181st Infantry Brigade plays key role in large Army Reserve exercise
Photo By Warren Marlow |
First Army Soldiers provide OC/T support to U.S. Army Reserve engineers as they......read moreread more
Photo By Warren Marlow | First Army Soldiers provide OC/T support to U.S. Army Reserve engineers as they construct a fighting position during Operation Sentinel Justice. see less
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181st Infantry Brigade plays key role in large Army Reserve exercise
A First Army unit is playing a key role in the largest training event in the history of the U.S. Army Reserve.
The 181st Infantry Brigade is providing support to Army Reserve units during Operation Sentinel Justice this month. Nearly 15,000 Soldiers are participating in the exercise, which prepares Army Reserve forces for Large Scale Combat Operations.
“We are the mission command for all of the First Army elements that have Notification and Sourcing units within the exercise,” explained Col. Stewart Gast, 181st commander. Sourced units refers to Reserve Component entities that have been selected for mobilization.
“It’s a two-week exercise,” Gast continued. “The first portion is communications and involves getting the mission command systems up and running. The second part is the force-on-force, Field Training Exercise.”
Besides mission command, the 181st role includes working with the 300th Sustainment Brigade, as well as various battalions, companies, and detachments. Coordinating with entities ranging from small teams to brigades has its difficulties, according to Gast.
“The first challenge is designing an exercise this large, and one that stimulates staff components all the way down to chaplain detachments,” he said. “You have to build a scenario that supports and creates the environment for the area of interest and the area of operation.”
This is where First Army’s ongoing relationships with its Reserve Component partners pays off and contributes to those units’ readiness and efficiency.
“By us engaging early, we’re able to talk to…get to know their team before arriving here,” Gast explained.
Another challenge is working with a mix of units that are at different stages of the notification and deployment processes.
“The units that are within four months, we’ll pay more attention to those units,” Gast said. “If they’re earlier on, we try to build some proficiency but we understand that they’ll go through more personnel changeover and everything else before getting closer to deploying.”
All this means that OC/Ts must be ready to answer the call, and Command Sgt. Maj. Don Batchan, 181st senior enlisted Soldier, said that is one of the unit’s priorities.
“To get the OC/Ts prepared and ready to come out here, we’ve had the OC/T Academy to reenergize them and cover the fundamentals of what is expected of the OC/T and what the training units will need from them,” he said. “And since coming out here, we have trained with units to make sure everybody is on board and has a common picture of the expectations.”
That planning and the on-ground training enable OC/Ts and their Reserve Component partners to coalesce into a powerful team during their long time working together.
“We have the expertise and subject matter experts that have done this day in and day out,” Batchan said. “We can provide that insight and share that knowledge and help them hone their warfighting functions and craft.”
They have done just that, according to Command Sgt. Maj. Rachael Ridenour of the 390th Military Police Battalion.
“The OC/Ts have been awesome to work with,” she said. “And this exercise will be a success if we take those lessons and apply them forward and integrate this amazing training environment into something where we can get more sets and reps down the road.”
Indeed, these exercises enable Army Reserve troops to train as they fight, strengthen their readiness alongside their First Army partners, then deploy and win on behalf of the nation they serve as citizen-Soldiers.
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