Pine Bluff Arsenal was well represented in a training conducted by the 142nd Field Artillery Brigade with the Arkansas National Guard. The annual training, an Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise, was held during June at Camp Guernsey, Wy.
Capt. (P) Dallas Heltz, the Arsenal’s Chief Legal Counsel, has been with the brigade for four years, and works as the unit’s JAG or Judge Advocate. Heltz was promoted to major Sept. 8.
“As the brigade judge advocate, I serve the 06 commander and I am his personal JAG,” he said. “I’m at the brigade level but assist the lower level battalions. As the JAG, I give all the legal advice to the 06 commander and battalion commanders. I assist in legal affairs for the entire brigade and I achieve this through another JAG and a paralegal plus there is an enlisted paralegal in all the battalions.”
M485 illumination mortar rounds, produced at the Arsenal, were also used during the training exercise. According to Linda Wallace with the Arsenal’s Directorate of Material Management, a replenishment shipment of approximately 150 M485s were sent to Wyoming at the end of June.
In a phone conversation with Chief Warrant Officer 3 Travis Reinhardt, whose office supported the training in Wyoming, the rounds sent from PBA will be expended during future artillery unit trainings.
“The mobilization for this training included rail movement of the entire brigade for the first time since Desert Storm. The destination just happened to be Wyoming.” said Heltz. “The 142d is a contingency brigade and has to be ready to go at a 30-day notice. This mean the unit has to be operating on the ground within the 30-day time frame. This includes the load and unload – pretty much everything.”
He explained that it would be similar to him moving his office across post and cataloging what it took to do the move. “We would know how many boxes each desk area took, etc., “he said. “If we ever had to do something similar in the future, we could do it super-fast and know what assets would be needed.”
According to information from the Arkansas National Guard Public Affairs Office, the rail operations for Operation Western Strike were conducted at Fort Chaffee, Ark., near Fort Smith. Approximately 100 Soldiers from across the brigade participated in the movement of the equipment, and approximately 900 vehicles were loaded onto flatbed trucks and rail cars during the operation.
Heltz said there are two main areas that take up the majority of duties with the brigade, one of which includes personnel. “This is very similar to what I do at the Arsenal,” said Heltz. “The second major demand is operational law. As the JAG, I think op law is a neat and fun area because you are applying the law of armed conflict, international/national law, etc. There are just so many lanes there. I’m there to answer the commander’s questions within those lanes.”
The Soldiers are so incredibly well-trained and sophisticated, said Heltz. “They want to follow the law. They want to make sure because seconds matter,” he said. “Sometimes we are so deep into the exercise that things are understood and full sentences of explanation are not even needed. Facts matter during armed conflict.”
The exercise operations in Wyoming took approximately 20 days, said Heltz. “I’ve really enjoyed being a part of this unit,” he said, explaining that he is being promoted out of the brigade. “I am becoming the chief of domestic operational law for the state of Arkansas. This is the guard’s domestic mission side – which includes disaster response. However, if the 142n deploys I will deploy with them.”
Battalions from Alabama and Tennessee were also part of the exercise.
At the conclusion of the exercise in Wyoming, the 142n FAB Commander Lt. Col. (P) Nick Jaskolski, said he was incredibly proud of the Soldiers. “The Soldiers here are tied to a broader network – their families and employers. Without the support of their employers and especially the families, there is no way we would be able to accomplish what we did,” he said during a Facebook video created by the PAO. “I’m continually humbled by the sacrifices the Soldiers make, and even more important the sacrifices of the family, as well as the understanding of the employers. The employers give that Soldier time to complete their training to be ready. That is something that is so incredibly important.”
| Date Taken: | 09.13.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 12.10.2018 14:11 |
| Story ID: | 302853 |
| Location: | PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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