Muleskinners Practice Readiness During 'Summit'

FORT DRUM, UNITED STATES

10.06.2016

Story by Spc. Liane Hatch 

10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs Office

When 10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade’s Command Sgt. Major Ann Sydnor called for all hands on deck, she meant it – hers included. And although she walked away from the first day of the brigade’s Muleskinner Summit field training exercise with her own finger wrapped in medical gauze, Sydnor took pride in the brigade’s dedication to the mission.

“Everybody had their hands – and their fingers – in the middle of it,” she said, stretching out her hand to show the finger she injured as she helped the brigade set up its tactical operations center.

Sydnor explained that during the brigade’s field training exercise, which took place in a training area at Fort Drum’s Wheeler-Sack Air Field from September 26 – 30, soldiers were required to build everything from the ground up.

“Nobody slept until the tents were up and mission communications were established,” Sydnor said. “It was a little chaotic, but it was good.”

For the past few years, Sydnor said, the brigade operations staff would go set up tents and establish a tactical operations center before the rest of the troops arrived, allowing them to jump right into their regular roles. This time, setup and tear down were essential components of the mission and tested the soldiers’ readiness, adaptability, and efficiency.

“It’s harder out here because we’ve had to build everything up ourselves,” said Cpt. Mary Joy Orias, who works in medical operations. “It’s not like other training facilities where you can come into something already established and get right to work. It requires a lot of flexibility, “ she said.

In addition to setting up sleep tents and tactical operational centers for the various units, soldiers were tasked with completing their regular duties, such as supply or human resources, as well as maintaining security of the training area.

One of the most critical aspects of the mission, Sydnor said, was for all of the soldiers in the field to qualify on their respective weapons systems. Each day of the field exercise, convoys transported soldiers to various ranges on base to attempt weapons qualifications, including qualification on new M4 rifles that were issued out to soldiers the first day of the field exercise.

Sydnor stressed the importance of weapons qualification in overall soldier readiness, and was eager to see improved qualification numbers across all weapons systems in the brigade.

The field training allowed for soldiers to practice skills and make considerations for things they don’t usually have to consider in a garrison environment, said 10th Headquarters and Special Troops Battalion Command Sgt. Major Chad Pinkston as he walked the defensive perimeter during a simulated attack from an opposing force team, observing soldiers’ reactions and offering them input and suggestions to help ensure mission success.

Pinkston explained that the field exercise was meant to simulate hasty, defensive positioning that would allow a sustainment unit to supply necessary resources to war fighters in unstabilized areas that lack established forward operating bases.

“As sustainment, we own all the assets that allow warfighters to pull the trigger,” Pinkston said. “As the warfighters move, we have to move with them and set up hasty positions like this in order to supply them with the beans and bullets they need to do the job.”

For Pvt. Shelby Walton, a unit supply specialist, the Muleskinner Summit was her first field training event outside of her basic combat training.

“I’ve gained confidence in my ability to do my job,” she said. “Not just in a regular building, but in a deployed setting.”

From basic soldier tasks like security details to the high-level operations that took place in the secured tactical operations center, the Muleskinner Summit gave soldiers the opportunity to demonstrate adaptability, gain weapons proficiency and put all hands (and fingers) on deck as part of a shared mission.

• Date Taken: 10.06.2016
• Date Posted: 10.26.2016 10:04
• Story ID: 212955
• Location: FORT DRUM, US