Photo By Staff Sgt. Alexander Skripnichuk | A C-17 Globemaster aircraft releases paratroopers of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas -- The 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team dropped nearly 800 paratroopers and dozens of heavy equipment pallets here from 1,000 feet in the air Feb. 9 as part of an exercise to sustain and validate their training for the Global Response Force mission.
The exercise began before sunrise as C-17 Globemasters and C-130 Hercules aircraft delivered the Soldiers and equipment to the Fort Hood training range.
Upon landing, the Fort Bragg, North Carolina, unit began setting up a command post and creating a headquarters element within hours of arrival to coordinate their movements.
The unit is participating in an Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise here.
After the command post and headquarters was completed, the troops assembled and prepared for a day of movement and tactical exercises throughout the Fort Hood training area, including air assault and close quarters combat tactics. They also linked up with 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Calvary Division, another GRF unit, for armor support during the operation.
Col. Colin Tuley, 1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. commander, stated that the biggest lesson for the unit was the importance of readiness.
“We’re never going to know where our nation is going to need us to go,” Tuley, a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, said. "So we have to train our youngest Soldiers and leaders to be agile, adaptive, flexible, and able to react to any mission our nation calls us to do, anywhere in the world.
"Soldiers coming together to conduct these high-risk operations in an area where they’ve never been before, helps build confidence and competence in our young paratroopers," he said. "They’ll go home after this exercise feeling better about themselves, their unit and what they can do."
Command Sgt. Maj. Beau Barnett, command sergeant major, 1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div., said that the Soldiers were motivated to be dropping onto an unfamiliar drop zone to take part in the training.
“We normally jump into Fort Bragg [on] our Sicily drop zone, so everyone gets used to the location," Barnett, from Tuscaloosa, Ala., said. "Coming here to Fort Hood is different. It allows us to practice setting up our training objective.”
Brig. Gen. Brian Winski, the 82nd Abn. Div. deputy commander, and one of the first boots to hit the ground from the morning’s airborne operations, took the time to thank III Corps for their continued service overseas.
“It’s great to train here," Winski said. "As we speak, III Corps is fighting with the 82nd Abn. Div. in Iraq. The 82nd is the land component command subordinate to the Joint Task Force, which is III Corps, Lt. Gen. [Sean] Macfarland and his team. So we’re fighting together in Iraq right now, and we’re training hard right here at Fort Hood together.”
| Date Taken: | 02.09.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.09.2016 17:27 |
| Story ID: | 188406 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Hometown: | FAYETTEVILLE, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 330 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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