JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. — In the following weeks, the U.S. Army’s 174th Infantry Brigade and the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division will embark to Ft. Pickett, Va. for XCTC 19-02.
XCTC, or eXportable Combat Training Capability, is an Army National Guard program in which USARNG Brigades partner with a First Army unit to prepare for contingency operations worldwide in a 21-day field exercise focused on platoon-level collective training.
“It provides a combat training center-like experience for a National Guard brigade without that unit having to go to [National Training Center, at Fort Irwin, Ca.] or [Joint Readiness Training Center, at Fort Polk, La.],” said Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Lamkins, the senior enlisted soldier with the 174th.
“They’ll run through the same scenarios they’d do at a combat training center: platoon live-fires, mission command of their formations all over their post, and they’ll move up to a Brigade-level defense before the end of their exercise, all with members of the 174th acting as observers, coaches, and trainers,” Lamkins said.
But the dynamic between the OC/Ts of First Army and the National Guard units they are assisting is more complex than teachers and students. It’s more of a partnership that enables the success of the National Guard.
“We’re a supporting element to the primary training audience,” said Maj. David Culver, the 174th’s operations officer. “We don’t command the training or the 28th. We observe and advise based on what we see, and the commander of the 28th is in charge of setting his training priority.”
“Our goal is not to give them an answer key and say ‘follow this checklist.’ We try to lead them to a doctrinally correct answer, knowing that they don’t always have the same resources as we’ve come to expect,” Lamkins said.
“Ultimately, we’re not out there to train. We’re out there to help others train,” Culver said.
The relationship between First Army and its partnered units in the National Guard and Reserves is ongoing outside of XCTC rotations, Lamkins said.
“We help them to use their two days a month and fourteen days in the summer as effectively as possible to meet the goals set forth by combatant commanders [for units deploying to a geographic region.]
We help them to see themselves accurately, to know which areas they are strong and which areas they could use more training, so that when
they do get to XCTC or a combat training center rotation, they can get right to work on the big tasks knowing that the small tasks are under control.”
“They’re a good unit and I’m expecting to see good things from them.” Lamkins said.
Date Taken: | 06.03.2019 |
Date Posted: | 06.04.2019 13:11 |
Story ID: | 325310 |
Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US |
Web Views: | 344 |
Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 174th Infantry Brigade, PA National Guard to train in Virginia, by SSG Leon Cook, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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