Photo By Staff Sgt. Gauret Stearns | Company command teams across the Nebraska Army National Guard attend Operation...... read more read more
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Unit command teams and full-time staff spend a large portion of their time on training plans. These plans include mandatory yearly training, exercises, deployments and more. The Nebraska Army National Guard has three main training installations that units can use to meet those training needs: Camp Ashland, Mead and Greenlief Training Sites.
On Aug. 27, 2022, company command teams from across the state attended Operation Heartland Fury at the Camp Ashland and Mead Training Sites, Nebraska, to gain full visibility and understanding of what physical capabilities are available to help meet their training needs while developing further plans. Another installation, Greenlief Training Site, in Hastings, Nebraska, was planned to host the second half of the day, but was canceled due to weather.
Operation Heartland Fury, hosted by Training Center Command (TCC), 209th Regional Training Institute, consisted of various events and tours of training installations and equipment to show what capabilities are available to support all of Nebraska’s units. Some of the events included trench clearing with medical evacuation, leaders reaction course, the rappel tower and vehicle recovery.
“Running through these lanes and seeing the capabilities that we have in the state opens doors to units that don’t know that we have these resources out here and available,” said 1st Sgt. Luke Katz, first sergeant, A Company, 2-134th Infantry Regiment (Airborne). “It was really good to run through this and get briefed on the training sites and training resources.”
While some of the training resources are used most often by combat arms units in the state, even leaders from those units found new training resources available.
“It was a great reminder that TCC has contractors that can work with us and assist in training operators to run some of the equipment,” Katz said.
TCC has been improving the facilities of the training sites the past couple of years so many of the leaders saw at least one new thing during the event.
“I didn’t know the trench lines or vehicle recovery lanes were out here,” said Staff Sgt. Jose Torres, supply sergeant, 267th Support Maintenance Company. “Hopefully more units will make time to use these areas to train.”
After the event concluded there was an After Action Review (AAR) where all the participants voiced their opinions and concerns.
“The AAR presented TCC with a lot of good feedback that is already being considered in the initial planning phases of next year’s OHF,” said Lt. Col. Raymond Phillips, TCC commander. “Recommendations such as including more lanes with less time on a lane to give even more exposure of training site opportunities, targeting a different audience and how to improve specific lanes that were conducted are all being considered to enhance future experiences.”
Phillips was one of the main planners for the event and thanked the Soldiers who participated and helped facilitate OHF.
“I understand the time commitment it takes to plan and execute an event such as OHF and time it takes away from other things our Soldiers could be doing, but in the NEARNG tradition, our Soldiers answered the call and met the challenge with full fervor,” Philips said.
The event also served as a precursor to the annual Commander’s Training Synchronization Workshop the following week, as it allowed leadership exposure, education and experience with the training facilities and options available prior to finalizing their next training planning cycle. Given the feedback from the event, Phillips said they will likely hold OHF in conjunction with the annual synchronization workshop in the future.
| Date Taken: | 09.07.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.07.2022 12:22 |
| Story ID: | 428739 |
| Location: | NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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