Photo By Staff Sgt. Patrick Caldwell | An M1A2 System Enhanced Program Abrams main battle tank assigned to the 3rd Battalion,...... read more read more
LA GRANDE, Ore. – By the middle of August most of the 500-plus members of Eastern Oregon’s largest Guard unit will be training in the sweltering Mohave Desert.
Some Guardsmen from the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment – which consists of citizen-soldiers from seven Eastern Oregon cities – are already at work at Fort Irwin, California, home to the U.S. Army’s National Training Center. The bulk of the Guard battalion will deploy to Fort Irwin next week for a three-week exercise at what is considered by some to be one of the most realistic and rigorous training areas in the world.
“We are primed for maximum learning potential,” Lt. Col. Brian Dean, the commander of the 3rd Battalion said.
In June the 3rd Battalion trained on its M1A2 System Enhanced Program Abrams main battle tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles for 11 days at the Orchard Combat Training Center south of Boise Idaho to prepare for its NTC stint. The June training was designed to push the unit through a number of requirements to prepare for the NTC, a task Dean said the battalion accomplished.
“We have proved we can accurately and effectively maneuver. We know we are good and also know we have room to improve,” Dean said.
The NTC training area is the size of a small state about 40 miles northeast of Barstow, California inside the Mohave Desert. Desolate and secluded the NTC is designed to test U.S. Army units – active and reserve – in every conceivable way under near-wartime conditions. The training, Dean said, is the best in the world.
The U.S. Army’s 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment acts as the opposing force and training enhancer when units rotate through the training center. The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment is a unit with a storied past and considered an elite outfit that knows the terrain and expects victory, Dean said.
The 3rd Battalion will stage at Fort Irwin and then move out onto the Mohave Desert for a nine to 11-day, non-stop, virtual war. The 3rd Battalion will essentially hit the ground running, Dean said, and fight a series of battles and encounter an array of combat challenges on a 24-hour-a-day schedule.
The predicaments run the gamut, Dean said, from attacking to defense to what is known as wide area security.
“What wide area security means is you have more terrain to secure than troops to secure it. It changes your tenants of warfare and how you make plans,” he said.
All the while the opposing force – the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment – is developing and executing methods to defeat the 3rd Battalion.
Yet while Dean said the battalion aims to perform well at NTC, the key themes to the entire exercise is training and learning.
“You’ve got to shoot accurately, move tanks and communicate effectively. We’ve set the conditions for us to get the best training NTC has to offer and we are prepared to execute the training,” he said.
Dean said once a particular unit departs the NTC it is as close to combat-ready as possible.
Dean said the 3rd Battalion, in terms of competence and morale, is exactly where he wants it as it prepares to face its toughest challenge since it deployed to Iraq in 2010.
“Oregon makes the best soldiers in the country, and we are prepared to be a learning organization. Any less preparation and we would miss out on training opportunities. Any more preparation and we might not be ready to learn. Right now we have tremendous confidence,” he said.
Capt. Christopher Miller, the commander of the 3rd Battalion’s Charlie Company based out of the Ontario, Oregon armory said he and his unit are ready.
“I’m excited to get things started. There has been a lot of work to get to this point of being ready,” Miller said.
That confidence will be severely tested for three weeks this month in the Mohave Desert. The 3rd Battalion consists of Oregon Army National Guard units from Woodburn, Hood River, The Dalles, Hermiston, Pendleton, La Grande, Baker City and Ontario.
| Date Taken: | 08.07.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.07.2015 23:13 |
| Story ID: | 172550 |
| Location: | LA GRANDE , OREGON, US |
| Web Views: | 397 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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