7th CSC Soldiers participate in USAREUR CSM 'staff ride'

Courtesy Photo | Three hand-picked Soldiers from the 7th Civil Support Command were the only U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers to participate in a U.S. Army Europe Command Sergeant Major sponsored “staff ride” Sept. 8-11, 2014. Historians lead a group through an area near Aachen, Germany, during the event, Sept. 9, 2014.  

AACHEN, NW, GERMANY

09.13.2014

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Chlosta 

7th Mission Support Command

AACHEN, Germany – Three hand-picked Soldiers from the 7th Civil Support Command were the only U.S. Army Reservists out of 22 U.S. Army Soldiers from every major command within U.S. Army Europe to participate in the first ever USAREUR enlisted “staff ride” Sept. 8-11, 2014.

Command Sgt. Maj. David Davenport Sr., the senior enlisted leader of USAREUR and the host of the training event, scheduled it to finish on 9/11 according to Sgt. Justin Johnson, transportation/logistics noncommissioned officer, G4, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 7th CSC, who is a Tarboro, North Carolina, native, and a full-time student studying Cyber-Security at University of Maryland University College.

The CSM wanted us to reflect back on where the U.S. has come from in the past to where we are now post 9/11, Johnson said.

“These staff rides are important because it connects our young Soldiers to our historical past,” said Command Sgt. Maj. David S. Davenport Sr. the senior enlisted leader for USAREUR, “so that they can learn from that in order to better lead our Army in the future.”

The three 7th CSC Soldiers who participated were Johnson, Sgt. Eric Song, survey team member, 773rd Civil Support Team, 7th CSC and a native of Seattle, Washington and Sgt. Calvin Williams, property book noncommissioned officer, S4, 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, and a Gary, Indiana, native, who during his non-U.S. Army Reserve time works for the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution-Europe, in Germersheim, Germany, as the accountable property officer since 2010.

“It was unique,” Williams said. “I got to actually see the ‘Dragon Teeth’ they are so far deep in the ground that no one ever tried to dig them out.”

The "Dragon Teeth" were something Hitler and the German army set up on the border between Belgium and Germany to stop Allied tanks and then redirect the tanks or tracked vehicles thru a field of landmines, Williams said. When the tank or tracked vehicle gets stuck or disabled by a landmine, the German Soldiers in the bunkers would fire at the tanks or tracked vehicles.

Approximately two weeks prior, the Soldiers who participated were given an assignment to read the book, “The Siegfried Line Campaign” written by Charles B. MacDonald from the Center of Military History in Washington, D.C. The book looked at both sides of the famous battle and what went right and what went wrong.

“We were in the Hurtgen Forest, we were actually in Aachen and we walked thru the Kall Trail and we crossed the Kall river bridge,” Williams said. “And what is actually unique about this experience is that we didn’t stay on the bus. We did a lot of walking going up and down steep hills.”

They went to Aachen, Germany, to visit and walk the ground of various WWII battle sites to learn about how the Soldiers moved tactically and strategically during the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, for example how they moved thru towns and battled the Germans.

“The historians that led the group had us walking all over the place to see the historical sites,” Williams said.

The Soldiers were also assigned a unit to study that had participated in operations in that area back in WWII. They then had to brief the group about that particular unit’s actions during certain specific and significant unit events that took place in these areas as the group walked thru or stopped at those same locations.

The briefs were called, “Stands” by the historians according to the two 7th CSC noncommissioned officers.

“I gained more of a respect for those Soldiers and officers who served during that time,” Williams said. “I thought about them and how they had to march all the way from Normandy, France to take Aachen. I believe it was the 9th Infantry Division. I studied the 28th Infantry Division.”

One of the goals for the “staff ride” was for the Soldiers to take the lessons learned from the past and apply them to future strategic battle planning.

“I find it very important because I’m getting direct feedback from these Soldiers, what they think is important in terms of their daily functions and their role as an NCO,” said Command Sgt. Maj. James J. Murrin, the senior enlisted leader for the 7th Civil Support Command and a Boston native.

“The staff ride for me felt like it was an honorable experience to witness how Soldiers from WWII went thru their strategic, operational and tactical processes during the war,” Johnson said. “The staff ride took me to a point of self reflection and examination to determine how I can be a better leader by applying lessons I learned from the experience of the staff ride. For example, some of what we saw and learned can be applied to today’s battlefield tactics and strategies.

“It was great honor to walk the grounds of history and think about the Soldiers who served back then,” Johnson said.

• Date Taken: 09.13.2014
• Date Posted: 10.12.2014 14:49
• Story ID: 144946
• Location: AACHEN, NW, DE
• Hometown: BOSTON, MA, US
• Hometown: GARY, IN, US
• Hometown: SEATTLE, WA, US
• Hometown: TARBORO, NC, US