CHEYENNE - A heavily armed soldier tromps through a desert town hunting for the enemy.

Overhead, a camera-mounted drone scans building tops and surrounding hills for what the soldier's eyes cannot see.

Buy the soldier is not in Afghanistan or Iraq.

He's at Camp Guernsey, Wyo. - the National Guard training center in Platte County.

Camp Guernsey, which provides schooling for all branches of the U.S. military, the Wyoming Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies, is edging toward the vanguard of American military training.

Supporters, including U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., insist its robotics program and vast land area make it a perfect staging ground for modern warfare training.

Efforts are under way to transform Camp Guernsey into the first training center used - and funded - by all branches of the U.S. military.

If that happens, the expanded mission would crystallize the camp's relevancy, while providing a sizable economic boost for Platte County.

"We're working really hard to become the first legitimized joint training center," said Lt. Col. Dave Herder, deputy garrison commander at the camp.

Congress has been pumping millions of dollars into the robotics program at Camp Guernsey over the last few years.

With help from Thomas, the camp received $7.5 million since 2004 to jump start a partnership between the National Guard, the University of Wyoming and private industry.

The emphasis has been on unmanned robots - aerial drones, bomb robots, underwater vehicles - so soldiers get firsthand experience with cutting-edge technology before they reach the battlefield.

"It allows people to train on robotics prior to deploying," Herder said. "It may not be the exact weapons systems they'll be using, but it's a reasonable facsimile."

For example, soldiers at Camp Guernsey learn to use a 5-pound, hand-launched, GPS-guided aerial drone that takes photographs and thermal images of the battle zone below.

Soldiers also use robots to dismantle bombs, including the deadly improvised explosive devises, or IEDs, that have killed hundreds of American troops in Iraq.

Robotics training at the camp has applications for Wyoming law enforcement agencies and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well. The military is already lending robots to law enforcement agencies and search and rescue teams in Wyoming.

Eventually, the program could expand into development and testing of new robot designs, said Brian Beyer, experimentation manager for Joint Training and Experimentation Center, or JTEC, the private-sector arm of the collaboration.

Warfare complexity

Camp Guernsey's urban warfare training program is also expanding.

Centered on a mock village, the program allows soldiers to engage fictitious enemies with an advanced version of the children's game Laser Tag.

Soldiers are also fitted with microphones, helmet-mounted cameras and GPS devices that can be used to critique and improve performance.

"The hardest place to fight is urban terrain," Beyer said. "It's a horrible place to fight. It's very complicated. And anything we can do to help the war fighter be better prepared and safer and more successful, that would be a win for us."

By October, the combat town will nearly double in size, increasing the complexity and value of the program.

"My goal is to have a world-class testing and training environment," said Beyer, who is a former Marine with combat experience in Iraq and an active member of the National Guard.

Camp Guernsey is an obvious choice for modern warfare training because of the availability of land and the kind of terrain found in eastern Wyoming, Herder said.

With more than 35,000 acres of training grounds, Camp Guernsey may be larger than any other military training center in the nation.

The rolling hills, buffalo grass, sagebrush and scattered trees are similar to features found in parts of the Middle East, making it an ideal location to train soldiers for missions in those areas.

"It's similar to terrain we operate in in Afghanistan," Herder said.

A third major asset is the camp's remote location. While other training centers are limited by their proximity to cities and town, Camp Guernsey, on the North Platte River between Wheatland and Torrington, is relatively isolated.

However, the camp is accessible from Interstate 25, State Highway 26 and by rail and air.

"It really showcases Wyoming as a place to do this joint service training, and we expect to see more of it in the future because Wyoming does have open land and is not encumbered by some of the concerns that metro areas face," said Cameron Hardy, spokesman for Thomas' office.

Growth helps everyone

The pace of growth at Camp Guernsey could increase dramatically if it earns the joint training center designation.

Its elevated status would allow funding to flow from all military branches directly to the camp. The National Guard currently allows soldiers from other military branches to train there for a fee.

"Once we get that joint designation, it basically changes the color of money," Herder said. "Right now the camp is totally funded by the National Guard."

The increased funds would allow for urgently needed improvements to the camp's runway and other infrastructure.

The expanded mission would also mean a larger staff and more soldiers passing through Platte County. Soldiers are not limited to the camp between training sessions, and officials expect them to patronize local restaurants and stores.

"Growth at Camp Guernsey I'm sure will impact the entire county," said Jan Kahler, interim director of the Wheatland Area Development Corp.

The military is working closely with the nearby towns of Wheatland and Guernsey to avoid growing pains and to help businesses capitalize on the growth.

"We want incremental growth so we don't overwhelm the local economy," Herder said. "We want to make sure everything is paced and planned to benefit everybody."

In addition, increased funding to the base and its private partner, JTEC, will increase the number of high-tech civilian jobs, Herder said, and will diversify the state's mineral-heavy economy.

"It's a tremendous economic benefit for Camp Guernsey and the state of Wyoming," Herder said.

Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@casperstartribune.net.