Photo By Maj. Charles An | Staff members of the 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command (ESC) go over a weighted...... read more read more
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NOVO SELO TRAINING AREA, Bulgaria - The 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command (ESC) contributed to exercise Saber Guardian 17 by traveling from Iowa to Bulgaria and successfully providing mission command to the exercise, ensuring participating units were able to move their personnel, vehicles and other equipment from the Black Sea region in eastern Europe to their follow-on destinations.
The 103rd ESC hit the ground running once their Soldiers landed at Novo Selo Training Area (NSTA) July 17, 2017. There was no time to waste as the exercise was beginning to wrap up, and attending units were transitioning into other associated exercises.
“The biggest challenge is coming into an operation that is already moving,” said Master Sgt. Scott Gass. “They’re already running (the participants of the exercise). We just hit the ground after a flight, and I am just getting off a plane, eating breakfast, and immediately going to a meeting. There’s no “crawl,” or “walk” stage. You’re immediately running trying to keep up, and get up to the OPTEMPO (operation tempo) so you can be effective at what you’re doing.”
Gass is the Force Protection Non-Commissioned Officer for the 103rd ESC. He is a police officer in West Des Moines, Iowa when he is not serving in the Army Reserve.
The 103rd ESC is headquartered at Fort Des Moines, and most of the Soldiers are from Iowa and neighboring states. Just like many Army Reserve units that attend battle assembly for one weekend each month and two weeks for annual training, the Iowa-based Reserve unit traveled to Bulgaria to participate in the large-scale exercise.
“Our role in Saber Guardian 17 was to provide sustainment support, or mission command for those sustainment units that’s participating in Saber Guardian,” said Col. Michael Roache, Deputy Commanding Officer for the 103rd ESC.
Roache, from Atlanta, Ga., was commander of the 103rd ESC element that participated in the exercise.
In total, 18 exercises will have occurred in the Black Sea Region during the summer of 2017. Saber Guardian 17 is the largest of the Black Sea region exercises, and is enabled by several smaller exercises. Saber Guardian 17 was a U.S. Army Europe-led, multinational exercise that spanned across Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania with more than 25,000 service members from 23 allied and partner nations.
Major Sherry Halbur, Human Resources Operations Branch Chief for the 103rd ESC, saw some of the challenges with such a large scale exercise. “The biggest challenge was too many entities pushing out different information, but it needed to be [synchronized],” said Halbur. “This was a great opportunity for my team, and for myself, to see real, live planning and execution. I couldn’t have asked for a better mission.”
The U.S. Army Europe team consisted of U.S. Army cavalry and infantry units out of Italy, Germany, and Colorado, a U.S. Army aviation brigade out of New York, National Guard units out of Tennessee and Oregon, as well as U.S. Army Reserve units from across the U.S. and Germany. As each of these units either transitioned on to the next exercise or traveled home, the 103rd ESC made sure that each person, piece of equipment, and vehicle was properly prepped and sent to their next destinations.
Without these proper movements, follow-on exercises could be hindered if vehicles could not get transported on time to the next location or if they did not meet customs standards and requirements before leaving the region. Any item not meeting customs inspection standards could bring foreign contaminants into the U.S. or other countries. The 103rd ESC was there to ensure that each of those situations and other possible hurdles were cleared in order to prevent any unnecessary delays.
The 103rd ESC also experienced challenges within the Army Reserve itself by participating in Saber Guardian 17. “One of the main challenges for the Army Reserve as citizen Soldiers is to demonstrate our ability to deploy, establish operations, and then execute,” said Roache. “So our main focus was to be able to come into this environment, an austere environment, a multi-component environment and demonstrate that.”
The 103rd ESC team during Saber Guardian 17 consisted of 130 Soldiers primarily at NSTA as well as members working in Romania and Germany to accomplish various tasks at hand. Nearly 30 Soldiers were already in the region prior to the arrival of the main body of Soldiers on July 17, and others will stay behind to support final movements out of the region.
Much hard work, planning and coordination across many time zones between the 103rd ESC and U.S. Army Europe’s headquarters, made the exercise a success.
“The 103rd comes from Des Moines, Iowa. We have a great reputation, and what we’ve done here at Saber Guardian has done nothing but add luster to that reputation,” expressed Roache. “They’re very proud to represent America’s Army, and during the exercise we’ve proven our motto: ‘We Succeed!’”
| Date Taken: | 08.05.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.05.2017 09:20 |
| Story ID: | 243847 |
| Location: | NOVO SELO, BG |
| Hometown: | NOVO SELO, BG |
| Hometown: | ATLANTA, GA, US |
| Hometown: | DES MOINES, IA, US |
| Web Views: | 285 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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