The ability to train for complex emergencies in realistic environments requires more than personnel and equipment. It requires training locations that can support a wide range of missions and organizations working together toward a common objective.
Patriot ‘26 demonstrated that capability Aug. 24–29 as approximately 1,000 Airmen and Soldiers from National Guard units representing 35 states, along with federal, state and local agencies, participated in large-scale domestic-response training at Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center and Fort McCoy, Wis.
Hosted by the Air National Guard, Patriot ’26 was designed to enhance domestic-response readiness and interagency coordination by placing participants in realistic, high-stress emergency scenarios requiring them to respond quickly, adapt to changing conditions and operate as a unified team.
Fort McCoy played an important role in that training, providing multiple specialized training areas and facilities across the installation's South Post while working jointly with personnel at Volk Field.
“Fort McCoy’s ability to provide multiple training environments in support of the exercise allows participants to train in scenarios that would be difficult to replicate in a single location,” Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security officials said.
Training at Fort McCoy included Training Area Rice, Training Area Harrison, the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility, Young Air Assault Strip and Badger Drop Zone. The combination of those facilities provided Patriot planners with opportunities to conduct ground-based emergency-response scenarios while also incorporating aviation and other capabilities into the exercise.
Key training events involved U.S. Army UH-72 Lakota helicopters from the Kentucky National Guard supporting scenarios at both Volk Field and Fort McCoy.
At Fort McCoy, Army aviation crews conducted medical-evacuation hoist training using simulated casualties. The training required aircrews to locate and recover patients from areas where an aircraft could not safely land, then hoist the simulated casualties aboard the helicopter for evacuation.
Officials also said the training provided an opportunity for aircrews and ground personnel to practice the coordination required during an actual emergency in which terrain, damaged infrastructure or other conditions prevent conventional helicopter landings.
The exercise also included mass-casualty scenarios, with role players portraying injured victims. Participants had to assess casualties, coordinate available resources and move patients through the evacuation process while simultaneously dealing with other demands created by the scenario, exercise organizers said.
Other scenarios involved civil unrest, damaged infrastructure and communities requiring basic supplies. Security Forces Airmen served as acting incident commanders, giving them an opportunity to practice coordinating complex emergency situations while working with other military and civilian organizations.
Participants also conducted search-and-rescue training that included breaking through barriers, urban search and rescue and aeromedical evacuation. The scenarios were designed to test more than individual technical skills.
They required participants from different organizations to communicate, share information, coordinate resources and establish a unified response — capabilities that become particularly important when an emergency crosses organizational or jurisdictional boundaries.
A joint training partnership
The cooperation between Fort McCoy and Volk Field is a significant part of the Patriot exercise model.
Although the two installations have distinct missions and capabilities, their proximity allows exercise planners to combine those capabilities into a larger training environment, Fort McCoy DPTMS officials noted. Volk Field provides a major Air National Guard combat-readiness training environment, while Fort McCoy offers extensive maneuver space, specialized training facilities and a variety of environments where military and civilian emergency-response organizations can conduct realistic scenarios.
Together, the installations can provide a more diverse training environment than either location could provide independently. That relationship has been demonstrated repeatedly during previous Patriot exercises.
Fort McCoy and Volk Field have hosted Patriot exercises together for years. Earlier iterations incorporated Fort McCoy’s airfields, drop zones, training villages, and other facilities into scenarios involving disaster response, search and rescue, mass casualties, security operations, emergency management and aviation operations.
During Patriot North 2017, more than 900 civilians, volunteers, Soldiers and Airmen participated in training involving simulated disasters, mass casualties, search and rescue and other emergency-response missions. Fort McCoy provided Young Air Assault Strip and other training capabilities, with officials noting the installation's airfield and drop-zone capabilities as important additions to the exercise.
Patriot North 2018 again brought hundreds of participants to Volk Field and Fort McCoy. Training at McCoy included operations at Young Air Assault Strip, airdrop training at Badger Drop Zone and emergency-response scenarios in the installation's urban training environments. Military personnel also worked alongside organizations including FEMA, Civil Air Patrol, Team Rubicon, the Salvation Army and medical personnel.
The Fort McCoy connection continued during Patriot North 2019, when the exercise included training at Young Air Assault Strip and an airborne operation at Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport involving special operations personnel establishing an air hub capable of receiving military airlift supplies.
Patriot returned to the Fort McCoy-Volk Field training complex in 2021, when participants responded to simulated earthquake damage, collapsed structures and mass casualties while conducting search and rescue and casualty evacuation operations.
Patriot ’26 continued that tradition while incorporating the capabilities required for today's domestic-response missions.
Training the Total Force
For Fort McCoy, supporting Patriot ’26 represents another example of the installation's role in Total Force training.
The exercise brought together Air National Guard and Army National Guard personnel, active military capabilities, law-enforcement organizations, emergency-management agencies and other federal, state and local partners.
The variety of participants required an equally diverse training environment.
At Fort McCoy, participants could move from realistic ground-based emergency scenarios to aviation operations and casualty evacuation training while remaining within the larger exercise framework being coordinated with Volk Field.
That flexibility is one of the installation's most important training strengths.
“Patriot ’26 is another demonstration of Fort McCoy's ability to support Total Force training in a joint environment,” DPTMS officials said.
The exercise also highlighted why maintaining specialized training infrastructure is important to military readiness.
Facilities such as the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility can provide realistic urban environments. Training areas provide space for larger ground scenarios, while Young Air Assault Strip and Badger Drop Zone provide aviation-related capabilities that can expand the scope of an exercise.
When those capabilities are combined with Volk Field's resources, exercise planners can create scenarios that require participants to solve problems rather than simply perform individual training tasks.
For Patriot ’26 participants, that meant dealing with situations involving injured personnel, damaged infrastructure, civil unrest, difficult terrain, limited access and competing demands — all while communicating with organizations that may have different missions, equipment and procedures.
The result was training focused on the reality of large-scale domestic emergencies: no single organization is likely to have all the personnel, equipment or expertise required to respond alone. Patriot ’26 gave participants an opportunity to practice bringing those capabilities together. For Fort McCoy and Volk Field, the exercise once again demonstrated the value of their combined training environments and their ability to support military and civilian organizations preparing to respond when communities need them most.
Fort McCoy’s motto beginning in 2026 is “Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since 1909.” The installation’s mission: “Fort McCoy strengthens Total Force Readiness by serving as a training center, Mobilization Force Generation Installation, and Strategic Support Area enabling warfighter lethality to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars.”
And Fort McCoy’s vision is, “To be the premier training center supporting the most capable, combat-ready, and lethal armed forces.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on DVIDS at https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/FMPAO. Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.
Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
(Article prepared by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.)