Photo By Sgt. Tyler Morford | CA teams from the 308th Civil Affairs Brigade, including the Civil Information...... read more read more
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In a world where information is increasingly becoming a weapon that adversaries use to influence allies and host nations, it’s vital for U.S. Army Civil Affairs teams and operators to coordinate, develop, and analyze information for commanders to initiate tools for mission success in order to build relationships with allied countries. To prepare Soldiers before deploying for these missions, validation exercises are implemented; one such exercise, VALEX 3-21, known as Crimson Dawn 3.0, is conducted at Fort Custer, Mich., to further enhance Soldier’s capabilities for any contingency by utilizing real-life scenarios to fully prepare mobilizing Soldiers.
Succeeding at this task is the 308th Civil Affairs Brigade from Homewood, Ill.; the CA teams, including the Civil Information Management Team (CIM) and the Civil Affairs Planning Team (CAPT), from the 308th are being evaluated for their upcoming deployment to support Atlantic Resolve; also being validated in this joint exercise are CA teams from the 415th Civil Affairs Battalion, Kalamazoo, Mich., for their upcoming deployment.
Crimson Dawn 3.0, being the third iteration, was conceived to replicate, in the most realistic way, multi-domain operational environments that Civil Affairs operators would face. One way to enhance the exercise was to utilize the Information Operations Network, (ION), which replicates social-communication information, such as social media, into real-world scenarios for the Soldiers. Leading the 308th Civil Affairs Brigade through this exercise is their commander, Col. Kelly M. Dickerson, who described another important tool implemented at Crimson Dawn, present input from Soldiers active in the operational environment overseas.
“We’re able to integrate what is happening overseas, so those Soldiers overseas are also watching what’s happening here to provide information to the OC/Ts to inject things that are happening real-world, based off of what they are seeing; it’s a good year-long training cycle, and this is the culmination.”
In coordination with First Army OC/Ts, or Observer, Coach and Trainers, the 308th also supplied OC/Ts for Crimson Dawn, “We do have First Army, which is an amazing partner because they provide that level of ensuring that we’re observing, coaching, and training to the level necessary to ensure that all of the METAL tasks are, not only reviewed, but are done correctly and that they are properly-assessed.”
Being a Reserve unit, the 308th is able to incorporate individual civilian skills from each Soldier to support the objectives of relationship building, as well as their mission essential task list skills, or METAL skills, “When you see the level of commitment our Soldiers have to an exercise, it is the best part of being a commander, getting to watch your soldiers train and execute on the METAL tasks that they need to be able to do in theater.”
| Date Taken: | 03.25.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.06.2021 09:43 |
| Story ID: | 393125 |
| Location: | FORT CUSTER, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 50 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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