Captain Steve Gerber, the ranking American soldier on the scene, scans the perimeter of the Afghan village for signs of activity. There's a roar in the distance and a Humvee is hurtling down the rough dirt road, kicking up mud in its wake from the recent rain.

The Humvee makes a hard right at speed, heads to the far corner of the village, spins around, and stops. The Hummer's gunner pops up like a jack-in-the-box and points the mounted machine gun at a small gully of rocks and trees at the bottom of the slope that marks the edge of town. Seemingly out of nowhere, three Afghan soldiers materialize, working in tandem with the Humvee, running out ahead of the vehicle. One pulls up short, takes a knee and shoulders his rifle, covering the gully at a 45-degree angle opposite the Humvee's position. The other two A and As--U.S. Army slang for Afghan army soldiers--hit the deck directly in front of the Humvee and quickly bring their rifles up to the prone position.

Before long, there's signaling and shouting amidst intermittent gunfire, with the Humvee's mounted .50 caliber machine gun sending a hail of bullets right over the heads of the two Afghan soldiers. The shooting stops right about the same time as a bus barrels up the dirt road. The soldiers hold their positions and about a dozen Afghan National Policemen pour out of the bus, fanning out across the village. They search both homes and any people in the street.

After some shouting and a small ruckus, the policemen focus on a small room in the second story of a building just behind the corner of the great domed mosque in the center of town. Two handcuffed men--one wearing fatigues, the other in a long white robe he's nearly tripping over--are pushed and dragged through the village towards the bus. The policemen have also captured one rocket-propelled grenade and an IED, consisting of a metal box with miscellaneous electronics and a nine-volt battery.

Gerber saunters over to where the two Afghan Army officers in charge are standing.

There are warm greetings all around. In a few seconds, Gerber goes from all-business army officer to aw-shucks Midwesterner. The joint Afghan-American mission is a success. In fact, it was such a success you could almost believe you're not in Kansas anymore.

The Afghan village is a fake. It's nothing more than a handful of carefully stacked and modified shipping containers set up in the prairie on the outskirts of Fort Riley. The base is ringed with mock villages and tactical training areas. They're given Arabic or Afghan names, but are generally referred to by their army designation. This village is known as "Cluster City Five."

The terrorists and village dwellers in the exercise are role players supplied by a defense contractor. Most are young males recruited from nearby Kansas State--all too happy to play army for $14 an hour. During their downtime, they sit around in the rusted shipping containers playing cards, joking, and generally enjoying themselves.