Old-school soldiers prove they can still beat tech-heavy troops

FORT JOHNSON, Louisiana—Through the black-and-white lens of night-vision goggles, Sgt. 1st Class Mark Spirko and 1st Lt. Alex Andrade looked like phantoms as they creeped through the suffocatingly hot pine forest just after 1 a.m.

Suddenly Spirko stopped, his eyes fixed on an unseen point just ahead. With a smooth motion, he raised his rifle and fired. 

“Dad,” as his men jokingly call him, had just killed three enemy soldiers. As he disappeared into the night, wildly inaccurate bursts of fire followed him in vain. 

The gunfire was all from blanks, and the “deaths” were recorded via a laser-tag-like system. Spirko is a member of the reconnaissance force of Geronimo, U.S. Army soldiers who serve as the enemy in highly realistic wargames to prepare other units for deployments.

This time, Spirko was fighting a unit like none other before: the 2nd Brigade of the storied 101st Airborne, known as Strike. Like wealthy hunters on a big-game hunt, Strike had come with every modern advantage in the book, from brand-new drones to electronic warfare tools made for sniffing out an enemy’s digital trail.  

But even as warfare in Ukraine suggests a major shift in land operations, an old lesson appeared to hold true: a well-led, experienced force fighting on its home turf can still win against a technologically superior enemy. Over the course of a dusk-to-dawn raid earlier this month, Defense One watched as Spirko and other members of Geronimo's “Ghost” reconnaissance unit outfoxed Strike time after time. 

Ghost vs Strike 

Geronimo had at least a few advantages. 

Unlike Strike’s soldiers, Geronimo’s soldiers can rely on air-conditioned rooms to recover between missions, as well as ample supplies of water. Strike, by contrast, was stuck in the sweltering heat, thick with mosquitos, with limited water supply if Geronimo attacked their logistics points. The weather is so stifling that soldiers are regularly air-lifted to hospitals to recover from heat-related illnesses.  

Geronimo’s soldiers also run war games with visiting units multiple times per year, gaining valuable experience working with each other and learning the training area by heart. 

The unit’s rules of engagement are another advantage, said Sgt. Michael Corely, a team leader in Ghost. Recon units usually must radio to artillery units to attack any enemies they discover, then wait for headquarters to approve or veto the strike, which can be a lengthy process.

Ghost doesn’t have that problem. 

Before missions, it agrees on a high-payoff list of targets that are pre-approved, such as enemy radars or artillery. If Ghost sees one of those targets, it can unload a mortar and attack it directly. The weapon has a double advantage: since it’s usually only used by regular troops, the unit under attack may believe it’s facing a large enemy formation and not just a handful of reconnaissance soldiers. 

Ghost has also used first-person-view drones for fast strikes, Corely said. In a previous training rotation, he said, they used a single drone piloted by Army special operations forces to take out two valuable mine-clearing vehicles.  

Still, Strike had key advantages. For one, it outnumbered Ghost three to one. And because the soldiers were inserted by helicopter, the units were also spread throughout the forest. 

In addition to the physical advantage, Strike also could rely on brand-new drones, electronic warfare tools, loitering munitions, night vision goggles and Infantry Squad Vehicles (ISV)—small, quiet vehicles perfect for roving through the forest.

Ghost, by contrast, has little in the way of new tech. Each team rode on small, all-terrain vehicles, including a Maverick ATV whose engine was far louder than the ISV.

And Ghost’s only drone, a TSM-800, has a camera that’s only a small step up from a flip-phone. Rather than flying based on the pilot’s input, like Strike’s drones, it instead flies by pre-set waypoints that can not be changed to re-focus on a promising target.

The mission 

Gathered a few hours before Spirko’s assault on the outpost, the Ghost soldiers looked tired as they gathered in their dingy operations room. They’d worked all night, and had just a few hours at home to shower, rest, and recover before another 24-hour mission. 

Tonight’s objective: find the 101st’s Multi-Functional Reconnaissance Company (MFRC). The unit was a formidable adversary. One of only three similar units across the Army, the MFRC was decked out with new gear perfect for hunting the adversary, including drones, electronic warfare tools, deception equipment, and more. If Geronimo could find them, they’d weaken Strike’s reconnaissance capability and take a powerful unit off the board.  

In a forceful, hushed voice, Corely sketched out the plan after the six-man group moved to a refueling station, his voice as urgent as if it were a real mission. Ghost would try to search for the MFRC in an area just next to Geronimo’s entry point to the training area. If they found them, they’d then call in Baker Company and surround the MFRC. 

Racing out on the three dune-buggy type vehicles, day turned into night, forcing the soldiers to rely on night-vision goggles to drive. Nevertheless, the soldiers were able to move quickly, assisted by their deep knowledge of the roads. 

After winding their way through the woods, the teams converged on a small clearing to release a drone. On board the drone, a Raspberry Pi computer was set up to scan the nearby forest for the tell-tale electronic signals given off by WiFi devices. 

But the TS-M800 had technical problems, forcing the soldiers to wait. In the darkness came the rumbling of vehicles. A soldier glanced at an Android phone loaded with the Tactical Assault Kit software, and identified them as Baker Company. 

New instructions crackled over the radio. The unit’s three vehicles disappeared into the darkness, with Spirko and Andrade racing to reconnoiter a possible enemy position. 

The soldiers parked near the objective and got out of the vehicle. Spirko’s steps barely made a sound, despite the many branches underfoot. Soon, they encountered the small outpost—where Spirko “killed” the three soldiers rushing toward them. 

Spirko and Andrade looped back, walking for what felt like an hour to eventually reach a large flat field where Spirko thought their targets might be. Soaked with sweat from the hike, the soldiers arrived to find the field empty. 

As if in recompense, Strike then made it easy for them. 

On the road back to their vehicle, the two soldiers spotted four 101st Airborne ISVs parked just a few feet off the road, with two soldiers standing just behind them. The soldiers, perhaps tired from their day, did not challenge the two figures as they passed by. Spirko radioed back to base to report the soldiers, relaying their exact position for a possible strike without even looking at a map. 

Spirko and Adrade then hid their vehicle. Unlike the soldiers they’d just spotted, they parked deep within the forest—though not so deep that they couldn’t watch the road. Peering out, they watched as oblivious 101st ISVs drove back and forth. 

Elsewhere, Corely’s team was also making progress. 

He had found the position of a 101st company command post, and radioed the location back to base. Geronimo then used its indirect fires—the term for everything from artillery to rockets—to destroy the company base by virtually shelling it. The attack allowed Pathfinder Company, another Geronimo unit, to press forward and take back territory from the 101st. 

But Corely’s work was not even close to over. After a whispered meeting with Andrade and Spirko, he and his team traveled off into the approaching dawn to continue their mission for another 12 hours. 

For Spirko and Andrade, though, it was time to drive back to the base to rest and reset. Drenched in sweat from the night’s events, the air-conditioning felt almost painfully cold. They hadn't caught the MFRC—but “Ghost” unit had once again slipped through the enemy’s hands.