TLDW Version: Megacities and their subterranean environments pose a huge challenge for our ground forces today. In the past we located enemy underground facilities and called in precision munitions. That may not be possible in future conflicts if played out in urban environments. But subterranean challenges may exist in rural areas as well via tunnels, caves and sewer systems.

So the Army allocated over $500 million to train and implement doctrine since underground facilities are highly stressful and may neutralize our technology. The psychological challenges are as great as any.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2019/07/03/the_army_is_preparing_to_go_underground_114555.html

Putting military facilities underground, or using existing underground structures for military purposes, has been a feature of warfare since the dawn of airpower, if not before. The Germans and Japanese both built factory complexes in caves to protect them from Allied air strikes, and the Japanese made extensive use of tunnelling in their island fortifications. The Russians made extensive use of the sewers at Stalingrad, and the Germans returned the favor in Berlin. The VC tunnels in Vietnam are well known.

It's also a common element in military sci-fi. The humans hid from SkyNet in tunnels. Planet- or moon-side military facilities built underground to protect against bombardment from orbit. (Or sometimes the enemy just evolved to live that way, like the bugs in Starship Troopers.

Yes, but the idea now is to more realistically train for those scenarios beforehand, rather than dealing with them on an ad hoc basis.

That's interesting. What did it consist of, if you can say. I did my PCS rotation to Casey/Hovey in 2011/2012 and they never came up at all.

Many MOUT sites have had subterranean scenarios for 20 years.

JABQ04 said:

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That's interesting. What did it consist of, if you can say. I did my PCS rotation to Casey/Hovey in 2011/2012 and they never came up at all.

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Basically we went into the old nuclear munitions bunkers at Ft Hood, and had to maneuver through them to clear the individual rooms. What was hard was there was absolutely no light in them so the regular night vision did not work, and there has to be some ambient light. We had very few of the thermal NODs, so there was alot of counting your steps and placing IR chemlights as a breadcrumb trail of where you have been. CASEVAC was a mess in there too. Overall it was good training and really made you think through issues you do not deal with above ground.

clarythedrill said:

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JABQ04 said:

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That's interesting. What did it consist of, if you can say. I did my PCS rotation to Casey/Hovey in 2011/2012 and they never came up at all.

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Basically we went into the old nuclear munitions bunkers at Ft Hood, and had to maneuver through them to clear the individual rooms. What was hard was there was absolutely no light in them so the regular night vision did not work, and there has to be some ambient light. We had very few of the thermal NODs, so there was alot of counting your steps and placing IR chemlights as a breadcrumb trail of where you have been. CASEVAC was a mess in there too. Overall it was good training and really made you think through issues you do not deal with above ground.

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So that was West Fort Hood?

UTExan said:

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clarythedrill said:

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JABQ04 said:

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That's interesting. What did it consist of, if you can say. I did my PCS rotation to Casey/Hovey in 2011/2012 and they never came up at all.

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Basically we went into the old nuclear munitions bunkers at Ft Hood, and had to maneuver through them to clear the individual rooms. What was hard was there was absolutely no light in them so the regular night vision did not work, and there has to be some ambient light. We had very few of the thermal NODs, so there was alot of counting your steps and placing IR chemlights as a breadcrumb trail of where you have been. CASEVAC was a mess in there too. Overall it was good training and really made you think through issues you do not deal with above ground.

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So that was West Fort Hood?

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Yes it was.