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    Partnership forged at Operation Sustainment Warrior

    Partnership forged at Operation Sustainment Warrior

    Photo By Master Sgt. Brian Hamilton | A Soldier from the 377th Theater Sustainment Command’s footprint engages targets...... read more read more

    JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, UNITED STATES

    08.01.2014

    Story by Sgt. 1st Class Brian Hamilton 

    108th Training Command- Initial Entry Training

    LAKEHURST, N.J. - “Drill Sergeants train Soldiers, that’s what they do. That’s why this a logical marriage!”

    That’s the sentiment shared by Operation Sustainment Warrior 2014 commander, Col. Deborah Kotulich, commander of the 655th Regional Support Group, 377th Theater Sustainment Command.

    “The fact that I am using [Army Reserve] Drill Sergeants from the 95th and 98th Training Divisions, who are uniquely qualified to do this, the results of the training are exactly where you would want them to be and that’s money,” added Kotulich.

    OSW, now in its third year, is an exercise designed to give units in the reset phase of training within the 377th Theater Sustainment Command’s footprint to get quality training on basic warrior tasks like land navigation as well as certify as a combat lifesaver and qualify on their personal weapons.

    Held at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst from July 20 through Aug. 10, OSW is providing 14 days of training to 513 Army Reserve Soldiers, who would not otherwise receive it at their home stations.

    Setting it apart from previous OSW missions, this year the 95th and 98th Training Divisions from the 108th Training Command (IET) were invited to help facilitate the training and the results so far have been amazing.

    “This clearly yielded fantastic results that I personally have never seen before. Right now through three companies we are at a 98 percent weapons qualification,” said Kotulich.

    The significant increase over the previous year’s overall qualification rate of 42 percent is partly due to the quality preliminary marksmanship instruction the Soldiers have received.

    Before they ever it the range, Soldiers receive training from the use of the high tech weapons simulators like the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST) 2000 from Army Reserve Drill Sgt., Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Marshall, 3/385 Inf. Regt., 98th Training Division (IET), and his team.

    “We try to break the Soldier’s bad habits before they get out to the range and it doesn’t matter if their a new Soldier just coming in or they’ve been in the military for 20 years. We’ve got to break the bad habits and improve on the good ones.”

    Marshall, who also serves as a law enforcement officer with the Ocean County, New Jersey Sheriff’s Office, attributed his success to his civilian occupation as well as his military training.

    “Law enforcement and the military go hand in hand. Although we fire different weapons systems, the fundamentals are the same,” said Marshall.

    Maj. Christian Pajak, 3/385 Inf. (OSUT), 98th Training Division (IET), says participating in missions like OSW gives the Soldiers in his unit a unique opportunity that they normally wouldn’t get from instructing in Basic Combat Training missions.

    “This gives us another chance to work on and honestly evaluate ourselves on some of the core functions that we have to teach at Fort Knox or Fort Leonard Wood.”

    As an added bonus, Pajak says doing missions like OSW helps to grow his unit.

    “This gives us a pool to grow the 108th in the future. We have specialists and young non-commissioned officer’s everyday like the job we do and come up to us and ask how they can become a drill sergeant.”

    “That’s a great feeling and for me. That’s a high point. I am very proud of the way both the 95th and the 98th divisions have teamed up to accomplish this mission,” said Pajak.

    Maj. Gen. Leslie Purser, commander of the 108th Training Command (IET) added, “The 377th originally asked for about 42 [Army Reserve] Drill Sergeants for the mission. We ended up sending 94 and the results speak for themselves. They [377th Theater Sustainment Command] are absolutely thrilled with the job we’ve done out here.”

    “The 377th has requested more support from our train-the-trainer (T3) program than any other unit and that’s huge for us. We’re trying to show USARC that we can help with attrition and this partnership proves that.”

    Purser added, “This is not a partnership with the 377th, it’s a marriage. They are very grateful for having us out here and we are equally appreciative of being asked to come out here. The results from this mission speak for itself.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.01.2014
    Date Posted: 08.02.2014 23:29
    Story ID: 138110
    Location: JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US

    Web Views: 163
    Downloads: 2

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