Photo By Adam Holguin | 1st Lt. Matthew Kitson, fire support officer and mortar platoon leader, 1st Battalion,...... read more read more
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The 1st Battalion, 110th Infantry Regiment, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, departed here on a nine-month deployment to Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, June 19, from the Silas L. Copeland Arrival/Departure Airfield Control Group. The battalion had completed a variety of training in the Keystone State and here with the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security in preparation for the mission.
“In Jordan we are going to be training members of the Jordanian Armed Forces and we will also be conducting security missions for various American installations and units in Jordan,” said Lt. Col. Richard Collage, commander, 1st Bn., 110th Inf. Reg. “We also have a similar mission, mostly security, in the United Arab Emirates and will have some Soldiers in Kuwait to rotate back and forth.”
The unique mission providing training to foreign forces required a different path to training than usual for the infantrymen of the 1st Bn., 110th Inf. Regt.
“I have not worked with friendly forces in this capacity, training from the individual Soldier level up to a team, squad, platoon,” Collage said. “This is really going to be an interesting experience. We were able to train our Soldiers to be trainers, to work with interpreters … how to present training to the audience … in a hands on, visual way.”
For many in the battalion, the experience of preparing for this mission has been both exciting and eye opening.
“It’s an experience. I mean I never thought I’d be in El Paso, Texas, right next to Mexico like this,” said Spc. James Bilder, an infantryman assigned to Company B, 1st Bn., 110th Inf. Regt., talking of the time spent training here. “I have never been out of the country before. This will be my first deployment and I am ready for anything.”
The weeks training for this mission here and at McGregor Range, New Mexico, have helped build cohesion within the battalion.
“We’ve gotten a lot of really good opportunities for internal training, learning how to work together as a group,” said 1st Lt. Matthew Kitson, fire support officer and mortar platoon leader, 1st Bn., 110th Inf. Regt.
“We’ve never spent this amount of time together, so it’s really allowed us to iron out any or all the details, refine everything and make sure we have a well-oiled machine before we head over there – that was probably the most valuable of anything.”
Aside from coming together, training provided another advantage, getting acclimated to the desert sun and 100-degree-plus temperatures.
“The heat was good, a nice prep for where we are going. It’s an adjustment from the Pennsylvania weather that we are used to,” Kitson said. “It actually might be a little cooler over there.”
Some of the individual goals for Soldiers in the battalion include improving physical fitness, continuing both military and civilian education, and advancing in rank. The battalion leadership has prepared for these goals.
“We started what we called a team leaders course where we have our senior noncommissioned officers teaching (noncommissioned officer) skills to our younger Soldiers,” Collage said. “So that is something that we really want to develop as we go through the deployment.”
With morale high in the hours before departing, many Soldiers spoke with family and loved ones, who will be without their Soldiers for nine months.
“Number one, thank you,” Collage said to the families of Soldiers in the 1st Bn., 110th Inf. Regt. “We understand the sacrifices that they make to send their Soldiers forward. I can tell the families at home that their sons and daughters have trained really hard, put forward tremendous effort, they really are well prepared and are excited to go do this.”
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2016 12:48 |
| Story ID: | 203310 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Hometown: | INDIANA, PA, US |
| Hometown: | MOUNT PLEASANT, PA, US |
| Hometown: | PITTSBURGH, PA, US |
| Hometown: | WAYNESBORO, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 4,370 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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