JMRC Vampires host O/C-T Academy

Photo By Staff Sgt. Christopher Stewart | U.S. Army Capt. Genti Sulaj, a live fire planner and indirect fires officer in charge for 7th Army Training Command, gives instruction to students during the Observer/Coach-Trainer (O/C-T) Academy at Tower theater Feb. 19, 2019, at Grafenwoehr, Germany. The O/C-T Academy was held by members of the "Viper" O/C-T team from Joint Multinational Readiness Center, from Feb. 18-20 in preparation for the exercise Dynamic Front 19, a multinational field-artillery focused exercise. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Stewart)  

GRAFENWOEHR, BY, GERMANY

03.01.2019

Story by Sgt. Christopher Stewart 

7th Army Training Command

GRAFENWOEHR,Germany—The Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) of 7th Army Training Command hosted an Observer/Coach-Trainer (O/C-T) Academy Feb. 18-20, here, in preparation for the upcoming field artillery-focused exercise Dynamic Front 19.

Our job is to get all of our O/C-Ts on the same standard, said Maj. Kurt Knoedler, the operations officer for the Field Artillery O/C-T team at JMRC in Hohenfels.

“We will provide feedback to the training units within Dynamic Front 19 on their ability to execute within U.S. and NATO doctrine and provide lessons learned to the field artillery community and the U.S. Army,” said Knoedler.

The exercise is too big for the Field Artillery O/C-Ts at JMRC to facilitate alone, so they enlisted help from field artillery Soldiers within the National Guard, Army Reserves, Active component, and select individuals from the foreign nations participating in the exercise, said Knoelder.

The academy is taught by trainers from JMRC’s Field Artillery O/C-T team, dubbed the Vampires.

The Vampires focus their training on safety procedures and assessing a unit’s training.

Because Dynamic Front 19 is also conducted in Latvia and Poland, a small number of the Vampire O/C-Ts went to those locations to conduct their an O/C-T academy locally.

“The experience (the guest O/C-Ts) gain here by observing multinational and U.S. units and their tactics, techniques and procedures, (will teach them) the best practices and lessons learned,” said Knoedler. “They can take that back to their units in their home station to apply them in their own organization.”

Exercise Dynamic Front 19 includes approximately 3,200 participants from 27 nations, March 2-9, 2019, distributed throughout three locations: Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Riga, Latvia, and Torun, Poland.

Dynamic Front is an annual U.S. Army Europe exercise focused on the readiness and interoperability of U.S. Army, joint service, and allied and partner nations’ artillery and fire support working together in a multinational environment, from theater-level headquarters identifying targets to gun crews pulling lanyards in the field.

• Date Taken: 03.01.2019
• Date Posted: 03.01.2019 13:49
• Story ID: 312525
• Location: GRAFENWOEHR, BY, DE