Photo By Staff Sgt. David Lietz | Army Reserve and active component senior leaders from First Army and 85th Support...... read more read more
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The Army Reserve’s 85th Support Command hosted its First Army Brigade Command Teams Orientation brief during their battle assembly weekend, Sept. 12 and 13, to assist active component commanders in understanding Army Reserve procedures and programs.
According to Col. Dale Kuehl, chief of staff, First Army, more than 50 percent of First Army is composed of Army Reserve soldiers that are assigned to their Reserve training support and logistical support battalions.
Col. Robert Rauchle, deputy commanding officer, 85th Support Command, explained that the brief dug into the management of all areas of administrative support to First Army’s assigned reserve soldiers.
“The focus is to try to remove barriers and improve an understanding of Army Reserve affairs and reserve operations. We slant it to an active component perspective,” said Rauchle. “We take it down to the basics - A day in the life of an Army Reserve soldier. That covers everything from feeding to life support to individual travel, pay orders, active duty annual training missions, medical readiness, legal issues and everything in between.”
Participants included First Army command teams from the 157th Infantry Brigade, 174th Infantry Brigade, 188th Infantry Brigade, 189th Infantry Brigade, 181st Infantry Brigade, 5th Armored Brigade, 177th Infantry Brigade, 205th Infantry Brigade and 4th Cavalry Brigade.
Master Sgt. Ralph Watwood, operations sergeant major for the 177th Infantry Brigade, was a first-time attendee at the brief hoping to strengthen a partnership between the components.
“I hope to take back an understanding of the partnership between the reserve component and the active component,” he said.
Saturday morning, Brig. Gen. Frederick R. Maiocco Jr., commanding general of the 85th Support Command, welcomed the command teams with a few opening remarks and shared the capabilities of the staff.
“We are a First Army asset. We are your asset. We are here to support you,” he said.
Subject matter experts from each of the 85th Support Command’s principal and staff sections briefed command teams on how and why active and reserve components handle similar issues differently.
Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Bellinger, 157th Infantry Brigade, Camp Atterbury, Indiana, found the briefing was beneficial providing an opportunity to develop a shared understanding of expectations.
“Our efforts at this briefing will allow me to develop relationships with the 85th Support Command to leverage their expertise to assist me and my brigade commander, and provide and manage resources available to accomplish the mission,” he said.
Col. Robert Capece, G-8, 85th Support Command, a veteran of numerous active and reserve component orientation briefings, stated that while some focus areas such as missions, generally are the same, new command teams have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how the Army Reserve functions.
“The new faces and what they bring to the table are always different,” said Capece.
Col. John Cook, commander, 181st Infantry Brigade, based at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, was one of those new faces. He has been in command less than three months, and stated that the briefing provided insights on how to ask the right questions.
“One of the things I’m most interested in right now is soldier readiness. Are they (soldiers) deployable?” he said. “Are they trained and certified in their military occupational specialty (MOS)? Are they certified as observer-coach/trainers (O-C/T) helping to improve Army Reserve readiness?”
Col. Jim Isenhower, Commander, 189th Infantry Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord and a first-time attendee at the briefing, shared that the briefing expanded his awareness on specific capabilities available in the Army Reserve.
“It’s a great opportunity to interact with the 85th staff and learn about all of the work they’re doing to support the reserve battalions we work with routinely,” he said.
Col. Jeffrey Carter, deputy G-3, 85th Support Command, stated this year’s briefing was the first time representatives from all nine First Army brigade command teams came together to discuss post Operation Bold Shift: A mission that changed the focus of First Army to supporting pre-mobilization of Reserve and National Guard forces while maintaining the core mission of post-mobilization support to reserve soldiers. Carter added that First Army and the 85th are in a transitioning period as First Army’s divisions are reduced to considerable minimal staffs.
“The Army has been doing more with less for about two years now with these changes, and it’s going to continue to go that route where you have to do more with less,” he said.
Kuehl stated that the biggest takeaway from this year’s briefing was communication between the active and reserve staffs. The brief assisted the brigade commanders, who mostly have never worked with the reserve component in their careers, to become more efficient in understanding the different procedures that must be taken for reserve soldiers vs. their active duty troops.
“There are different processes and systems within the Army Reserve. Our active component (commanders and command sergeants major) may not know what those systems are,” he said. “This is going to give them a base knowledge so they understand what questions to ask, but then we have to keep the lines of communication open between our brigade commanders and the 85th and between the 85th and First Army headquarters.”
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2015 17:57 |
| Story ID: | 176280 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 381 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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