Providers support Marne Focus

Photo By Master Sgt. Ben Navratil | Chief Warrant Officer 2 Roger Bradford (left), Senior Airdrop Systems Technician, and 2nd Lt. Meghan Winters, Strength Management Officer, both of the 3rd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, attach a load to the bottom of a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter at Fort Stewart, Ga., April 7. This type of cargo movement, called slingload, was a major focal point during the 3rd Inf. Div. Sust. Bde. Training exercise in April. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Ben K. Navratil)  

FORT STEWART, GA, UNITED STATES

04.11.2016

Story by Spc. Rochelle Prince-Krueger 

3rd Division Sustainment Brigade

Soldiers were digging foxholes. Equipment was being carried in and out by helicopter. Classified areas were being secured with concertina wire and guarded entry points. These are some of the sights that one would see around the training sites that the 3rd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade were located on during Marne Focus. The 3rd Inf. Div. Sust. Bde., the Providers, were providing expeditionary logistics support to Task Force 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment (TF 1-28) at Fort Stewart, Ga., March 28-April 8. It was different than other field exercises the Providers participated in the past. They built everything from the ground up, from the fighting positions to their makeshift offices made from tents.
Marne Focus is an annual training event to prepare Brigade Combat Teams before they go to a Combined Training Center like the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., that Task Force 1-28, out of Fort Benning, Ga., will be attending in the next few months.
“This is a big change from the way sustainment brigades have been training in the past,” said Maj. Karl Sondermann, the operations officer of 3rd Inf. Div. Sust. Bde. “We are no longer training to go to a foreign operating base where all of the life support and structures are there when we start.”
In recent years, sustainment brigades have deployed to an already established area with security provided by others so the sustainers can focus on logistical support for the local units. With the ever-changing Army, they are trying to get out of that mindset and back into the warrior tasks and battle drill fundamentals.
“Everyone out here is focusing on the fundamental skills of soldiering,” said Col. Jered Helwig, commander of 3rd Inf. Div. Sust. Bde. “It doesn’t matter what their job is, they are always a Soldier first.”
Almost every company within the 3rd Inf. Div. Sust. Bde. played a part throughout Marne Focus. There were aerial delivery missions day and night during the exercise to get more Soldiers proficient in sling load and low cost low altitude drops.
“What is great about the Marne Focus exercise is that it gives us an opportunity to train on one of our mjost important tasks which we don’t get to do a lot of. Reception Staging and Onward movement & Integration is one thing we can never get enough training on,” said Sondermann. “Normally the Soldiers that train at Fort Stewart, are from Fort Stewart, but since TF 1-28 isn’t, this enabled us to receive them, assist in transportation of personnel and equipment.”
The brigade’s Human Resources and Financial Management teams processed the Soldiers as if they were entering into a theater of operation. The Movement Control Teams actively monitored their equipment and staged it upon the arrival to Fort Stewart.
“It was an opportunity across the division to work together to support this operation,” said Sondermann.
The Providers supported the 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, who directly provided sustainment support for TF-128.
“We provided all classes of supply to the BSB so we were their higher headquarters almost like an expeditionary capacity in this field exercise,” said Sondermann. “[In this training site] we have to build everything ourselves and defend ourselves.”
From the Soldiers building fighting positions, to the cooks cooking the food in the Mobile Kitchen Trailers, to the medics getting hands on training or the signal Soldiers setting up communications, everyone in the field played an important role.
“The experience and training that these Soldiers are learning is very valuable,” said Warrant Officer 1. Devin Stanley, the network management technician for 3rd Inf. Div. Sust. Bde. “Our Soldiers are learning on how to rely on their equipment and test the maximum capabilities of it.”
The network and signal operations section for the brigade, 414th Signal Company, and the Sustainment Automation Support Management Office section worked together to provide a network infrastructure for the Provider footprint.
“Our job is like a cable or cell phone company, we give [units] access to the internet and phone lines by pulling from a satellite to provide the capabilities,” said Pvt. Brittany Curley, a nodal network systems operator-maintainer assigned to 414th Sig. Co., Special Troops Battalion.
Mr. Stanley said the Soldiers faced unique circumstances when they hit the ground March 28. “We had unexpected equipment failures, but our Soldiers successfully replaced the parts needed,” said Stanley. “They followed the schematics and successfully got things up and running in a timely manner so ensure great customer service.”
The importance of the training wasn’t lost on the participants. “By coming out to the field and participating in these missions I have learned a lot from my leaders,” said Curley. “We have shared so much knowledge with one another it helps all of us become more proficient in our jobs.”

• Date Taken: 04.11.2016
• Date Posted: 04.18.2016 15:53
• Story ID: 195700
• Location: FORT STEWART, GA, US