Photo By Lt. Col. Matthew Devivo | Task Force Steel RUBA Fuel Point- At the Rotational Unit Bivouac Area (RUBA)track and...... read more read more
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The Sergeant said we are going to A “RUBA”, so why are we heading to Fort Bliss and not the Caribbean?
That play on words is silly, but there is nothing funny about having over 3,800 Army National Guard Soldiers of the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, from four states, who have traveled thousands of miles to get to Fort Bliss, Texas, arrive at their training location to find that their heavy equipment, food, fuel, medical support and other sustainment resources required to begin three weeks of training is not ready to move – That is mission failure, and the RUBA (Rotational Unit Bivouac Area) at Dona Ana Military Camp, New Mexico ensures the 30th, Nicknamed ‘Old Hickory’ roles to success.
In the words of the Chinese general and military strategist, Sun Tzu, the line between disorder and order lies in logistics. Relate that quote to the RUBA, and if it fails in its logistics mission, chances are the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team (30th ABCT) will be way behind the power curve as they enter three weeks of intense training here.
For six weeks (late July through early Sept.) the RUBA has a sole mission, to be the central location where 30th ABCT units conduct reception, staging, and onward-movement and integration into the immense training areas north and west of the RUBA.
Task Force Steel is charged with running the RUBA and is comprised of approximately 300 professional logisticians and veteran sustainers of North Carolina National Guard’s 113th Sustainment Brigade (113th SB.)
As the battalions and headquarters element that make up the 30th ABCT arrive at Fort Bliss, every unit must process through Task Force Steel’s RUBA.
“Task Force Steel has been doing a fantastic job since day one here at Dona Ana,” said Col. Stephen Jones, Task Force Steel Commander and Commander of the 113th SB, based in Greensboro, N.C. “It has been a great opportunity for our team to train in this environment, at such a large-scale of sustainment and help the 30th Brigade get settled, fed, fixed and cycled out the door to the training areas to do their mission.”
The 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team is taking part in the eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) exercise at Fort Bliss, Texas Aug. 6-28, 2018. The XCTC exercise, managed and coordinated by First Army and the National Guard Bureau, has over 4,000 Citizen-Soldiers from North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Minnesota, and 95 Soldiers from the Moldovan Army participating in multiple training scenarios (live fires and tactical lanes). All will hone their combat skills of ‘Shoot, Move, Communicate, and Sustain.’
“Units land at Bliss, and Task Force Steel takes over. They get their welcome and safety brief at the arrival flight facility and learn about the training areas and environmental hazards and other important need to know information like; sick call, where sleeping quarters are located, dining facility hours, as well as post office and red cross information. They are then transported to the RUBA,” said Master Sgt. Walter Mansfield, one of 113th SB’s senior non-commissioned officers working at the RUBA. “Basically, anything the Soldier would need life sustainment type of things we provide here at the RUBA. We have processed a little over 4,000 Soldiers through the RUBA since I got here in late July, and have processed and staged over 2,100 wheeled and tracked vehicles at our massive motor pool that are ready for crews to man and move into the training areas.”
Moving an armored brigade combat team from three east coast states and Minnesota to the high plains desert in the western panhandle of Texas is a logistics problem the active duty luckily never has to plan for, since most active duty armored units, like here at Fort Bliss, have their training areas outside their backdoor/bases, and at the most maybe a 20-50-mile convoy away.
“Moving thousands of personnel, heavy equipment and resources across the country for XCTC has the exact steps that we do for a full-scale mobilization to active duty,” said Jones. “The complexity of this logistics operation and the exercise itself is enormous, and to know that 90 percent of all Guard personnel here are Citizen-Soldiers, meaning this is their “other job” besides what they do back in the civilian world, and they come together as one team to accomplish this logistics movement and combat training exercise as good as an active duty unit.”
Thousands of Guardsmen and military vehicles, including Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Paladin Artillery, Humvees and a menagerie of military cargo trucks depart the RUBA for the immense training areas. With all that metal moving, dust, heat and “controlled chaos” it is inevitable that there will be a few minor injuries, after all this can be a dangerous job and Task Force Steel’s medical unit is ready to treat anyone that comes through their doors.
“We have treated over 300 Soldiers since late July,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Potts, a Physician’s Assistant with NC Guard’s 113th Special Troops Battalion, based in Asheboro, N.C. and officer in charge of Task Force Steel’s medical unit. “Here at the RUBA we have the basic medications and can run IVs and fluids, treat minor bumps and bruises and prepare patients who need to be moved back to Fort Bliss proper for x-rays and other more complex injuries.”
“We also have a certified behavioral health technician with us. This shop is very realistic to what you’d find at a first line, first level treatment facility. Our medics and clerks have been working long hours and we all have learned a lot since coming here. It’s feels like a real deployment.”
Besides getting basic medications and possibly an arm brace for a bruised forearm or wrist, Soldiers need to recharge, eat and sleep at the RUBA until their unit is ready to roll out to the “Box”. That prep time at the RUBA can be 2-4 days depending on the unit and what training lane they are heading to.
“My cooks and KP personnel have been hard at work since day one,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Holly Hommel, Senior Food Service Officer with the 113th SB and Dining Facility Manager at the RUBA. “For about seven days during the height of units moving through the RUBA, we were serving well over 2,000 hot meals a day, a hot breakfast and dinner and troops would get a MRE for lunch. Our working conditions and weather is challenging but the NCOs and overall teamwork has shown that if tasked we can do this type of bare bones field cooking and service for an entire brigade indefinitely. I’m very proud of my team.”
The dining facility, showers and sleeping areas are all within a short walk of each other, but when high winds and dust storms hit the RUBA even that short walk becomes torturous.
It’s even worse out in the motor pool when dust storms kick up due to the moon dust, a fine soft sand that makes up 95% of the motor pool’s grounds.
“We’ve had to shutdown motor pool operations a few times due to dust storms and almost zero visibility out there,” said Jones. “Its not worth the risk of having someone get hit by a truck or some other type of incident.”
Even with a few safety shutdowns, Old Hickory’s combat units rolled out of the RUBA to the training areas on schedule.
At the RUBA track and wheeled vehicles are inspected, fueled and revved up and prepared for their crews. Right before each unit leaves the RUBA for the austere training areas of Fort Bliss, one of the last stops they take is to the water point and fuel point, to fill up on what keeps the tracks and wheels moving and Soldiers hydrated in the August Texas heat where temperatures will reach over 100 degrees for days.
“Working together and being synched to execute all of the logistical lines of operation that support the 30th ABCT and their fight is one of our lessons learned here. We have exercised every sustainment function except finance,” said Jones. “The realism here has been great. To have to track commodities, people, equipment and to put it all together here at the RUBA has been well worth the efforts to get here.”
Working in ‘a RUBA’ is definitely not like being in tropical Aruba, even though there is plenty of sun and sand but just no beach, however, for the logisticians and maintainers of Task Force Steel this trip will be one that is remembered and studied for quite some time.
“The RUBA operation allowed the 30th ABCT to experience the same conditions that they will have at the National Training Center, at Fort Irwin next summer,” said Maj. Steve McClean, 30th ABCT S4 Logistics Officer. “The 113th Sustainment Brigade replicated the RUBA operation very well and the process of reception, staging, onward-movement, and integration into the training area was essential to the success of the 30th here at XCTC 18-06."
As the nation’s operational combat reserve, the National Guard puts a premium and maximum priority on realistic training to make Guard units ready to fight tonight as part of the “Joint Total Force.” XCTC and the RUBA operation here contributed to the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team’s readiness, lethality and reliability.
| Date Taken: | 08.21.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 08.21.2018 16:24 |
| Story ID: | 289683 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 667 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, 30th Armored Brigade at XCTC : Old Hickory’s Success Begins at the RUBA, by LTC Matthew Devivo, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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