Photo By Staff Sgt. Walter Carroll | Spc. Nathaniel Ingraham, a financial management technician with Detachment B, 9th...... read more read more
Soldiers from Headquarters and Detachment B, 9th Financial Management Support Unit, Special Troops Battalion, 1st Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, conducted a certification exercise June 18-22 at Fort Riley, Kansas. The CERTEX simulated a deployed environment and was designed to test the unit’s level of financial management readiness as they begin to stand on their own, as well as to be ready for any future deployments.
During the exercise, the Soldiers set up a mock customer service office and a cash counting office, which allowed them to practice their military occupational specialties.
“This certification exercise is something to gauge how we would be in a deployed environment,” said Sgt. 1st Class Seymzon M. Ladia, an internal control manager with 9th FSMU, STB, 1st Inf. Div. Sust. Bde. We have different sections, including our dispersing section, our commercial vendor services cell and our (military pay) office. It’s just similar to that of a deployment environment where a customer or Soldier will come in to get their finance questions answered.
For their certification, Lt. Col. Andre Brown, director of the operations support team, U.S. Army Financial Management Command, and his team came to Fort Riley to conduct the unit’s validation.
The operational support team provides training and an assessment to the financial management support center, all the way down to FMSDs, which are financial management support detachments, Brown said. “Here at Fort Riley we’ve been given a task to evaluate the financial management support unit as well as one detachment of the financial management support detachment in order to assess them for the Objective-T, which allows the commander and their higher to determine where they are, training wise.”
While there, the finance Soldiers were able to participate in ways other than practicing their craft.
Pfc. Yaa Agyemang, finance clerk, Detachment A, 9th FSMU, played the role of a customer to further the simulation.
“I feel the service was very effective,” Agyemang said. “Issues were handled in a decent manner.”
Overall, Agyemang said she had a lot confidence in her sister detachment.
“I think the unit will do great down range,” Agyemang said. “They seemed to have learned a lot on top of what they already know.”
The CERTEX was not only a validation exercise for the unit, but also gave the leaders an opportunity to assess themselves and their Soldiers.
“My experience during the CERTEX overall was positive,” said Sgt. Liliia Koreba, a disbursing technician with Det. B. “I feel like it gave us all the opportunity to better understand what it would be like to perform our roles in theater.”
Koreba said the exercise gave her a new way to understand leadership.
“Being the noncommissioned officer in charge of the CVS section helped me progress as a leader because it forced me to experience what it takes to lead my team under pressure," Koreba said. “I was able to encourage and push the members of my team and facilitate us efficiently working together to accomplish the tasks we’d been designated.
“I hope from the CERTEX that I and my Soldiers accomplished a greater level of not only proficiency but also confidence in our ability to excel at what we are trained to do.”
Koreba said the exercise benefited all involved.
“I think the CERTEX was important because it enabled us all to gain experience,” Koreba said. “Having direct access to subject matter experts and their advice, assistance and feedback meant we could not only gain knowledge and advice, but were also provided the opportunity to identify errors we were making and how to learn from and efficiently rectify them.”
According to Ladia, with the knowledge and experience they have gained, the unit will now be able to certify Det. A, 9th FMSU, this year.
| Date Taken: | 06.22.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.23.2018 17:44 |
| Story ID: | 285400 |
| Location: | FORT RILEY, KS, US |
| Hometown: | ORANGE COUNTY, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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