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    Mass. Army National Guard Soldiers support Combined Resolve

    Mass. Army National Guard Soldiers support Combined Resolve VIII

    Photo By Steve Markowski | Members of Bravo Company, 1-182nd Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts Army National Guard...... read more read more

    HOHENFELS, BY, GERMANY

    06.12.2017

    Story by 1st Sgt. Steve Markowski 

    Joint Multinational Readiness Center

    HOHENFELS, Germany—Spc. Ross Talpey, of Bridgewater, Mass., is benefitting from his time with B Company, 1-182nd Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts Army National Guard which is conducting its annual training at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany this month during Exercise Combined Resolve VIII.

    Although he’s normally an indirect fire infantryman, known as a mortarman, with C Company, he volunteered to go overseas as a rifleman with B Company in May and June, rather than with C Company in September. He is among several Soldiers who augmented B Company for this mission in support of JMRC's permanent Opposing Force, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, in order to gain training and experience they would likely not be able to receive outside of a combat training center rotation.

    “I’m an 11-C (mortarman), so I don’t get as much light infantry training as I’d like,” Talpey said, adding that his training is usually focused on his mortar crew duties, making it difficult to fit in time for basic infantry tactics. “This is a good opportunity for me to get that infantry training to do the other side of my job. It’s beneficial to get the cross-training.”

    The JMRC mission required a commitment of three weeks for National Guard annual training, rather than the traditional two weeks. So, Talpey opted to augment B Company in the spring rather than miss three weeks of college classes shortly after fall semester begins.

    “This allowed me to get this good training without missing school,” he said. The Bridgewater Community College student is studying to become an athletic trainer, as the next step in his progression in the medical field. When he’s not in school or on National Guard annual training, Talpey works full time as an emergency medical technician in Bridgewater. When he resumes life as a full-time student, he will work part-time as an EMT.

    After returning home from Germany he will have a couple of months before becoming a full-time student once again.

    “I’m still pretty new to the military, I’m just starting my third year. I haven’t been deployed yet, and this is my first time out of the country,” Talpey said. “It’s good to experience this–so much is different, but at the same time a lot of it is similar.”

    Talpey and his fellow Massachusetts Guardsmen say the spring weather in Germany is more similar to New England than the unforgiving heat they experienced in their previous annual training at Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. For the second consecutive annual training period Soldiers from the 1-182nd are playing opposing forces (OPFOR) in a combat training center rotation.

    “I get to do it as a different perspective as OPFOR. Being the ones who are getting attacked by our own forces and allies… it’s good to see how dominant our forces are.”

    Exercise Combined Resolve VIII is a multinational exercise designed to train the Army’s Regionally Allocated Forces to the U.S. European Command. Combined Resolve VIII will include more than 3,400 participants from 10 nations. The goal of the exercise is to prepare forces in Europe to operate together to promote stability and security in the region.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 06.12.2017
    Date Posted: 06.12.2017 10:33
    Story ID: 237405
    Location: HOHENFELS, BY, DE

    Web Views: 537
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN