Photo By Staff Sgt. Caleb Vance | A Bradely Fighting Vehicle from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, West...... read more read more
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Over the course the 2018 training year, the West Virginia National Guard’s 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment will have conducted one-fourth of its yearly readiness training at the former Hobet mine site in Southern West Virginia, now known as the Rock Creek Development Park, saving money and investing in important training here in West Virginia.
The Rock Creek Development Site is on track to become a versatile military training capability in the future for both active duty and National Guard units from all services.
Of the 12,000 acres at Rock Creek, the WVNG is utilizing roughly 4,000 acres currently to conduct maneuver and armored reconnaissance training for the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, thanks to the natural West Virginia terrain offered at the site. The area provides a unique environment with steep hills, rocky areas and flat ground and offers the ability to adapt portions of the site to mimic environments that service members may face in combat throughout the world.
“It’s an ideal venue to provide realistic training that improves readiness and gives our service members the best opportunity for success,” said Maj. Gen. James A. Hoyer, The Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard. “Throughout the area there is a mixture of hundreds of miles of roads and trails, thick wooded areas and a lot of open space that allow for a multitude of mobility training options.”
Previously, in order to conduct their mobility training, which is done multiple times per year to maintain proficiency, Soldiers would have to convoy five to seven hours to Ft. Pickett, Virginia which could cost upwards of $68,000 for travel alone in a training year. Four of the five units that train at Rock Creek are located within two hours of the training site and the other unit is three hours from the location. It also allows our units to stay in a field environment for the entire training weekend.
In addition to the costs incurred in travel, the large equipment movement could cost $3,500 per vehicle. Now, the unit is saving money by storing their Bradley Fighting Vehicles (BFV) at Rock Creek and can increase training efficiencies by spending less time traveling and more time on the equipment. The reduced travel time also improves safety and increases the time Guardsmen and women can spend with their families.
Cavalry Soldiers are able to conduct three of the six required gunnery tables in West Virginia needed to be considered BFV crew qualified by utilizing the vast terrain of Rock Creek. These tables are a basic crawl, walk, run approach to an individual and unit gunnery skills. Each table presents the Soldier and unit the opportunity to hone their individual basic gunnery skills through advancing tasks and hands-on experience with the equipment, to collective tasks incorporating communications, dry firing and section maneuvering.
“This place [Rock Creek] offers us a lot more training area and is relatively close to all of our facilities, making travel time from each unit a lot more manageable as opposed to going to Ft. Pickett and other training sites,” said Staff Sgt. Chad Blair, platoon sergeant for Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment. “Mainly, with this place, it is the availability of all the training area that we can use. Other training sites can be restrictive in what we are actually able to utilize for maneuvering, but out here at Hobet, there’s more terrain and space available so we’re able to get a lot more training on our vehicles and equipment.”
He continued, “With all the space that we have coupled with the terrain and the different types of environmental conditions that we face, I mean the potential is endless. It’s just a matter of time, money and imagination at this point.”
National Guard members are only allotted a certain amount of days per years to conduct training and their ability to spend more days working on the equipment as a unit means a more lethal, combat ready force.
Camp Dawson, a military facility similar to Rock Creek in the Northern part of the state, conducts year-round training for military members and civilian authorities with approximately 4,000 acres of space. This location generates approximately $32 million in economic impact within the local economy in Preston and Mongolia County and provides 400 full time jobs. WVNG officials estimate that the Rock Creek training site, coupled with other military training venues like Camp Branch in Logan County and Fola in Clay County, could generate more economic opportunity for our state.
“If we can generate a similar outcome like Camp Dawson in the Southern part of the state, under a construct that trains service members to be better prepared to go do their mission and come home safe to their families, why would we not want to accelerate that,” Hoyer said. “We have an opportunity to continue with the momentum already generated to create a national asset for military and civilian first responder training. And, building a more ready and capable Citizen-Soldier is the best deterrent our Nation has against the threats we face!”
The economic impact combined with the potential cost savings and hosting of units from across the Nation for training make this site a true asset in West Virginia.
| Date Taken: | 03.14.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.14.2018 14:43 |
| Story ID: | 269395 |
| Location: | WEST VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 545 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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