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ORCHARD, Idaho - Sport teams often have coaches and trainers who watch from the sidelines and encourage their members to achieve their best. The military also has men and women who observe, coach and train Army Soldiers on the skill sets that will enable them to achieve their goals during deployments.
Observer/coach trainers are a group of Soldiers who specialize in a particular task or on a piece of military equipment. This specialization enables them to assist Soldiers by employing best practices and correcting flaws in their tactics, techniques and procedures immediately during training.
“The part we play a key role in is observation,” said Capt. Branden Jones, Senior O/CT, 5th Armored Brigade, Fort Bliss, Texas. “We are that secondhand feedback to the unit. While they are operating their mission we can give them that feedback on what they did well and what could have been better.”
O/CTs from across the Army offered their knowledge to Army National Guard soldiers during the eXpandable Combat Training Exercise at the Orchard Combat Training Center, Idaho, during the month of August.
“The O/CTs are active duty and have worked with the equipment that we are training on so they provide the first hand knowledge that helps make our unit a better trained force,” said Staff Sgt. Jose Rodriguez, squad leader, A Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team, Idaho National Guard. “The trainers can stand back, seeing the big picture, and see the mistakes that are being made and provide guidance to make us better.”
During the training event the O/CTs worked with a designated unit throughout the exercise to monitor improvements and reoccurring hurdles that challenged the unit.
“The O/CTs are out here to help the unit commander and the unit leadership see themselves,” said Lt. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, First Army commanding general. “The observers are here to bring to light things that the unit missed during training and offer them TTPs to make them better.”
During their time with the unit the observers facilitated after-action reviews, enabling them to establish a discussion on how the unit thought the training went and what could have been better. Some key topics were proper dismounting procedures, maintaining sectors of fire and proper vehicle movement across the training area.
“The O/CTs have the privilege of observing hundreds of units doing the very same task,” said Tucker. “They become a treasure trove of good practices and share those with the training unit. They are an enormous value added to this training environment.”
The ability to observe and guide units to achieve the level of expertise needed for combat makes the O/CT an asset to help shape the fighting forces of our Army.
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2014 14:15 |
| Story ID: | 142313 |
| Location: | ORCHARD, ID, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Training with experience, by SGT Christopher Prows, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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