Photo By Scott Sturkol | Training operations are shown at Fort McCoy, Wis., on Oct. 18, 2024. During October...... read more read more
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It didn’t take long for training to get rolling at Fort McCoy for fiscal year 2025 as units immediately started weekend training, and institutional training also got busy with new classes and training efforts.
Unit training over weekends “was busy throughout the month,” officials with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security said. Units had Soldiers completing weapons qualifications and training, Army Warrior task training, and more.
On Oct. 10, for example, dozens of Soldiers set up for training at the Range 2 live-fire range to complete weapons training.
Fort McCoy has 31 live-fire ranges, 17 of which are automated or instrumented; 21 artillery firing points; 12 mortar firing points; and an 8,000-acre impact area, DPTMS officials said. Ranges supporting collective live-fire training include two multipurpose training ranges, a convoy live-fire range, an infantry platoon and squad battle course, three multipurpose machine-gun ranges, two live-fire shoot houses, and a live-fire breach facility.
More training took place on Oct. 18-19. Not only were units completing training at live-fire ranges, but Army ROTC detachments also gathered at Fort McCoy with hundreds of cadets to complete a Ranger Challenge.
“The competition was the Task Force McCoy Ranger Challenge,” said Maj. Michael Centola, associate professor of military science and executive officer with the University of Wisconsin-Madison ROTC program. “The winner of the competition goes on to compete in our brigade’s competition (3rd ROTC Brigade). Winners from that competition compete at West Point in the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition.
Also, throughout October, the Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Academy continued with a new set of training courses. They held their first Basic Leader Course of fiscal year 2025 as well as the first Battle Staff NCO Course.
Master Sgt. David Shimota, course director for the Battle Staff NCO Course, said the course is beneficial for all the Soldiers involved because it immerses them in an environment of what a battalion-level battle staff NCO will have to know and contribute in the planning process, and more.
The Fort McCoy NCO Academy’s course description further details what students learn.
“The course provides technical training that is relevant to missions, duties, and responsibilities of an assigned battle staff NCO at the battalion and above echelons,” the description states. “NCOs attending the course will be assessed on their ability to write, depict graphics, facilitate a brief, and contribute to the military decision-making process.”
In January 2024, then-Basic Leader Course Instructor Staff Sgt. Sabrina Magness described what students learn in the course.
“The Basic Leader Course is the first level of leadership course for enlisted Soldiers in the Army,” Magness said. “And although it’s required, there’s a lot of information that happens here with every new crop of students that I have. I let them know that I think of this course as a leadership conference. So, they’re not just getting downloaded skills from their instructors and small group leaders like myself, they’re also getting a chance to network with each other and just sort of share the skills around that they each have.”
Lots of other institutional training also was going on, including at the Wisconsin Challenge Academy, Wisconsin Military Academy, Wisconsin State Patrol Academy, Regional Training Site-Medical, and Regional Training Site-Maintenance.
Master Sgt. William Parker, chief instructor for RTS-Maintenance, said their facility is the only reserve-component installation facility that teaches 89B courses outside of the active component school.
“We’re one of two locations that teach the 89B, so that is uh extremely valuable to us,” Parker said. “That’s something we take pride in. And that course continues to get rewritten, material continues to change, and we’ll continue to implement what equipment and what facilities we have to execute that training.”
Parker added that also to build success in training, they must also make sure students have everything available to be successful.
“Each course that is written is required to have certain equipment to run that course,” Parker said. “So, it is very essential that Soldiers who are coming here to train have the most updated equipment to train on because that’s the equipment they’re going to see when they get back to their units.”
Whether the training is on a live-fire range or at an institutional training facility, it all builds to some impressive training numbers at the end of each fiscal year. Fort McCoy completed another busy year supporting troop training with 73,991 troops training at the installation in fiscal year 2024.
The fiscal year 2024 number is less than the 86,090 troops who trained on post during fiscal year 2023 and the 77,411 troops who trained at the installation in fiscal year 2022. The lower total for fiscal year 2024 is largely due in part to units not completing their annual training at Fort McCoy because of other Army commitments, said Larry Sharp, chief of the Fort McCoy DPTMS Training Coordination Branch.
Sharp also said the annual training numbers include Army Reserve Soldiers; National Guard service members; and active-duty troops from not just the Army but also other services, such as the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.
Training statistics also reflect many types of training opportunities that take place at the installation by active- and reserve-component forces and other governmental agencies, according to DPTMS. And looking through October, officials said the installation is off to a good start with training support for fiscal year 2025.
Fort McCoy’s history also shows that from 1990 to the present day, new construction projects have served to modernize the post’s infrastructure, facilities, and training areas. This modernization helps units training in every season on post.
“The hundreds of millions of dollars invested in the post have benefited Fort McCoy as well the local economy, with the majority of the new construction contracts having been awarded to regional firms,” the history states in The 2024-25 Fort McCoy Guide. “Today, Fort McCoy’s primary mission is to support the readiness of the force by serving as a training center, mobilization force generation installation, and strategic support area. The installation has served in a continuing capacity as an Army power-projection site by processing and preparing military personnel for duty in overseas contingency operations.”
Additionally, in the Fort McCoy Executive Summary published annually by the installation it also directly addresses the fort’s growth and support via economic impact.
“Throughout the last decade, Fort McCoy experienced unprecedented facility modernization, training area development and expansion, increased training and customer support capability, and improved quality-of-life opportunities,” the summary states. “From unmanned aerial vehicles to urban training facilities, to live-fire ranges and virtual-training environments, Fort McCoy is prepared to meet the training needs of the Army in the 21st century.”
Since fiscal year 2019, more than $1.3 billion has also been applied to operating costs that included utilities, physical plant maintenance, repair and improvements, other new construction projects, purchases of supplies and services, and salaries for civilian contract personnel working at Fort McCoy. That includes contractors like the grounds contractor and it in turn affects the local economic impact, officials said.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
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 nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 10.30.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.30.2024 16:11 |
| Story ID: | 484262 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 678 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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