FORT IRWIN, Calif. – Approximately 2,000 Arkansas Troops with the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are curretnly training at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif. The team arrived on May 9 for the three week rotation. NTC provides realistic battlefield scenarios, supported y top notch special effects and dozens of civilians on the battlefield to add to the realism. In total, approximately 3,500 soldiers, airmen and Marines from various states are participating in the training under command and control of the 39th. The training was scheduled to hel the brigade prepare for a potential deployment to Afghanistan in 2012.
“Train as you fight” is a phrase often spoken, but it virtually comes to life here at the National Training Center where 2,000 Arkansas Guardsmen are currently preparing for a potential deployment to Afghanistan.
“I’m really pleased with what I’m seeing out here at NTC,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Rick Megoloff, senior enlisted advisor for the Arkansas National Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. “The realism is outstanding. You have the civilians on the battlefield. You have the ability to use your interpreters. You have the ability to use all the systems our soldiers are using in Afghanistan. From that aspect you can’t get any better when it comes to that.”
Megoloff arrived at Fort Irwin with his soldiers on May 9, for a three week rotation along with 1,500 other soldiers, airmen and Marines who are participating under the brigade’s command and control. Roughly 600 of those soldiers are members of the Alabama National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 167th Infantry Regiment, which is preparing for the potential Afghan deployment with the 39th.
With over 3,500 troops total on the ground, the training extends well past the basic soldier’s war-fighting skills.
“All of our systems are being exercised here,” said Megoloff. “Logistically, we’re having to work the fuel; we’re having to work the [food, water, and rations]; all the classes of supply, all the maintenance, all the different skill sets that our soldiers have are being exercised 24/7, so that aspect is great.”
Aside from the training benefit of managing the logistical needs of 3,500 troops, the level of training for combat is top notch at NTC. Located in the Mohave Desert, the weather and terrain offer a similar environment to Afghanistan, while massive mock villages and dozens of Afghan civilians round out the look and feel of the region.
While blockbuster-quality special effects bring the war to life in the mock villages, the center’s employment of wounded U.S. Veterans helps to simulate the worst case scenarios on the battlefields. The Veterans – several missing limbs as a result of actual combat - heighten the stress level of the soldiers in order to prepare them for the potential of such life or death situations.
“The training has been difficult,” said Col. Kirk Van Pelt, commander of the 39th Brigade. “It is stressing the Soldiers and the staff, but you train hard in peacetime to save lives in combat.”
The training helps to bring the troops to a much higher readiness level as they prepare for the brigade’s third combat deployment since 2004. The training is far from complete when this rotation ends, as Van Pelt plans to continue the push to bring his soldiers to the highest level of readiness possible.
“The soldiers are motivated and eager and the training is going better than expected, but we still have a lot to learn,” said Van Pelt. “At the completion of the rotation we will meet with all the brigade leadership and develop a training plan that will allow us to sustain and build upon what we learned here.”
Megoloff echoed the commander’s thoughts in saying that this training provides lessons for our soldiers to improve upon during future training opportunities.
“One of the great things about this training is we’re still about a year out [from deployment] and we’re getting some very good lessons learned,” said Megoloff. “From the command post all the way down to team and individual training, the lessons learned that we’re going to get here will help us prepare ourselves for Afghanistan.”
The 39th received notification of this most recent mobilization just two years after returning home from Iraq in December 2008. The brigade had returned home from its first deployment to Iraq in March 2005. This most recent deployment is anticipated in the spring of 2012.
The brigade is anticipated to complete the training at NTC and return to Arkansas just prior to Memorial Day.
| Date Taken: |
05.18.2011 |
| Date Posted: |
05.18.2011 20:48 |
| Story ID: |
70631 |
| Location: |
FORT IRWIN, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: |
211 |
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0 |
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This work, Realistic training helping to prepare Arkansas soldiers for Afghanistan, by MAJ Chris Heathscott, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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