Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Tawny Kruse | Members of the 1034th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Iowa Army National Guard,...... read more read more
Mark up another first for the Iowa National Guard’s historic Camp Dodge Joint Maneuver Training Center (CDJMTC) in Johnston, Iowa. Soldiers from Texas, Indiana and Kentucky recently converged on Camp Dodge to support the Iowa Army National Guard’s 1034th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion during their pre-mobilization Mission Training Exercise (MTX). Normally, units conduct these exercises after they mobilize. However, thanks to extensive collaboration between the 1034th CSSB and supporting units, its Soldiers received valuable training right here in Iowa.
Making it happen
Sgt. 1st Class Rusty Cabossart, 1034th CSSB’s acting first sergeant, said the idea to host the MTX at Camp Dodge started as a casual suggestion.
“It came up in conversation and we made it happen,” Cabossart said.
The purpose of the exercise was to prepare the 1034th CSSB to deploy. It incorporated rigorous, realistic and relevant training.
Lt. Col. Christine Brooks, 1034th CSSB commander, said her main objective for the MTX was to prepare her unit to manage contractors on deployment, a nontraditional Combat Sustainment Support Battalion role. Civilian contractors often augment U.S. military personnel in overseas operations.
Having this training validated with external evaluators is a requirement the 1034th CSSB had to meet before mobilizing. Maj. Benjamin Glasgall, the exercise’s project officer and scenario manager with the 2-393rd Brigade Sustainment Battalion, 120th Infantry Brigade, 1st Army Division West, managed scenario simulation and information flow during the exercise. Glasgall said the success of the training was largely due to communication between the units before the exercise began.
“Over the last few months, we’ve had in-process reviews that sought to refine what the commander wanted to get after so we could take her feedback and develop various realistic scenarios,” Glasgall said. “The dialogue and communication throughout the months leading up to the exercise has helped them perform exceedingly well.”
Since it was the first time Glasgall’s team performed in that role for a home station MTX, they needed to change the setup of the exercise.
“The biggest thing is that we do have the facilities at Camp Dodge to accomplish a lot of things,” Cabossart said. “I think that’s probably important to realize going forward.”
Brooks said the home station training allowed the 1034th CSSB to save money on travel costs, complete the training within their two-week annual training period and reduced the amount of time needed at a mobilization site.
Cabossart said units can spend more than a month at Fort Hood completing training. Bringing the MTX to Camp Dodge allowed the 1034th CSSB to cut that timeline down to two weeks.
“That’s a significant amount of time that these people can spend with their families versus spending it at Fort Hood,” Cabossart said.
Building relationships
The 1034th CSSB conducted this exercise with the 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade, 101st Abn. Div., which will be their higher headquarters during their mobilization.
“Getting the relationship with the 101st started before we even get over into theater is huge,” Brooks said.
Capt. Andrew Paulin, a section planner in the Support Operations (SPO) section of the 101st Abn. Div. Sust. Bde., said the brigade’s main objective was to validate the 1034th CSSB’s systems and reporting processes.
“From my standpoint, it’s a unique challenge for them mainly because they’re falling in with a smaller staff to manage a fairly large piece of the puzzle down range,” Paulin said. “This exercise, if done right, should give them all the tools to work as a team and meet those expectations.”
The “large piece of the puzzle” Paulin referred to is the Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB), an organization the 1034th CSSB will be supporting on deployment, Brooks explained.
Since SFABs are fairly new additions to Army force structure, this integration is crucial.
“The one thing that is a major theme is that this is a nontraditional CSSB role,” Brooks said. “There are going to be complexities . . . so we’re adapting and formulating how those changes will impact us and what we will do going forward.”
The perfect storm
The MTX was set up in a small brick building with rooms separating personnel to simulate distance training. According to Staff Sgt. Nathan Moore, a water treatment specialist with the 1034th CSSB’s support operations section, it was a different type of training environment than the unit was used to. The separated mission structure posed some challenges.
“Our initial hiccup wasn’t that we weren’t prepared or that we didn’t have the right mentality,” Moore said, “we simply had products in front of us that needed to be improved. We needed to learn how to communicate. We weren’t all together in one group.”
Overall, Moore said the exercise went smoothly. The 1034th CSSB was able to build tools, find resources and find areas on which they could improve.
Lt. Col. Ross Kilburn, 290th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) commander out of Camp Atterbury, Indiana, said he could tell Brooks and the rest of the 1034th CSSB command team have built a learning organization. Kilburn and his team acted as evaluators who prompted the 1034th CSSB with scenarios and assessed their performance.
“It’s such a short exercise, but in the last two days, we’ve seen marked improvement in several areas,” Kilburn said. “The unit is very open to coaching and mentoring. As an [evaluator], that’s the perfect storm. We come in with decades of active duty experience to try and pass on that knowledge and doctrine as we evaluate.”
Capt. Matthew Berry, a plans officer with the 1034th CSSB, said they are grateful for the knowledge shared by the 290th BSB and the other units who supported the exercise.
Moving forward
Maj. Gen. Timothy Orr, the Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard, seemed pleased with the exercise’s results, according to Kilburn. Orr is hoping to do more pre-mobilization training in Iowa.
Brooks said the exercise allowed the unit to better prepare to work with civilian contractors overseas. Moore, who deployed with the 1034th CSSB from 2012 to 2013, attested to the benefits of proactive, focused training.
“I always felt like we were pushing off the inevitable at Fort Hood,” Moore said. “Here, this exercise really focused more on the mission and preparing for it. I’d rather get another day on deployment or another day at home.”
Since their last deployment, the 1034th CSSB has changed their command team and their mission, Moore said. The unit has worked to identify individual skill sets and build a team mentality.
Glasgall said he believes that team mentality will pay dividends once they deploy.
“What I’ve seen working with the 1034th CSSB over the last few months is that they are an incredibly capable, well-functioning team,” Glasgall said. “All the officers and noncommissioned officers that I’ve interacted with are highly professional. I think they have the right people with the right skill set to deploy and accomplish their mission.”
| Date Taken: | 04.16.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.16.2018 09:30 |
| Story ID: | 273162 |
| Location: | JOHNSTON, IA, US |
| Web Views: | 607 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 1034th CSSB brings training exercise to town, by SFC Tawny Kruse, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT