Way ahead affirmed

Photo By Staff Sgt. Kelly Carlton | Col. Frank Y. Rangel, commander, 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, briefs several of his staff officers prior to a scheduled commander’s update and assessment, Oct. 18. The CUA concluded the brigade’s field training exercise, Dauntless Courage.  

FORT RILEY, KS, UNITED STATES

11.10.2011

Story by Sgt. Kelly Carlton 

4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade

FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Soldiers are constantly building their ‘toolbox’ of skills while in the Army. Units also strive to continuously add to their toolboxes. The 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, has the opportunity to greatly enhance its set of skills since recently being tasked with a completely new mission.

Dauntless Courage marks the 4th MEB’s official training in its new focus as a combat mission oriented unit. The training exercise offers the unit as a whole to train and build mission readiness in its new role as a worldwide deployable asset.

"The 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade has spent the last two years supporting a homeland security mission ready to respond to a weapon of mass destruction attack in the United States,” said Maj. John Morrow, 4th MEB brigade plans officer, “the Brigade is no longer on this mission and has begun training for a combat focused mission typically experienced by American Forces deployed to Afghanistan.”

The field training exercise the brigade is currently conducting is invaluable to truly test and validate our capabilities as a combat asset, says Morrow. Three of the battalions are training at three different locations - Fort Riley, Camp Gruber, and Fort Knox. The focus with this training scenario is to establish and maintain electronic communications while conducting 24 hour operations. This field exercise has solidified 4th MEB’s ability to effectively communicate with several hundred miles between multiple elements.

During deployment, a signal company and a brigade communications section provide their unit with secure and unsecure internet, email, and other battlefield communications assets which require secure connectivity, said Master Sgt. Timothy Casper, 4th MEB brigade communications security manager.

“One of the challenges we faced on this exercise was being able to provide a viable communications means without having our full complement, the signal company,” says Casper.

The lack of the signal company on this field training exercise limited our communications offering to only tactical satellite radio capability, says Casper. In a real world deployment, the signal company would be with the brigade and be able to extend our communications area to an effective range.

Upon the conclusion of any mission readiness training, an assessment of the unit’s capabilities, and or any shortcomings, is in order. This responsibility always falls to the commander of that unit.

Col. Frank Y. Rangel, commander 4th MEB, said he approached this measurement of the field training exercise considering two main focuses – what were the team’s successes, and what requires additional effort.

“We definitely found out where the chinks of the armor are at and so those are the things we’re going to get after first,” said Rangel.

To improve upon these issues, it may mean some staff training, some small teams training, or could entail additional coursework, said Rangel.

“Identify what you need and look at the resources available and get after it as quickly as possible,” said Rangel.

The brigade will build on the training from Dauntless Courage through a series of additional training exercises which will take place during 2012.

• Date Taken: 11.10.2011
• Date Posted: 11.10.2011 17:05
• Story ID: 79876
• Location: FORT RILEY, KS, US