Sapper Soldiers Sharpen Their Edge in Training

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division
Courtesy Story

Date: 11.07.2016
Posted: 11.10.2016 17:27
News ID: 214406
Sapper Soldiers Sharpen Their Edge in Training

Fort Polk, La – To survive the modern-day battlefield, a Soldier must be adaptable to the changes that occur in it. Tactics change, in conventional and nonconventional armies, and even in the terrorist organizations we fight. These ever present tactical transformations mean Soldiers must learn to work together to fight in an often fluid theater of war.
With this concept in mind, Soldiers from the 2nd platoon, Alpha Company, 317th Brigade Engineer Battalion (Sappers) trained on combined arms maneuver tactics with 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment at Peason Ridge training area. Both units are members of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 10th Mountain Division (LI), an associated unit of the 36th Infantry Division, Texas Army National Guard.
Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Army’s Chief of Staff and Gen. Robert Abrams, the top general at Forces Command, are pressing the Army to rebuild its combined arms maneuver capability – and to do so quickly. In a letter to the force earlier this year Gen. Milley challenged the Army to “aggressively rebuild its combined arms maneuver capability while preserving its wide area security competency in support of Unified Land Operations (ULO) through home station training and combat training center rotations.”
“Upon returning from our deployment to Afghanistan in June, we immediately aligned our Sapper platoons with maneuver battalions. These habitual relationships allow platoon leaders and platoon sergeants to fully integrate into the maneuver units they support while at home station. They attend the unit’s weekly training meetings and plan training as an integrated force.” said Capt. Patrick Jackson, Alpha Company commander.
Fort Polk is one of the few locations in the Army where assigned units have ready access to combat training center (CTC) facilities.
“Our ability to access the Joint Readiness Training Center’s world-class facilities provides us with a unique opportunity to train early and often as an integrated team,” Lt. Col. Chris Blais, commander of the 317th Brigade Engineer Battalion, said.
“Last week, engineer squads were conducting live fire breach validation. Just a week later, these same squads are building proficiency as members of a combined arms maneuver team, conducting a live fire exercise. Many units have to wait until they attend a CTC rotation before being able to train at this level” he said.
“The Brigade made a deliberate effort to integrate enablers including our engineers into training early and it’s paying off” said Lt. Col. Casey Welch, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment.