Photo By Spc. Veronica Cornejo | Michigan Army National Guard Participates in XCTC 2023 at Fort McCoy U.S. Army...... read more read more
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(Courtesy story by Army National Guard Spc. Veronica Cornejo)
FORT MCCOY, Wisconsin – U.S. Army National Guard soldiers from Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 126th Infantry Regiment, Michigan National Guard, known as the “Iron Battalion”, traveled to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin for eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) training July 21 through August 12, 2023.
Approximately 400 Michigan Army National Guard soldiers conducted several training iterations to provide realistic training in unfamiliar terrain to build readiness in a new and unfamiliar environment.
“It's new terrain, they don’t know what to expect, said Cpt. Mitchell Kittle, Alpha company commander. “At Camp Grayling, Michigan [where the unit typically trains] everyone knows what to expect.”
The U.S. Army National Guard's XCTC program enables brigade combat teams to achieve the platoon readiness to deploy, fight and win battles worldwide.
“The soldiers are learning how to [do] maneuvers day and night, in various conditions,” said Sgt. First Class Gustavo Diaz, operations non-commissioned officer, 3-126, Higher Headquarters Command. “Through this training, they increase the performance of the company overall.”
The training space at Fort McCoy provides a challenging contemporary operating environment with degraded and contested domains in a realistic in time-space, to train platoon-level tasks.
The Michigan Guard soldiers trained against simulated oppositional forces (OPFOR). Real-world adversarial operational environments are constantly changing, it’s critical that the OPFOR team presents different challenges for U.S forces.
“The OPFOR is to act as the enemy and give us an adversary to engage in an effort to better prepare ourselves for future conflicts, said Sgt. First Class Adams Griswold, platoon sergeant, Charlie Co. 3-126. “Overall, I feel like they did a very good job at providing this for us.”
Soldiers of the 3-126 also got to participate in live-fire training that consisted of uneven, rocky terrain, C-wire, breaches, team cooperation, limited critical communication, and night training with Night Observation Devises (NODs).
Training in a fast-paced, high-intensity, unfamiliar environment creates challenges for the soldiers. The goal of the XCTC is to develop adaptive, flexible, resilient, and robust leaders through rigorous planning, preparation, execution, and assessment.
“It’s been pretty fun, being able to practice my job in the field environment as opposed to being back in the rear, making runs, staying up late, really making some good memories with a lot of people,” Spc. Benjamin Ray, supply specialist, 3-126, Higher Headquarters Command. “I’ve been learning a lot of cool stuff about the infantry guys”.
XCTC is the U.S. Army National Guard’s program of record that enables brigade combat teams to achieve the trained platoon readiness necessary to deploy. Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
| Date Taken: | 08.17.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 08.18.2023 11:44 |
| Story ID: | 451643 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Hometown: | CADILLAC, MI, US |
| Hometown: | DETROIT, MI, US |
| Hometown: | DOWAGIAC, MI, US |
| Hometown: | WYOMING, MI, US |
| Web Views: | 129 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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