First Army: Last stop before going overseas

FORT BLISS, TX, UNITED STATES

05.11.2018

Video by Sgt. Aaron Berogan 

First Army

Suggested Anchor(s) Lead

A1: When Soldiers deploy they have to be ready for any challenges they may encounter, and before going overseas there is a group of trainers all our National Guard and Reserve Soldiers must face.

A2: First Army Public Affairs Specialist, Sgt. Aaron Berogan, explains why these Observer Coach Trainers are vital to ensuring our Soldiers are ready and equipped to deploy.

PKG
VO: The sun rises on another day at Fort bliss, but the serenity of the morning doesn’t last long.

NAT

First Army Observer Coach Trainers are in the desert sand, making sure members of the Hundred Fifty Fifth Armor Brigade Combat Team are ready for whatever they might face.

SOT LT. BLAKE SATTERFIELD “Our OC’s they’re there with us all throughout the training, so they’re good at giving us pointers and looking at us from a different point of view.”

VO: For many OC/Ts this exercise is about more than just checking boxes

SOT SFC DERRICK HATTIESBURG “These are like our Soldiers. We work with them from day one, we develop a partnership that goes well back from the beginning of this exercise. We’ve been working with this unit for a couple years. To us these are our Soldiers so if we don’t get them to the point we want them at, we take it personally.”

VO: Of course the Army National Guard and Reserve units that go through these exercises don’t come empty handed.

LT SOT: “I think the biggest thing we bring to the table is the thinking outside the box, because this isn’t what we do 100% of the time. We have those other experiences that we can draw from, from our civilian careers that the Active Duty Guys don’t have all the time.

VO: The nearly 90 days of readiness training and validation these units go through before deployment is about keeping our Soldiers safe while completing their missions, something the First Army and 1-77th partnership is serious about.

SFC SOT: “We give them everything that we’ve got, we expect them to give us everything that they’ve got so we can reach the Army standard. There’s only one standard across the National Guard, Reserve and Active Duty. We want to get them to that standard so they can execute their 9 month deployment to standard and bring 100% of their troops back safe.”

VO: And for the troops deploying, they have a lot they want to come home to.

SOT SPC BROOKS LINDSEY: “You know I’ve got more than just me and a wife to think about, I’ve got a little girl back home who needs to have somebody to look up to.”

VO: In Fort Bliss Texas, Sgt. Aaron Berogan, First Army.

Suggested Anchor Tag

A1: The One Five Five out of Mississippi is expected to complete their validation exercises in June.

A2: Spc. Lindsey is the National Guard Soldier who recently went viral after being filmed watching his daughter’s birth via FaceTime.

• Date Taken: 05.11.2018
• Date Posted: 05.29.2018 11:09
• Category: Package
• Video ID: 603250
• VIRIN: 180511-A-GI418-001
• PIN: 1
• Filename: DOD_105676594
• Length: 00:02:23
• Location: FORT BLISS, TX, US
• Hometown: BETTENDORF, IA, US
• Hometown: BRANDON, MS, US
• Hometown: DAVENPORT, IA, US
• Hometown: EAST MOLINE, IL, US
• Hometown: EL PASO, TX, US
• Hometown: FORT BLISS, TX, US
• Hometown: HATTIESBURG, MS, US
• Hometown: MOLINE, IL, US
• Hometown: PARK CITY, KS, US
• Hometown: ROCK ISLAND, IL, US
• Hometown: ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, IL, US