Photo By Sgt. LaShawna Custom | Staff Sgt. Michael Tenorio, a reconnaissance, selection and occupation of position...... read more read more
FORT BLISS, Texas – Observer Coach/Trainers (OCT’s) from across the U.S. monitored units from the 32d Army Air and Missile Defense Command’s Roving Sands 19 Exercise held March 1-11.
The non-bias approach to training observation, coupled with Fort Bliss’ broad training area and austere conditions, provided critical feedback and a national training center like evaluation.
OCT’s are subject matter experts on doctrine and in their specific warfighting functions. They are selected based on rank (staff sergeant or sergeant first class), military occupational specialty and experience.
To become certified and graduate as an OCT, these experts must pass an approximately week-long course. At the academy, they study unit standard operating procedures and their critical role in accomplishing the mission.
Additionally, they receive a rigorous training program by providing feedback using the After-Action Review (AAR) process according to the OCT standard in which another OCT evaluates them.
OCT’s facilitate the AAR process by asking questions and listening to unit responses on how they viewed what was supposed to happen, what happened and how the training could be improved. This allows units to evaluate themselves, improving future training events.
“I like being an OCT,” said Sgt. 1st Class Thedros Poinsette, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense (CBRN) OCT from 4th Battalion, 306th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 188th Infantry Brigade from Fort Stewart, Georgia. “It’s a good thing when you can train them on troop leading procedures and show them what right looks like for them to achieve success.”
299th Chemical Company, 103rd Chemical Battalion, 149th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, was one of the units evaluated and served as the CBRN enabler support element when a CBRN threat struck Delta Battery, 3-4 Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade's convoy. After reporting the attack, Delta planned an alternate route and moved through the decontamination line.
“It is rewarding when you are assigned a unit and you can show them different aspects of their job so that they can have a broader spectrum of their skill set,” Poinsette added.
Another mission the chemical company had during Roving Sands included identifying a chemical threat. After approaching a site, the Soldiers searched and conducted sampling to exploit the specimen to higher headquarters to get a positive identification.
“You always want to leave a unit better than you found them,” Poinsette concluded. “If it’s a great unit, you sustain them. If it’s a good unit, you make them great.”
The end goal is to ensure mission success. The criticism and fixes that OCT’s provide make units more proficient. It is about learning new tactics as OCT’s offer an outside perspective on a unit’s overall performance.
“Units are going to mess up, but they shouldn’t be discouraged when they’re told what they did wrong,” said Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Harrison, an infantry OCT from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 149th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. “Take that information and use it the next time. Fix your deficiencies so that way you know what right is and you know what wrong is.”
“Don’t take it as if OCT’s are against you because we are here for you,” Harrison noted. “Our job is to help units fix what they are doing wrong. It’s all training and the more you train, the better you are at your job.”
From an air defense perspective, Bravo Battery, 62nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade based out of Fort Hood, Texas conducted THAAD reload training. These Soldiers had to drop the pallet, break it down, reconstruct and reload the launcher within two hours.
“THAAD plays a role by providing up tier coverage and coordinating engagements with patriot,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Matzke, a standardization tactics OCT from 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. “Essentially, we work with our patriot brothers and sisters to provide a higher fidelity of tactical ballistic missile defense.”
OCT’s are considered the eyes and ears for the command team and increase knowledge capacity, enhancing training and unit readiness.
“Within the scope of the mission event list, I can prompt questions that will cause them to respond to things they were not aware of,” said Matzke. “I can make recommendations to commanders when it comes to training he can conduct.”
Although completing drills within doctrine is important, the main priority for an OCT is to ensure training is conducted safely.
Staff Sgt. Michael Tenorio, a reconnaissance, selection and occupation of position OCT from Delta Battery, 2-43 Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, evaluated Soldiers from his brigade on table seven certifications.
These Soldiers were evaluated on their march order of equipment. They went from fully operational (firing simulated missiles), to moving to any site location at any given time. After returning from a convoy, the team had to safely locate a designated staging area and place their equipment for full operation in accordance with their manual.
“This team definitely knows how to move without damaging equipment or personnel in a fast manner,” Tenorio said.
“If you succeed in your mission, but a Soldier is injured or loses their life, that’s a failed mission,” Matzke noted. “The goal is to accomplish the mission and get Soldiers home just as they arrived. OCT’s have a huge responsibility. If anything happens to a Soldier while training, that is a mission failure on our part.”
(By Sgt. La’Shawna Custom, 32d AAMDC Public Affairs)
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 03.22.2019 17:25 |
| Story ID: | 315422 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 1,516 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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