Greywolf conducts Company STX

Photo By Maj. Scott Kuhn | FORT HOOD, Texas-- A M1A2 Abrams tank with C Co. 2nd Battalion 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division moves to defensive positions during company Situational Training Exercises. All 37 of the Brigade's companies were training in order to be certified and validated in preparation for the Brigade's upcoming National Training Center Rotation.  

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

09.12.2018

Story by Sgt. Jessica DuVernay 

3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division

FORT HOOD, TX – The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team “Greywolf” 1st Cavalry Division, has been conducting its company situational training exercises, throughout the Fort Hood training areas for the last two weeks to prepare for their upcoming deployment to the National Training Center.

“This helps us so we are better as a platoon and a company together,” said Staff Sgt. Manuel Rodriguez, tank commander, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3ABCT, 1CD. “We have our LT giving OPORDs, we have our tank commanders giving guys directions. We are working together as a company.”

All 37 companies were involved this two-week long validation exercise. The validation actually began in July with crew-level qualification gunnery and has progressed through section and platoon gunnery and training. The Company STX training includes three different lanes, which tests a company’s ability to conduct an attack, a defense, and a movement to contact. Company commanders are expected to conduct Troop Leading Procedures all the while an Observer Controller Trainer assesses and coaches them.

“We are observing every company in the Brigade,” said Maj. Mike Hebert, operations officer, 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment and an OC/T for the exercise. “Not only to make sure they are meeting their training standards, but also to identify issues and try to correct them for upcoming training with Pegasus Forge.”

Pegasus Forge III is the next step in the Brigade’s evaluation and validation process prior to its deployment to the National Training Center in January.

“We are doing this to get ready for Pegasus Forge, which is actually a division run event where we will be evaluated by 1st Cav Div.,” said Hebert. “So this is our training phase to get ready for that. Essentially it’s our crawl phase, [Pegasus Forge] will be the walk and when we get to NTC that will be our run phase.”

Col. Kevin Capra, the Brigade commander, noted that this exercise is not just certifying tank crews or Bradley crews. An exercise of this scale takes the entire brigade’s capabilities and puts them to the test. That means the engineers, the logisticians, medical and maintenance crews are expected to meet expectations as well.

“We look at a lot of different things,” Capra explained. “Such as how we issue our operations orders, how we conduct our inspections and rehearsals, and how do we sustain ourselves and integrate enablers such as unmanned aerial assets and artillery fire. So, it’s a lot of complex moving pieces that allows us to provide a lot of simultaneous dilemmas.”

• Date Taken: 09.12.2018
• Date Posted: 09.18.2018 14:25
• Story ID: 293344
• Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US