Photo By Sgt. Ryan Reed | A U.S. Soldier assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry...... read more read more
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FORT POLK, La. – Throughout June 2025, over 4,000 Soldiers from the Iowa Army National Guard trained at Fort Polk, Louisiana, undergoing one of the Army’s most demanding combat training events in preparation for an upcoming overseas deployment.
Known since the Vietnam war era as “Tigerland,” Fort Polk and the Joint Readiness Training Center have become synonymous with forging combat-ready Soldiers through intense, realistic training. For Iowa’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, this rotation marks a pivotal moment: their first full brigade deployment since 2010.
At the Joint Readiness Training Center, or JRTC, Soldiers are evaluated under pressure. Their minds are stressed, their physical limits are tested and their endurance is pushed to the edge. From junior enlisted Soldiers to senior Iowa Army National Guard leaders, all participants endure mental, physical and emotional exhaustion.
JRTC is one of four Army combat training centers, the others being JMRC in Hohenfels, Germany; JPMRC at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; and NTC at Fort Irwin, California. JRTC, however, is known for being the most grueling. The simulated combat environment, complete with force-on-force scenarios and constant stressors, provides Soldiers with some of the most realistic training they will encounter in their careers.
“There are a lot of methods that we use to test Soldiers while they’re in the training area. One is simply the stress and pressure of combat,” said Brig. Gen. Derek Adams, the Senior Trainer for rotation 25-08. “We try to simulate that as best we can,” he continued.
As the Senior Trainer, Adams works closely with observer-coach/trainers and JRTC leadership to design, execute and evaluate the training rotation. He coordinates with Operations Group, which oversees the exercise, monitors unit performance across all warfighting functions and delivers objective feedback through after-action reviews to improve readiness at every level.
“JRTC emphasizes DOD’s priorities of lethality, warfighting and readiness by training the entire brigade combat team, from the individual Soldiers to the brigade combat team level,” Adams said. It’s a large, complex organization, and this training reflects that.”
This type of training marks a broader shift in Army doctrine.
The Army is transitioning from the counterinsurgency operations of the past two decades to large-scale combat operations, or LSCO. LSCO prepares Soldiers for potential conflicts with near-peer adversaries by emphasizing large-scale maneuvers, complex logistics and sustained combat power.
“LSCO changes sustainment operations sheerly in the magnitude of what occurs,” said Col. Tony Smithhart, commander of the 734th Regional Support Group. “You’re talking about large numbers of Soldiers, large numbers of equipment.”
The RSG is structured to be a logistical support system for up to 20,000 Soldiers in a deployed environment. As the Regional Support Command for JRTC, they were tasked with coordinating all sustainment efforts. This included feeding over 5,800 Soldiers, managing medical treatment and getting over 2,500 pieces of equipment staged and prepared to be operated.
Planning for JRTC began more than a year before the first boots hit the ground.
“I made my first trip to Fort Polk about 18 months ago to determine the actual area we’d operate in,” Smithhart said. “Since then, my team at the 734th Regional Support Group has returned about six times to coordinate with Fort Polk staff, validate our node concepts, and rehearse operations to support reception, staging, onward integration and base camp management.”
JRTC has earned its reputation. The environment is humid and rainy, the terrain is unforgiving, and the scenarios evolve constantly.
All of these factors come together to form a stressful and taxing exercise, but one that will toughen Soldiers. Despite the numerous aspects working against them, the Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division proved they not only have the grit to successfully complete their upcoming deployment, but any mission that is asked of them.
“The scale of this operation is critical to the development of our Soldiers,” Smithhart said. “It’s been called a generational training opportunity, and I believe that’s accurate.”
| Date Taken: | 06.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.18.2025 20:08 |
| Story ID: | 501048 |
| Location: | LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 3,196 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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