Photo By Scott Sturkol | Soldiers operate military vehicles in a convoy on North Post on July 16, 2019, for...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy had a busy 2019 supporting active- and reserve-component training throughout the armed forces, as well as assisting local communities. Here’s a look back at some of the year’s highlights.
January
Emergency-response personnel with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department supported a mutual-aid response Jan. 6 involving children who had fallen through the ice at Perch Lake in Sparta, Wis. Two children were pulled from the water, one from underwater with the assistance of a diver.
February
One after another, about a dozen firefighters with the Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department took their turns Feb. 6 getting in a suit, strapping on an air tank and full-face mask, and diving into the depths of Big Sandy Lake under the ice on Fort McCoy’s South Post. The divers were covering depths of up to 15 feet or more completing several types of rescue scenarios.
March
Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch was awarded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Military Conservation Partner Award. This award recognizes significant natural-resource management achievements by military installations, particularly the conservation of important wildlife and their habitats through cooperative work with the USFWS and other partners.
April
Hundreds of Army Reserve Soldiers completed training as members of Convoy Protection Platform gunnery crews during Operation Cold Steel III between late March and early May at Fort McCoy. Operation Cold Steel III, operating under Task Force Fortnite at Fort McCoy, is a gunnery exercise with Soldiers qualifying on the M2, MK-19, and M240B weapon systems. According to the Army Reserve, the training completed during Operation Cold Steel is critical to ensuring that Army Reserve units and Soldiers are trained and ready to deploy on short notice and bring “combat-ready and lethal firepower in support of Army and Joint Force partners around the world.”
May
Vice President of the United States Mike Pence visited Fort McCoy on May 16 as part of an overall Wisconsin visit. During his stop at Fort McCoy, Pence learned about military equipment; met with hundreds of Fort McCoy workforce, military, and family members; and gave a speech at an Equipment Concentration Site-67 building.
June
The annual Northern Lightning exercise took place at Wisconsin’s Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center from May 6-17. During the course of the exercise, several Fort McCoy training and range areas were utilized for live-fire training.
The Army Reserve Command kicked off the training portion of Diamond Saber 2019, the Army’s largest and primary financial management exercise, at June 18 at Fort McCoy. Diamond Saber is designed to provide realistic technical training to regular Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard financial management units through interactive scenarios and transactions.
July
The 86th Training Division at Fort McCoy conducted Combat Support Training Exercise 86-19-03 from July 13 to Aug. 2 at the installation. The 86th held the exercise as part of the U.S. Army Reserve commanding general’s Combat Support Training Program (CSTP). Thousands of service members with the Army as well as other military services and foreign militaries are participating in the multinational exercise. CSTP exercises are large-scale training exercises where units experience tactical training scenarios specifically designed to replicate real-world missions.
August
Multiservice medical personnel got hands-on training at multiple exercises that took place in August at Fort McCoy with assistance from the installation’s Medical Simulation Training Center (MSTC) and Regional Training Site (RTS)-Medical. Global Medic is an inter-service training event that provides opportunities for military medical personnel to improve their proficiencies in realistic training environments while combining forces with other service branches and national armies.
September
Contractor Relyant Global LLC of Maryville, Tenn., began work on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-led project to build seven new military family housing units at the South Post Housing area at Fort McCoy. Also during the month, more than 23,000 pieces of ceramic-plate body armor were scanned for serviceability from early to mid-September at the Logistics Readiness Center Central Issue Facility at Fort McCoy.
October
Eight current and one former firefighter with the Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department received the Department of the Army Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service on Oct. 3 for their work during an emergency flood response in local communities in 2018.
Team Fort McCoy sent two teams of runners to the 2019 Army Ten-Miler competition Oct. 13 at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and came away with first- and fifth-place finishes in the Reserve Mixed category. The first-place finish was the first Ten-Miler championship earned by a Fort McCoy team since 2007.
November
After closing in March for a major upgrade, Fort McCoy’s Main Gate reopened for use and 24-hour operations at 5 a.m. Nov. 23.
Work on the project included the demolition of old active vehicle barriers and the construction of new active vehicle barriers that meet the requirements for standoff distances required by mandated regulations. Additionally, new sidewalks and a parking area were built next to building 35 to allow for more parking space.
December
The 2019-20 season of the Fort McCoy Cold-Weather Operations Course (CWOC) started Dec. 5 at the installation, beginning officially the fourth season of the course. This season, the CWOC training team of instructors is prepared to hold five, 14-day training sessions of CWOC as well as four, three-day sessions.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services each year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 01.09.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 01.09.2020 12:47 |
| Story ID: | 358558 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 155 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, YEAR IN REVIEW: Looking back at 2019 at Fort McCoy, by Aimee Malone, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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