Desert commandos: special operators say training goes both ways.

BAMAKO, Mali -- The day began at Bamako's international airport as the Malian army's 33rd parachute commando regimen lined up in the pre-dawn darkness to aboard a U.S. Air Force C-130 transport.

Despite the early hour, the paratroopers were pumped up. The soldiers began singing in Bambara, the nation's predominant language. The Malian air force doesn't have transport aircraft approaching the size of a C-130, so the opportunity to jump comes only a few times per year.

Standing beside them and directing traffic were members of a U.S. special operations force A-team. Their parachutes were packed and ready to go.

The event was part of a joint combined exchange training taking place under the auspices of a State Department program, the Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorism Initiative. While the larger goal is to stop Islamic extremism from making inroads in nine North and West African countries, on a smaller scale, trainers said that it's a mutually beneficial relationship.

"The most important part for us is learning how to work with and advise indigenous forces," said the team leader. "That's part of our function. It doesn't matter if you're doing it in a training environment or a wartime environment. It's the same kind of inter personal and communications skills."

For security reasons, members of the team could only be identified by their title.

An hour later and 15 miles on the other side of Bamako, the C-130 began to drop about 10 to 12 jumpers on each run, including members of the special forces team, who used the opportunity to put in some required training and a bit of jump pay.

It would have been hard to find nastier ground to fall on in this landlocked nation. The soil at the drop sight was composed of jagged, hard-packed volcanic rock. A contingent of Malian and U.S. embassy dignitaries watched as the paratroopers floated into the brush. Despite the unforgiving ground, there were only minor injuries.

A high-altitude, low-open jump with both Americans and Malians participating ended the first half of the exercise.

Later that day, the Malians and the trainers gathered at a rally point to begin an assault on a mock terrorist training camp.

The paratroopers moved stealthily through the scrub brush, down into a muddy ravine, and paused in a grove of mango trees as a senior officer moved forward with a small team to make a final check on the target. After he radioed his approval, the troops maneuvered into position and the assault began.

With the trainers at their backs, the paratroopers moved forward, then swept through the target.

It was a first for EUCOM trainers, said the company commander of the 1st battalion, 10th special forces group (Airborne), based in Stuttgart, Germany. They had never combined a jump with a tactical assault on the same day. In such an operation, transitions are often the most difficult part, he explained. Going from a jump to an assault, for example, is when difficulties arise. "This is taking them another step further in complication."

"The support fire sounded good. They stayed in good sequence. Everything that needed to be shot is full of bullet holes," said the company commander, who was responsible for coordinating that exercise and three others taking place in the country's northern provinces.

"Everything went right," said the operations sergeant. "We were actually quite impressed. They did very well."

The final piece that day was an "after action review" when the special operators provided feedback. "There were some minor things they can practice when we're not here that they can sustain," the sergeant said. "Timing moving up on the target is something they can cut down on. But on this type of terrain, you can anticipate that."

Col. I. Ould Issa, the regiment commander said, "it's a good result. These soldiers will train other soldiers in the regiment so we can spread the American training after they're gone."

U.S. forces providing training to West African troops is not new. In fact, the regiment still has a table used for packing parachutes left here as a gift by U.S. trainers in the 1960s.

Along with the exercise that day, the 96th Civil Affairs teams out of Fort Bragg, N.C. were coordinating medical, dental and veterinarian clinics. Engineers carried out structural assessments of wells, schools and clinics in the country's north. They also donated school supplies to villagers.

A few days later, the A-team and the Malian regiment gathered on the same field and unloaded a pallet of ammunition. The team spread the guns it used on the ground and prepared them for a day of "weapons familiarization."

Among them were the SR-25 and M-24 sniper rifles and an MK-19 grenade launcher.

The A-team weapons specialists broke the Malian soldiers up into smaller groups, gave them quick lessons on how to operate the guns, then began blasting away at a rusted tank up range. Several fires broke out on the hillside above, but they quickly extinguished themselves.

In reality, the Malian forces will probably never acquire U.S. made small arms. They will continue to use the Russian-made AK-47s. The team leader said that it was more of a "fun day" for the Malians.

The regiment said they were bringing a DsHK, Russian-made anti-aircraft gun for the Americans to try out. Team members were excited to get their hands on the legendary machine gun, but it never arrived. Ammunition is expensive and the commanders may not have wanted to use their stores up, the team leader speculated. He was happy for the chance to try out a Russian-made RPG-7 rocket launcher for the first time.

The regiment brought six to shoot at the tank. The team leader didn't hit the mark and the rocket broke up without detonating.

"It wasn't as loud and violent as I imagined," the team leader said. "But I didn't like the fact that it didn't detonate 60 percent of the time we shot it." He attributed that to not hitting the tank. The A-team and Malians spread out on the hillside to search for unexploded ordnance. The special operators would come back to detonate the loose explosives a few days later. Because of restrictions on the Stuttgart ranges, finding time to do demolition training is hard to come by. The team used their trip to Mali to carry out some required exercises.

Because special operators are tasked with embedding in foreign forces, the opportunity to try out exotic weapons such as the RPG-7 is important. "You never know what kind of situation you'll be in where you have to pick up a weapon that's handed to you," the team leader said.

They were also "trying to glean some knowledge" from the Malians as far as fighting and surviving in the harsh desert environment, he added.

Part of that would be learning how to pack a camel for combat.

Unfortunately, the camels, like the DhSK, would be a no-show. None could be located for the training and the Malians would give their lesson with a PowerPoint demonstration.

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RELATED ARTICLE: Communications improving, but not perfect, operators say.

UNRELIABLE RADIO communications proved to be catastrophic when U.S. special operators went into battle against al-Qaida terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan five years ago this month.

In their fight against the guerillas, special operators displayed uncommon courage, according to Sean Naylor in "Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda" At several key junctures, however, their communication systems failed, and those failures cost lives.

While the book explores inter-service rivalries and chain of command issues that led to chaos when the 101st Airborne and 10th Mountain divisions attacked the stronghold in Shahikot Valley, it also detailed "notoriously unreliable satellite radios," communication systems that weren't interoperable, and a lack of friendly force tracking.

A half-decade later, special operations troops say their communication systems have improved. But they still have items on the wish lists, including better batteries, lighter equipment and simpler designs.

"Interoperability has greatly improved during the last five years," said Sgt. 1st Class Rob Hicks, the noncommissioned officer in charge of communications for 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany. "The global war on terrorism has nearly eliminated the problems with interoperability. In my experience, I have been able to talk or data transfer to any other services equipment for at least three years now," he said via email.

Special operators have unique communications requirements, he explained.

"We are almost always separated from the main military nodes of communication. We operate independently in small groups, but still have to have all the capabilities of the regular military."

Operators in the field must be equally adept at setting up satellite links in remote locations as they are using standard radios to communicate with allies.

Special operators are known for employing some of the most sophisticated communications systems found in the U.S. military. Along with the breakdowns during Operation Anaconda, there were some successes detailed in the book. In one case, a SEAL team staking out a mountaintop prior to the invasion found an enemy position where a Russian-made DsHK anti-aircraft gun stood poised to shoot down Army Chinook helicopters full of Rangers. The team was able to snap digital pictures and transmit them via satellite to Bagram Air Base near Kabul. Commanders there gave the order for the team to destroy the enemy position, which they did, with the help of an AC-130 qunship. In that case, satellite communications may have saved lives.

Hicks said acquiring the bandwidth for satellite links is an issue that never goes away. The ability to take more detailed photos with today's high-tech digital cameras, and to send streaming video and audio, is creating more demand for radio spectra, he said.

"Bandwidth has always been an issue and will continue to be one, because the operators have more requirements that need to be filled. Imagery has more details than ever, and the command and control element also needs to have a clearer understanding of the battle space," Hicks said.

The improved capabilities come at a steep price. The cost of purchasing transponder time on commercial satellites is "staggering," he added. "Normal tactical communications is very economical, If not totally free, to use. We are being driven to provide a robust communications suite that has leased satellite access and there is a cost incurred."

As for the radios, Hicks said most have been "put through the common sense check to ensure they work together before the U.S. government commits funding for procurement."

Three special operations communications specialists who spoke to National Defense during a training mission in Africa, wished they had more input in the development process.

"Make one system that does one thing well before adding capabilities that don't work," suggested one of the specialists.

The "one size fits all" mentality creates added weight as engineers tack too many features on one device.

"I think, 'this Is nice, but I probably won't ever use It."

"We have capabilities on systems that we don't even touch," a second specialist said.

For security reasons, special operators cannot disclose their names. Nor would they Identify the brands or specific systems they use.

A 12-man special ops team deploys with four communications systems to ensure a "back up for a back up for a back up," as one specialist put It. Each team must have at least two signals specialists. They must be able to contact their higher headquarters at all times. If a team splits up while on a mission, one radio operator must accompany each group.

Coordinating the four systems arguably makes the communications specialist's task one of the most complex on the team.

Weight and durability are key issues, they said. Every piece of equipment must fit In a rucksack and be rugged enough to survive Impacts after a jump, and other harsh conditions. If the hardware Is fragile and breaks, then they're hauling dead weight.

"You might as well be carrying around a brick, because you can't leave It," one said.

Power is a constant Issue, they added.

"They are coming out with better batteries, but you can never have enough."

Keeping systems running in cold-weather climates such as those found In Afghanistan is also a challenge. While foot soldiers have been known to sleep with their guns, in frigid temperatures, communication specialists sometimes sleep with their laptops to keep the liquid display from freezing and the battery power from degrading.

"We need systems that are lighter weight, durable, reliable, and smaller with stronger batteries," one specialist said while summing up their needs.--STEW MAGNUSON