FORT HOOD, Texas – The 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood is in the middle of Exercise Pegasus Forge.

Pegasus Forge is a culminating training event for 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division and is testing brigade-level maneuver capabilities, exercising the ability of the unit to conduct large scale ground combat operations, and culminated with a Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise.

After weeks of long intense training, soldiers getting a chance to see some of their biggest weapons in practical use.

The live fire exercises allow soldiers to train in a setting as close to a war-like scenario as possible.

The commanding general says this type of training leaves our troops with a great deal of confidence when they carry out missions over seas.

“They should have confidence in themselves now because they’ve trained. They’ve been out here for a little over a month training in this COVID-19 environment that we’ve been in and it really shows great discipline,” said Major General Jeff Broadwater, the Commanding general of 1st Cavalry Unit.

The month long training is for the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team and the 1st Cavalry Division

The exercises test brigade level maneuver capabilities, and exercises the ability of the unit to conduct large scale ground combat in any given climate.

“We’re doing this in the day. We’ve got to be able to do this at night and in any kind of weather whether it’s in a COVID-19 environment or other types of environment we have to be ready to do that,” said Major Jeff General Broadwater.

The exercise integrates live maneuver forces, simulations, and multiple joint enablers culminating in a joint live-fire exercise.

Artillery, rockets and Air Force assets including a B-52 were included in the training.

Soldiers have been in the field for 72 hours as a field and fire training exercise so they’ve been able to get used to the war-like environment.

“It makes you feel a lot more comfortable knowing that we’re going through all of this rigorous training so that when we go over seas, we know what we’re doing.” Staff Sargent Kevin Heleodoro, told Fox 44.

Army leaders say this training is Providing the brigade a real look at what a conflict with adversaries would look like.

Showing off fort hood’s ability to train its soldiers for intense combat at any given time.

“It was a little nerve wrecking at first but again my leadership has really coached me through like all of the first step final steps. You have to have confidence before you pull the trigger so it’s an amazing feeling. There’s no other way to describe how it feels,” said PFC Aaron Zaleski.