Patriot Soldiers Train on Land and Sea

Photo By Capt. Joshua Ellerson | A Patriot Soldier steadies a container while conducting sling load operations during the 710th Brigade Support Battalion, Sea Deployment Readiness Exercise on 27 October, 2016.  

PORT OF BEAUMONT, TX, UNITED STATES

10.31.2016

Story by Capt. Joshua Ellerson 

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

FORT POLK, La – Today’s ever changing global environment requires the U.S. Army’s forces to be ready and able to deploy on short notice. This concept brought the 710th Brigade Support Battalion to the Port of Beaumont, Tx., to conduct a Sealift Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise.

On October 24, 2016, more than 100 Soldiers from the 710th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, practiced its ability to rapidly deploy by alerting and moving the unit and 50 vehicles to the Port of Beaumont.

This exercise was conducted over a five day period and was used to validate the unit’s ability to rapidly deploy by sea in support of contingency operations locally and around the world.

“We wanted to test our abilities and make sure we had the right equipment prepared to deploy. From here we will be able to use this to add on to larger deployment exercises at the battalion level and support the brigade for future deployment operations worldwide,” said Lt. Col. Steven Clark, Commander, 710th BSB.

The training is important to the units readiness as it has been called into action to support without notice, most notably, in 2005 the unit was called into action to support the people of Louisiana following the devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina.

“The purpose of this training is to improve our readiness. One of the big things that we have lost over the last 10 years is the ability for the unit to deploy itself to any contingency around the world,” said Capt. Andy Wood, SEDRE Action Officer, 710th BSB.

Soldiers on site focused on the loading and unloading of the ship, as well as sling load operations, field feeding, preventative medicine, maintenance inspections and improving working relationships with the organizations working at the Port of Beaumont.

“I think one of the best parts was it provided our NCOs an opportunity to train their individual Soldiers and teams on how to do something outside of their normal MOS,” said Clark.

The exercise was considered a success by the unit’s leadership as all of their objectives were met during the week.

“It went really well, not only did it give us experience on how to move the brigade but it also showed our Soldiers how their jobs apply on a global scale,” said Wood.

Key to this exercise’s success was the support provided by the organizations at the Port of Beaumont including the 842nd Transportation Battalion, Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and Maritime Administration.

“Everybody helped us, bending over backwards to ensure our training objectives were met and were able to support everything that we’ve done. This is a relationship we’ve been building for a couple years, this is not the first SEDRE we’ve done but every time we’ve improved on it and gotten better,” said Clark.

This is the third time in the past two years that 710th BSB has conducted a SEDRE, allowing the training to grow and evolve with each iteration.

“What we did this time that we did not do last time were the elevator and crane operations and how to do sling load operations, tying down the connexs and loading them onto the ship from the truck,” said Pfc. Tevin Campbell, a motor transport operator from Echo Forward Support Company.

With the knowledge, skills and abilities practiced during this exercise the 710th BSB stands ready to rapidly deploy at a moments notice in support of contingency operations around the world.

• Date Taken: 10.31.2016
• Date Posted: 10.31.2016 13:05
• Story ID: 213329
• Location: PORT OF BEAUMONT, TX, US