Fort Hood goes back to roots of warfare

FORT HOOD, Texas (KXAN) - Since the beginning of mankind, there have been wars, wars that have been fought in many different ways.

In the 21st century, Iraq and Afghanistan brought a whole new range of obstacles in the way our soldiers fought.

"We haven't done war fighting in a lot of years, its actually been nearly a decade," said 1SG Shane Hanover.

Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters engaged US Armed Forces with asymmetric warfare style: the enemy would come from many directions and it was often unclear who they were.

For the past 10 years, U.S. soldiers would go out on a mission for a maximum of 72 hours and return to the security of a base, food and a warm bed.

"For these kids, decisive warfare is harder because they grew up in the asymmetric warfare environment,"  Hanover said.

"Live less comfortable, we have to dig in fox holes and we have to get away from the creature comforts that we have been used to for the last 10 years," said Lt.Col. Michael Payne, 3rd Special Troops Battalion Commander.

Going back to old school training of pushing soldiers bodies and minds, preparing them for what could be weeks or even months on the battlefield in harsh environments.

"I look at all our soldiers as tactical athletes," Lt.Col. Payne said.

Most soldiers who joined after 9-11 only know one kind of fighting but U.S. forces hope with their experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and the retraining of basic ground combat on the battlefield, the United States military will remain the best and strongest in an ever changing world.