120th Infantry Brigade trains Hawaii National Guard

11.18.2008

Story by 1st Lt. Marvin Baker 

First Army

By 1st Lt. Marvin J. Baker
First Army Public Affairs

The explosions on the battlefield, the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic weapons, and the pressure of telling friend from foe on the battlefields of Iraq are relatively far away from the Soldiers of the 1st of the 487th Field Artillery who work in the unit's Tactical Operations Center.

Sgt. Isaac Kidani, a signal specialist with the 29th Brigade Combat Team, Hawaii National Guard, helps track the battle during the unit's mission readiness exercise by taking the information he receives from fellow Soldiers on the ground and creating layouts and plotting graphs that give his commander important information and helps keep Soldiers from blindly walking into dangerous situations.

"We use a computer system to keep track of the information. It's a good tool and pretty easy to use," said Kidani.

Kidani didn't have to start learning from scratch. For the past two months he has been completing post-mobilization training at North Fort Hood, Texas under the 120th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division West training regimen. Now that Kidani is wrapping up his training, this MRE tests his learning with realistic training events that involve everyone in his unit.

The 120th Infantry Brigade, along with the elements of the 75th Division Battle Command Training Team, create a 13-day mock combat mission that brings together Soldiers, staff and commanders in order to train National Guard units for combat.

"This MRE is the unit's last big chance to come together as a team before wheels up. It's their last chance to develop cohesion and learn how each other think," said Maj. Mark Williford, a staff trainer with the 1st Brigade, 75th Battle Command Training Division.

Williford's job is to coach and mentor Soldiers like Kidani, who work in the TOC. He spends most of the year travelling from his home unit in Houston, Texas to other posts around the country using what he knows about the military decision- making process to teach commanders and their staffs before they deploy overseas.

"The MDMP is the crawl phase of our training. The command post exercise is the walk phase and the MRE is the run phase, zeroing in on their theater-specific mission," Williford said. "Most National Guard and Army Reserve units don't have an opportunity to get commanders, staff and Soldiers all together for a training exercise until it is time to deploy," he added.

While Kidani and the information non-commissioned officer in charge go over the intel with a fine-toothed-comb, the 29ths Infantryman and their trainers from the 120th work to improve their battle drills during their night and day mock combat operations on North Fort Hood.

The trainers in the 120th and the 75th hope the unit performs exactly how they are trained. The training is important because it helps Soldiers work through their assumptions and the nuances of living and working in a combat environment.

Kidani and his unit will spend 10 months in Kuwait and Iraq before he returns to his hometown of Honokaa, Hawaii.

• Date Taken: 11.18.2008
• Date Posted: 11.18.2008 11:50
• Story ID: 26497