Courtesy Photo | FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Spc. Matthew Thompson and Spc. Adam Ramirez, C Company, 50th...... read more read more
The 50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, stationed on Fort Bragg, North Carolina operates as a team-centric organization. This means that when deployed or conducting an external signal support mission, it is a single team that jumps to provide communications support to various echelons, from a company to a brigade.
Each team consists of one team chief, usually a sergeant or a specialist, and anywhere from two-to-five Soldiers. As such it is imperative that the team chief and every member of the team is not only technically proficient, but also upholds the Army values, because that team is representing the entire 50th Signal Battalion.
C Company, 50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion recently conducted a Priority Training Event (PTE) in order to increase Soldiers proficiency on Mission Essential Task List (METL) tasks, and assess team readiness. PTEs can serve multiple functions for a company; it can provide valuable training time for new Soldiers and enable them to operate their equipment outside of the battalion area of operations. It can be an opportunity for Soldiers to expand their knowledge base through cross training. It can serve as a validation exercise for that particular team, a culmination of weeks of preparation and training to ensure that the team is ready for any mission that might present itself. At its most primitive form it can be an opportunity to identify non-mission capable vehicles, generators, and signal equipment.
The reality is that each PTE is a small slice of all of these. Due to the volatile nature of our profession, platoon leadership, to include the team chief, must be able to simultaneously train new Soldiers, progress and assess developing Soldiers, and validate proficient Soldiers and teams. The end state of such an event is to ensure that the company, down to the team and individual Soldier level, is at a heightened state of readiness and is postured for success for any situation that arises.
Due to the company being in green cycle and fielding the majority of the signal support missions, the company was only able to send four teams to the PTE, two from each platoon. Each platoon sent one Single Shelter Switch (SSS) team and one Satellite Transportable Terminal (STT) team. However for each platoon, this proved to be a valuable training opportunity.
Internal alert procedures were stressed and validated as the Soldiers received an early morning call that brought them into work on a shortened timeline. Soldiers were then processed through the Pope Soldier Readiness Center (SRC) to ensure they were administratively and medically deployable, an important and often overlooked aspect when determining overall unit readiness. Upon completion of SRC, the teams packed up their equipment and then rolled out to the training area.
The next 24 hours consisted of setting up their equipment, to include properly grounding it, troubleshooting through various issues, and bringing up their systems. The teams also utilized this opportunity to conduct training on several basic Soldier skills, such as night vision device (NVD) training, combat lifesaver (CLS), and react to indirect fire. In a signal battalion it can be easy to lose focus of these perishable skills, however they are simple tasks that can affect individual Soldier and therefore unit readiness.
For every operation it is important to define success. As stated previously, the end state for this PTE was an increased state of readiness. This PTE provided an excellent opportunity to assess limitations as a company, while evaluating the status of training and maintenance. Following the completion of the C Company PTE and recovery operations, the company is now at an increased state of readiness and is postured to “Fight Tonight.”
| Date Taken: | 08.15.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.29.2017 11:12 |
| Story ID: | 258403 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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