Photo By Lt. Col. Al Phillips | A New York Army National Guard Soldier assigned to the 152nd Engineer Company uses a...... read more read more
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YOUNGSTOWN, N.Y. — Soldiers of the New York Army National Guard’s 152nd Engineer Company dumped the virtual training from 2020, and got down to being combat engineers again May 9-23 during annual training at an 840-acre training site in western New York.
The company, part of the 204th Engineer Battalion, was tasked with upgrading the Youngstown Local Training Area as their two-week mission.
The Soldiers constructed an Army Combat Fitness Course, a Situational Training Exercise lanes course, improved the area’s road network, and set up a land navigation course.
The engineers cleared woods and improved drainage as well.
The construction is part of the New York National Guard’s Range Complex Master Plan, which calls for upgrading training areas to prepare Guard units for deployments.
The Youngstown training area is 35 miles north of Buffalo and 45 minutes west of Rochester. The location makes it ideally suited for training units from western New York.
Getting away from computer training an getting back to hands on training is critical for his Soldiers, said Capt. Christopher Baun, the commander of the Buffalo-based engineer company.
“We gotta keep pushing and pushing,” he said.
Along with the engineering work, the Soldiers traveled to Fort Drum to conduct weapons qualification.
Col. Jamey Barcomb, commander of the 153rd Troop Command who visited the Soldiers on May 15, said getting back to engineer skills for the company is not just a critical part of unit readiness, but is a critical retention issue.
They signed up to be engineers and they want to be engineers, not conduct virtual training, he said.
The critical question our Soldiers ask themselves is, “why did I join,” only to be followed up with “why do I stay,” Barcomb emphasized.
Working individual and collecting engineer tasks builds confidence and readiness, he said.
“What I see here today are Soldiers first, but they are also construction workers and engineers taking pride in their service,” Barcomb said.
These Soldiers are not cutting down trees, they are improving their readiness,” he said.
Nothing compares to the hands-on opportunities in the field, explained Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Lilly, a construction engineer technician with the 152nd Engineers.
“We are used to operating with stone, oil, mud and dirt,” he said.
The collective training for these western New York Soldiers is a welcome change from the virtual drills or individual training of the past year of COVID-19, Baun said.
The work at Youngstown not only benefits the readiness of the engineers, it improves opportunities for other Western New York units, Baun said.
The expanded training areas at Youngstown will decrease necessary travel time for Soldiers of other unit who might otherwise have traveled to Camp Smith in the Hudson Valley or Fort Drum in the North Country.
The new expanded area will also benefit training opportunities for local police, federal agents and local Reserve Officer Training Programs, Baun said.
The training has been “nothing short of awesome,” said Spc. Zachary Stabler.
Stabler enlisted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but only completed his Advanced Individual Training as an engineer in the midst of the COVID restrictions.
A civilian carpenter and roofing apprentice in his civilian life, Stabler said he appreciated the opportunity to sharpen his engineering skills at Youngstown, he said.
Spc. Ashley Hicks, another construction worker in civilian life, said that the skills used at Youngstown help the individual Soldiers because, they are “construction based, rather than tactical based.”
The engineers have plenty of experience across the spectrum of both construction work or tactical tasks, Baun said.
In the past four years, the 152nd Engineers have deployed for training to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, deployed for hurricane relief to Puerto Rico and provided support Central New York by building a field house for the Army Combat Fitness Test in Syracuse.
We’re just thrilled to be back and training together, Lilley said.
“In the Army, we adapt and build, and that’s what these Soldiers are demonstrating today,” Barcomb said.
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.20.2021 09:23 |
| Story ID: | 396907 |
| Location: | YOUNGSTOWN, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 143 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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