By Spc. C. Terrell Turner,
JOLON, Calif. - Army Reserve Soldiers from around the country converged on Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif., June 16 - 24, for a massive Combat Support Training Exercise, which simulated the rigorous environment of a deployment to Afghanistan.
The 91st Training Brigade and the 311th Expeditionary Sustainment Command worked together to provide realistic training to the Army Reserve units that came to train at the largest U.S. Army Reserve post in the country, at more than 165,000 acres.
Army Reserve units, from Florida to California, worked together to prepare themselves for future missions in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom during the CSTX. The 91st Training Brigade facilitated their training with mission simulation lanes while Observer Controller/Trainers evaluated the results of the simulation and provided feedback to the units to improve their ability to perform their duties in the field. The 311th ESC provided the scenarios of the mission simulation lanes and received information from the units during the exercises.
“This mission duplicates conditions in theater,” said Lt. Col. Janis Hatcher, the support operations Officer In Charge, with the 311th ESC, from Los Angeles. “The purpose of conducting missions here is to replicate the training to be as close as possible to theater. For many Army Reserve units, this is the only time they get to go out and do field training.”
The 311th acted as the Tactical Operations Center for the units in the field. It handled both the scenarios given to the units in the field and the information sent back from units as they responded to the events during the exercises.
The CSTX was the 91st Training Brigade’s second pre-deployment, scenario-driven training exercise this year, following the Warrior Exercise, held here last month, explained Brig. Gen. James T. Cook, the commanding general of the 91st Training Brigade.
“This is our third year providing these types of exercises and it’s getting better every year,” said Cook. “I’ve listened to the AARs and the training is very well received with positive comments from the unit commanders.”
The unit commanders gave the 91st Training Brigade their training objectives and the OC/Ts developed scenarios based on those objectives.
“The WarEx replicates Iraq and the CSTX replicates Afghanistan,” said Cook. “We strive to bring a lot of realism to the scenario, running about 21 days of focused training. We don’t ever want to waste the Soldier’s time.”