Fort Indiantown Gap busiest training center in FY23

Photo By Staff Sgt. Jonathan Campbell | U.S. Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team fire the M3 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System during an exercise at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, Aug. 13, 2023. The M3 MAAWS is commonly referred to as the "Carl Gustaf." (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan Campbell)  

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA, UNITED STATES

10.26.2023

Story by Brad Rhen 

Fort Indiantown Gap

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – For the third time in the last four years, Fort Indiantown Gap was the busiest National Guard training center in the country.

During fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, the installation hosted 139,391 personnel for a total of 858,523 man-days. Man-days are a computation of the number of personnel multiplied by the number of days they trained on post.

Those numbers are up from last year when the installation hosted 129,885 personnel for 688,833 man-days.

Camp Shelby, Mississippi, was second in 2023 with 761,164 man-days, and Fort Stewart, Georgia, was third with 559,877 man-days.

Fort Indiantown Gap was also the busiest training center in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021 and has been in the top three every year since 2013.

“We are all very proud of being the National Guard’s busiest post again in 2023; however, that high throughput is due to outstanding customer support given by the team here at Fort Indiantown Gap,” said Col. Kevin Potts, garrison commander. “That team also includes the state workers and contractors who help my team on a daily basis with upkeep and repair of ranges and facilities around post.”

Fort Indiantown Gap covers more than 17,000 acres in northern Lebanon and Dauphin counties and offers numerous ranges, training facilities and simulators. It is the primary training site for the Pennsylvania National Guard and regularly hosts personnel from all branches of the military, both active-duty and reserve-component, as well as personnel from foreign militaries, law enforcement and local, state and federal agencies.

The installation is also home to several schools, including the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, the 166th Regiment Regional Training Institute, the Regional Equipment Operators Training Site, the Lightning Force Academy and the Northeast Counter Drug Training Center.

Lt. Col. Gordon Kinneer, Fort Indiantown Gap’s director of plans, operations, training and security, noted that Fort Indiantown Gap isn’t the largest training center size-wise, so it must be very efficient in its use of ranges and training areas.

“At just over 17,000 acres, every range and training area has to be multipurpose,” Kinneer said. “We can’t afford to squander our limited resources on large ranges and training areas that service one capability or training requirement.”

One of the major types of exercises that Fort Indiantown Gap hosts is a Warfighter, a simulated exercise designed to train and evaluate Army division-sized elements on mission command in large-scale combat operations.

Fort Indiantown Gap began hosting Warfighters in 2016 and usually hosts one a year. In June, more than 2,100 service members from several states participated in a Warfighter over the course of 10 days.

This year was the first time all participants of a Warfighter were at Fort Indiantown Gap, and the 2,100-plus Soldiers were the most that ever participated in a Warfighter here. For previous Warfighters hosted by Fort Indiantown Gap, the personnel were split between several bases.

Potts noted that the installation was able to host the Warfighter while simultaneously supporting two other Pennsylvania Army National Guard brigades that were training on post.

“Not every post has the room to do that; however, we do, and can because of the diligent work by everyone,” Potts said.

Fort Indiantown Gap is continually looking at ways to improve and expand its offerings, Kinneer said. The directorate of plans, operations, training and security works tirelessly to receive bottom-up refinement from units training on post and work those suggestions into range and training area updates and designs, he said.

“We don’t like to say no, and we try to be as creative as possible to fit units in the jigsaw puzzle that is the training corridor footprint on any given weekend,” Kinneer said. “Coupled with a world class Range Maintenance, Range Scheduling, Fires Desk and Training Center support staff, we ensure our customer base is able to execute whatever training event they have scheduled on Fort Indiantown Gap.

“That’s what keeps units coming back and keeps us number one year after year,” he added.

• Date Taken: 10.26.2023
• Date Posted: 10.26.2023 07:59
• Story ID: 456572
• Location: FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA, US