Courtesy Photo | Sgt. Walter Walker (right), intelligence sergeant, 90th Sustainment Brigade and combat...... read more read more
FORT IRWIN, Calif. – Combat trainers are an integral part of training units at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. For rotation 10-09, NTC asked for a little help from a friend: the Reserve and National Guard.
Reserve and National Guard soldiers from throughout the U.S. were asked to spend their annual training as combat trainers, augmenting the active duty trainers already at NTC. Fifteen answered the call to assist the approximately 50 active duty combat trainers who help training reserves soldiers.
“It seems they need more manpower – they can’t do it all by themselves so they need Reserve and National Guard to come in and assist with each rotation,” said Reserve Staff Sgt. Patrick Wysingle, communications team chief, 211th Regional Support Group and a combat trainer from Natchitoches, La.
For this rotation, these soldiers are observing the 319th Combat Sustainment Support Brigade.
“Usually when we have a Reserve unit here, we contact the CSSB sister unit and they send their best and brightest,” said active duty combat trainer Sgt. 1st Class Corey Cooley, CSSB trainer, Goldminers, Operations Group.
Most combat trainers work approximately 12 hours a day, usually dividing the day in two shifts, one day and one night. Sometimes, if there are enough combat trainers, they will also divide the day further into shifts so the combat trainers may be well rested. Others sleep in the training area and can be on duty for up to 24 hours. They are responsible for their particular area of expertise, whether communication, intelligence or other area of concentration. The number of soldiers a combat trainer observes varies based on their role. Some may only oversee a section, while others may oversee an entire company.
To prepare them for their new role, the soldiers who volunteered for this opportunity were required to take a four-day course at the Combat Trainers Academy. This training was geared toward teaching the rules and procedures for role players, training exercise lanes and being a combat trainer. This training was a shorter, less intense version of what the active duty combat trainers attend.
“We bring the Reserve in to help facilitate without the same training CTs have,” said Cooley, a Soso, Miss., native.
Although the Reserve and National Guard combat trainers are not trained to the degree of the active duty, they still see challenges in their role.
“Struggles and challenges would be trying to really get down to the nitty-gritty,” said Wysingle. “Sometime you get answers, sometimes you don’t get the answers you’re looking for, but really what you’re doing is observing and you’re trying to assist them so they can be battle-ready. The struggles would just be capturing all that information back – asking enough questions and the right questions.”
Many of the National Guard and Reserve soldiers who received this training were impressed and believed it helped them grow as soldiers and noncommissioned officers.
“I think it’s a great experience. I got to learn different approaches, different techniques to use throughout the different training events,” said National Guard Master Sgt. Tammy Nelson, from New York, a human resource sergeant for the 369th Sustainment Brigade. “I think it was a great opportunity for us to try to experience exactly what the regular Army soldiers experience. I learned a lot of things. Some things I knew and was able to get more in-depth training.”
Nelson said she was able to learn the operations of each mission and the processes to accomplish mission completion. She also said the experience of doing the mission day-by-day instead of one weekend a month helped her see the active duty side.
“When you’re doing your mission one weekend a month you might forget some things, but if you’re constant you never forget,” said Nelson.
Other combat trainers took it as an opportunity to bring their knowledge to young soldiers.
“I wanted to learn as much as possible so whenever someone asked me a question I could answer them honestly,” said Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Ricardo Martinez, ammunition sergeant, 211th Regional Support Group from Beeville, Texas. “It can weigh on you. If you think about it, some of these soldiers are going overseas, they’re going out there and they might not come back. It can make you proud too because you say, I gave them the best advice I could. I was there and I helped them.”
This was a unique opportunity for Guard and Reserve soldiers. Most combat trainers are active duty and it’s not common for that to change.
“It’s not the norm [for Reserve and National Guard]. This is actually my first time here as a combat trainer,” said Wysingle. “I’ve been before on regular rotations … seven times.”
Others wanted to see how the combat trainers operate and experience their side.
“My unit was looking for Soldiers to come to NTC and they told me about this opportunity. So my Reserve unit asked me if I wanted to volunteer and I said, ‘Yeah, I want to be on the other side,’ ” said Martinez. “We’re always on this side watching combat trainers evaluating us, and now I see they’re really not there to give you a grade. They’re there to help your unit deploy. And I wanted to see that.”
Reserve and National Guard combat trainers gained new perceptions of a combat trainer’s purpose.
“They’re helping you out so your unit can survive, so your unit can go to a place like Afghanistan or Iraq and be prepared,” said Martinez. “There is so much realistic training here and the combat trainers are here to be used, to be advisors for your unit. You don’t want to see the combat trainers as being critical of you and that’s how many units see combat trainers – they’re critics. It helped me see that they’re not critics. They are here to help and advise.”
They also see their components as bringing something different to the training at NTC. Wysingle sees this as the experience from the civilian side that can apply to military issues.
“The difference between active duty and Reserve is Reserve and National Guard components bring an extra piece to the playing table,” said Wysingle. “Active Duty do this all the time. As a Reservist, I’m an IT guy on the civilian side and an IT guy in the military. I might have experienced something on the civilian side, but never experienced it on the military side and now we hit that problem and, hey I can fix that. So, we bring extra to the table.”
Martinez also sees the variety of the Reserve and National Guard as an advantage.
“All the different jobs and experiences in our civilian lives [give Reserve combat trainers a different view]. We are not in tunnel vision. Active duty has a tunnel vision, they don’t have other experiences coming in,” said Martinez. “This could be good and it could be bad, but reservists come in and they broaden the spectrum. They bring in other experiences, and I think it makes it rich. It helps the active duty even more and I’m glad it does because we need to help the ones who are there every single day.”
While Reserve and National Guard combat trainers see this as an opportunity to help the active duty, they also see a chance to help soldiers.
“It’s rewarding for me just showing them [what I know] and giving them what I’ve learned and experienced [in Iraq] to help them out,” said Wysingle. “Just making sure I’m taking care of the soldiers so once they’re over there, they’re good or at least they have knowledge to base it off of when they start.”
Reserve and National Guard combat trainers were excited for this opportunity, but they expressed their main goal during this mission is to make a difference for the soldiers in the NTC rotation.
“I think the Reserves bring the readiness to help their fellow soldier better themselves even though it may be two to three weeks at a time,” said Sgt. Walter Walker, intelligence sergeant, 90th Sustainment Brigade and combat trainer from Cabot, Ark. “At least as an NCO you helped out your fellow Soldier to be able to come home himself. If the training he receives here helps him survive in the sandbox then that’s all the reward I want.”
| Date Taken: | 08.12.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.12.2010 11:19 |
| Story ID: | 54396 |
| Location: | FORT IRWIN, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 141 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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