Spartan Brigade completes successfull rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center

Photo By Sgt. Javier Amador | Lt. Galen Dahl, a platoon leader with 4th Platoon, D Company, 1st Battalion 32st Infantry Regiment and his interpreter receive a briefing from a role player acting as a Afghan Army battalion commander prior to conducting a Key Leader Engagement as part of his platoon’s combat patrol situational training exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La.  

FORT POLK, LA, UNITED STATES

06.17.2013

Story by Sgt. Javier Amador 

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

FORT POLK, La. – The smiles on the faces of the soldiers as they stepped off the last plane to arrive back at Fort Drum June 22 were readily apparent as the 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s successful completion of their rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center came to a close.

Nearly 3,000 soldiers, most of which came from the six battalions that make up the 3rd Brigade Combat Team participated in the training. Additionally, units from the 85th Civil Affairs Brigade, Fort Bragg, S.C. and the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Campbell, Ky., also preparing for future deployments, participated in the training.

The training at the Joint Readiness Training Center, more commonly referred to by the acronym JRTC, is complex and demanding. The training prepares units for deployment by exposing them to an environment that duplicates their prospective area of operations. Units and their commanders were subjected to nearly all of the challenges they will likely encounter on the battlefield. Every situation possible is covered, from conducting combat patrols and convoys to understanding and negotiating the intricate relationships between the provincial, military and national levels of the Afghan government.

As the Army’s mission in Afghanistan makes the transition from fighting the war on terror to that of mentoring and supporting the Afghan National Security Forces, the necessity for smaller teams of highly trained, highly experienced officers and non-commissioned officers to train them is critical. The Security Force Advise and Assist Teams or SFAATs, are comprised of members from each of the brigade's six battalions, are designed to do just that

“The purpose of the SFAAT teams is to advise and assist the ANSF or Afghan National Security Forces in conducting counterinsurgency operations and conducting security operations within the Greater Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” said Maj. Darren Glenn, the team leader from the Operational Coordination Center Region SFATT Team 1.

The 12 SFAAT teams each have areas of expertise that they will bring to their assigned Afghan partners. Some of these teams may teach them how to effectively deploy their Russian-made D-30 howitzers while others will help them to develop effective cooperation between their army and police forces which is the main area of focus for Maj. Glenn’s team.

The SFATT teams were formed earlier this year and were first fielded during the brigade's Mountain Peak field training exercise in April, roughly a month before their arrival to JRTC. The training opportunities afforded them the chance to grow and develop necessary to accomplish their assigned missions.

“What JRTC really allowed us to do was to develop our Standard Operating Procedures and to really work out systems so that we could truly become a team,” said Glenn, “We conducted battle drills, and our own force protection drills and really synchronized what we needed to do as a small unit operating as a team.”

The 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s staff has also seen a recent reorganization in support of the SFAATs. Now organized as a Security Force Advising Brigade or SFAB, they too have faced the steep learning curve.

“One of the major challenges that we faced as a brigade staff was understanding how to employ the SFAAT teams, something that we have never done before, something that we worked on initially during Mountain Peak and to a much larger extent during JRTC,” said Maj. Bo Dennis, the Executive Officer of the 3rd BCT. “With the additional role players that were down here we really got the opportunity to test the network and to test our ability to employ them and to partner with them.”

The 3rd Brigade Combat Team has also developed the ability to accomplish a wide variety of missions over a larger area of responsibility with a considerably smaller number of personnel, testing their ability to adapt to their new role.

“Typically a brigade combat team deploys with anywhere from 3500 to 4000 soldiers where as now we may be deploying with just shy of 2000 soldiers which is larger than most SFABs but still a much smaller footprint,” said Dennis, “Which is a challenge, because one thing we learned out here at JRTC was that there are some areas where you previously had more personnel in certain positions. In an SFAB you have to make certain decisions on who goes where and who does what because you simply don’t have the size of a full brigade”.

The brigade staff maximized every training opportunity to grow the numerous skill sets required while at JRTC. From utilizing their newly acquired Capability Set 13 communications system to coordinating the SFAATs as they worked their way thru the two provinces in the training area at JRTC known as the box, the 3rd BCT made great strides forward in their preparations for their new role. However, Maj. Dennis acknowledges that there is always more to be done when preparing for deployment.

“I think we have a lot of work left to do,” said Dennis, “But this exercise has shown that we have a lot of capability and a lot of good leaders within the SFAATs, we know how to partner with our host nation counterparts and we came out of this exercise in excellent shape with a clear understanding of what tasks we need to focus on as we move toward our deployment.”

The brigade hosted several high level visitors while at JRTC. The U.S. Army Forces Commander, Gen. Daniel B. Allen visited the Spartan brigade headquarters where he held a question and answer session with the Brigade Commander, Col. Sam Whitehurst and Brigade Command Sergeant Major, Command Sgt. Maj. Sean T. Watson as well as all of the brigade’s battalion Commanders and Command Sergeant Majors. They also hosted delegations from the Royal Thai and Mexican armies.


Media representatives from the United States Military Academy, the Discovery Channel and several Army trade publications also visited the Spartan brigade during their time at JRTC. The academy, working in conjunction with a small group from the University of Southern California recorded footage of an SFAAT team instructing role players acting as their Afghan counterparts in the operation of their Russian-made D-30 howitzers as well as a mass casualty training exercise.

The Discovery Channel along with the journalists from the Army trade publications recorded footage of Spartans from 4th Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment as they went thru a combat patrol training exercise. Afterward, they interviewed one of their squad leaders, Staff Sgt. Christopher Clarke and the 3rd BCT’s staff communications officer, Maj. Graham Wood about the Capability Set 13 system for a proposed new show about how military and civilian research produce new technologies.

The long hours all of the soldiers worked as well as the nearly month-long time that they have been apart from their families while at JRTC did not go unnoticed by the command team of the Spartan brigade as Maj. Dennis acknowledges their contributions as well as those of their families.

“They’ve always been the bedrock of this brigade through all of the deployments and they continue to be a source of strength for us. Being away from home for about four weeks for this training when we are really getting into the home stretch towards our deployment speaks volumes about our families and what they mean to the BCT,” said Dennis, “The families, not only have they been critical to our success during JRTC but they are going to be even more essential to our success going forward in the days and months ahead, so on behalf of Col. Whitehurst and Command Sgt. Major Watson, I just want to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation for all they do”.

• Date Taken: 06.17.2013
• Date Posted: 07.09.2013 11:38
• Story ID: 109894
• Location: FORT POLK, LA, US
• Hometown: FORT DRUM, NY, US