinates what hazards are likely. The order also sets the tasking for moving dozens of the 50-ton Heavy Equipment Transporter System trucks out into the "boonies" where they will be assigned to run missions in support of the 29th Division infantry troops.

"We have to occupy a base cluster and be ready to repel an attack," Morisette told his lieutenants and senior noncommissioned officers.

During five days and nights in the field, troops of BAT-C will deploy their enormous 48-wheeled battle tank transporter trucks in support of a "national" U.N. peacekeeping mission that is being enforced by the 29th Infantry Division.

The AV troopers and their Guard comrades will move into a locale called "Sherwood Forest" where only days ago was occupied by hobbyist re-enactor troops who were replaying a mock battle joined between the 82nd Airborne Division of World War II and their Wehrmacht opponents.

The Phillipistan encounter is also mock warfare, but unlike a re-enactment for re-enactors playing at war, this objective is to prepare troops for the real thing. The Guard soldiers will move their trucks along a "main supply route" where trainers and graders of the 363rd Training Support Battalion will be waiting to "bust their chops" with questions and situations designed to confound them.

Rules of engagement permit the troops to fire on anyone actually shooting at them or hurling incendiaries or missiles, but force "must be proportionate. " In other words, an errant soldier will not elude court-martial if he blasts away at a civilian who is merely being surly.

"I want this disseminated down to the lowest levels of the troops, and your squad leaders are responsible for doing that," Morisette warned his officers and NCOs.

"I think it's exciting," said Spc. Jose Cardenas of Lancaster. "But it's serious, too. We have to take it seriously so that we do well if we have to go to Iraq."

The Phillipistan mission opened as President George W. Bush declared that Monday represented the "moment of truth" in the showdown between the United States, its allies and the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.

The story of Phillipistan is a sad and scary one, reminiscent of Afghanistan.

"The story is about a war over water, following a six-year drought," Phillips told a room full of officers getting ready to take their line company into the trouble zone.

"These people are warrior people, and they are fighting for water, and they are willing to kill anyone who gets in the way," Phillips said.

Two national ethnic groups, the Shona and the Inoebele, vie for power in the divided land where a U.N.-supervised election is set. The Phillipistan Security Forces are nominally friendly to the U.S. ground forces, but they have elements from both ethnic groups.

"They are considered friendly, but we have to keep an eye on them," Norris said.

During the exercise, the truckers of the 1498th must move their massive 50-ton vehicles along mud-crusted tank trails, and through hills and valleys that are fraught with hazard.

"You can't tell which tribe the locals are from," Phillips advised his trainees. "But they can tell each other, and they will kill each other, and you (from the Guard) are just a speed bump between them."

The mission includes a terrorist attack with a release of sarin gas that killed hundreds, including American relief workers.

The Guard troops must adhere to "rules of engagement" that give them explicit instructions on when and how they can defend themselves.

Like the Airborne Rangers depicted in "Blackhawk Down," the Guard troops will face armed civilians who may or may not be hostile.

"This exercise is heavy in scenario and role, and it's modeled on the real-world situations," Phillips said.

© 2010 Antelope Valley Press, Palmdale, California (661) 273-2700