Photo By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Miller | Sgt. Brandon Finley, a Soldier assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd...... read more read more
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Soldiers from Bravo and Charlie Batteries, 1st Battalion, 119th Field Artillery Regiment, were validated on counter improvised explosive device situational training exercise lanes during the eXportable Combat Training Capability exercise on Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center, Mich., July 16, 2014.
During the STX, the Guard Soldiers faced off against opposing forces of the active duty 10th Mountain Division and were evaluated by active duty 1st Army Division East.
Sgt. Brandon Finley, a Soldier assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, conducting his first mission in Michigan and his first XCTC exercise, functioned as opposing forces for the STX lane. Finley engaged the Bravo and Charlie Company artillerymen in direct contact as he hid in the thick woods of the training facility.
“These National Guardsmen are training the way active Army trains,” said Finley. “This is going to be key to our fighting forces in the future. With the draw down to active military services, it is going to fall upon the National Guard and Reserve to start filling in the blanks and be ready to fight like us.”
The Bravo and Charlie company Soldiers reacted to direct contact with simulated small arms fire, remote control IEDs, vehicle-borne IEDs, and complex attacks as well as rehearsed casualty evacuation procedures, vehicle recovery, and providing security.
“There is a stigma perception of the Guard and Reserve,” said Sgt. Maj. Phong Tran, observer/controller for 1st Army Division East. “An exercise like this is breaking that stigma.”
This is the first time that active Army and National Guard units have trained together on Camp Grayling. Army Doctrine dictates the collective and individual tasks for each mission. The task evaluation outline gauges the ability for units to reach those objectives.
“After eleven and a half years of combat, we have to rely on each other,” said Tran. “This exercise reinforces that need.”
In addition to lane training, artillery battalions from four states are conducting and being evaluated on live-fire artillery tables.
XCTC is a program of record used by the Army National Guard since 2005 to train more than 11 combat and functional brigades. More than 3,000 Soldiers are participating in the two-week exercise.
| Date Taken: | 07.16.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2014 10:03 |
| Story ID: | 136489 |
| Location: | GRAYLING, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 364 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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