BUTLERVILLE — In the center of the contrived disaster sites of the Mustcatatuck Urban Training Center, there is a small animal farm that helps train soldiers and first responders how to react to emergencies the natural and man-made worlds.
The five acres of land that house one camel, one donkey, two ponies, two llamas, two cows, 16 chickens, 20 goats, 28 sheep and a series of bee hives already has made its mark on events around the world.
More than 131,000 training days were completed at MUTC in 2017 alone. The farm animals played an important part of that training and helped prepare the military and first responders for emergencies at home and abroad, according to MUTC Deputy Base Operations Manager Maj. Stephen Spencer.
The farm was started in 2009 as a way to train teams of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and civilians heading toward the Middle East, Spencer said.
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The farm animals are still used to provide realistic experiences in many types of training exercises.
A longtime farmer himself, Spencer explained that in the modern U.S. many young people have never been around farm livestock, but in other parts of the world, especially in third-world cultures, people and livestock interact on a daily basis.
“We like to set the animals loose in the middle of the market place. They (soldiers) think they have their hands full just moving through crowds of people, then, suddenly, they have goats, sheep and chickens coming at them,” Spencer said.
The marketplace site is an often used venue at MUTC designed to replicate an area in a third-world country’s town where civilians routinely gather. The presence of animals in a marketplace setting is common. Surprising soldiers with the animals provides the experience of how to maneuver around the animals while performing their mission, Spencer said.
Aids realism
MUTC’s staff prides itself on recreating real-world experiences for the training of the military, police and fire departments, and other civilian agencies.
In 2005, the Indiana National Guard was given control of 1,000 acres of what was once the largest mental hospital in Indiana.
Located near Butlerville, the hospital and its surrounding grounds were similar to many Midwestern towns. The hospital functioned independently with school buildings, medical buildings, high-rise dormitories, churches, utility buildings, administrative buildings and residences.
The large variety of existing hospital buildings provide realistic venues for military and emergency response training.
The National Guard also added several venues that replicated man-made and natural disasters such as a small flooded town, a railroad accident site, a subway station, a bombed-out parking garages, a sports arena and the farm.
Human role players and the farm animals are intended to add authenticity to many training scenarios.
Now, military and civilian agencies come from across the nation to train at MUTC.
Integral operation
An experienced farmer, state employee Rodney Morris maintains and operates the MUTC animal farm year-round.
“We built this up a little at a time with a lot of help from many people,” Morris said recently, as he stepped through the gate that separates the farm area from other MUTC sites.
When Morris stepped onto the path leading into the farm, the goats came running toward him. One small black goat bleated at Morris in a demanding tone.
“We are still bottle feeding that one and he thinks its time to eat,” a smiling Morris said.
Two ponies acting more like frisky dogs ran to follow Morris as he walked through the barnyard.
Exotic looking chickens poked their heads out of their chicken coop as Morris walked toward the working windmill. Morris said the windmill was a good example of how the farm was built up.
“This windmill and two others were built by a well-digging unit on their way to the Horn of Africa. We needed the windmills and they needed more training on how to build windmills. They went on their way and we kept the windmills. It helped us both,” Morris said.
Spencer said it’s important to find ways to save money to sustain the farm at MUTC.
“To do that we try to make everything we do as multi-purposed as possible,” Spencer said.
For example, the sites used to land helicopters at MUTC also are used to grow hay to feed the animals.
Spencer said that while the farm animals add realism to the training at MUTC, their primary purpose is to save money by assisting in grass control on the grounds.
“They save an immense amount of money by grazing in places that would be difficult and even dangerous to mow,” Spencer said.
If the animals share fiscal responsibility at MUTC, they don’t seem aware of their contribution.
“We made all this to resemble how farms tend to look in third-world countries. The buildings look old on the outside but they are state of the art on the inside. They all have power and water. The animals and the chickens have it made,” Morris said, smiling.
The animals are not only fortunate to have good housing at MUTC, they also receive a lot of attention.
Because people come to MUTC to learn how to save lives, the training is often intense and difficult. At the end of a training day, many civilians and military members find their way to the farm to visit with the animals.
“I guess it helps them relax. Anyway, the animals like to have visitors,” Morris said, explaining that Saraha, the camel, is often the center of attention.
“We got her when she was a baby. We bottle fed her and this is the only world she has ever known,” he added.
Morris said people ask if Sahara is lonely because she is the only camel at MUTC, and lives alone in her own building.
“She’s not lonely because she thinks she is a human and she has all the attention a human could possibly want,” Morris said.
