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JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. – Soldiers from across the continental United States and Puerto Rico came together for a unique Extended Combat Training experience with the 359th Transportation Battalion’s Seaport Operations Company (SPOC) 13-2 exercise.
This joint-operations training mission involved maneuver and movement operations from different branches of the military and used all modes of transportation: ground, rail, watercraft and aircraft movement.
The main focus of this training was to allow Soldiers and Sailors to get hands-on training in their Military Occupational Specialty that they might not have the opportunity to get from monthly Battle Assemblies at their home unit.
In this training scenario, more than 400 Soldiers from the participating units practiced a mock natural disaster response. In this case, it was a devastating 8.9-magintude earthquake on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Their mission was to work closely with first responders and other U.S. military services to provide humanitarian aid, supplies and medical support.
Soldiers were able to exercise their skills and knowledge to process equipment accountability; handle and move cargo; set up equipment staging areas; utilize rail, sea and air support; and provide logistics, supplies and medical assistance. Also it provides Army and Navy Reserve units a chance to assess their capabilities, develop and sustain their technical skills, prepare for future missions and get an opportunity to see different Reserve components working together smoothly.
Capt. Jonas Bateman, the training officer-in-charge for the 359th Trans. Bn. and the 949th Floating Craft company commander, believes that adding Army public affairs and Navy assets were two new additions that were critical to this training.
Bateman said incorporating the Navy and a second seaport operating company allowed the units to hit all the modes of transportation by utilizing another branch, and as for public affairs, he said that it can be hard to get the message out. It’s hard for the unit that actually executes the mission to do that; there just aren’t the resources, he said.
In addition to the Navy and public affairs assets, Bateman said he was pleased that Soldiers were able to attend additional training during ECT, including Combat Life Saver classes, sexual harassment and assault classes, drivers training, firefighting exercises, drown-proofing exercises and convoy operations.
Bateman said next year’s exercise should build off of this year’s and be even more real-world and hands-on by incorporating the Coast Guard. It will also move from a humanitarian aid scenario to more of a combat operations scenario, he added.
| Date Taken: | 08.07.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 08.07.2013 12:27 |
| Story ID: | 111501 |
| Location: | VA, US |
| Web Views: | 43 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Disaster relief training serves as great experience for battalion, by SGT Francesca Stanchi, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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