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Boot steps fall on dense foliage, weapons held stable and ready, alert eyes scan the woods for enemy movement. Soldiers near the enemy location. The first shots of battle ring out into the air, infantry Soldiers spring into action, leaders immediately command their troops. Shouts of distance, direction, and description echo down the line, radio transmissions buzz into the air as Soldiers continue to advance on the enemy position. Fire support rains down on the enemy forces. As the mission continues, an evaluator carves a path through the Soldier’s engagement line, making assessments and notes of the Soldier performances. The fight begins to die down, the area has been taken by Minnesota Army National Guard Soldiers. The evaluator shouts, “END-EX,” signaling the conclusion of their training task. Soldiers echo the simple command across the training area, an air of relief passing through the participants.
From July 12th to August 2nd, 2024, Soldiers and battalions falling under the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) assembled at Camp Ripley Training Center (CRTC) to conduct an Exportable Combat Training Capability (xCTC) exercise. Among those units was Minnesota’s own 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry Regiment, the Bayonets. xCTC is a large-scale training program run by the United States Army National Guard that is meant to prepare BCTs for deployment, war fighting efforts, and winning battles.
“The ultimate end-state of xCTC is to develop leaders to remain flexible, adaptive, resilient, and robust in combat said First Lt. Sean Blaeser, a Fire Support Team (FiST) officer attached to Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry Regiment during xCTC. “You need to be able to adapt when things don’t go according to plan. The ability to overcome your ever-changing environment is crucial to success both in xCTC and beyond,” said Blaeser.
While participating in the exercise, Soldiers were evaluated on their ability to perform multiple tasks essential to war fighting. The training was broken up into stages, beginning with a group of roughly eleven Soldiers reacting to an enemy attack while on mission. From there, each task continues to build on the last, incorporating additional resources available to the Soldiers. The final attack mission involves the company, roughly 145 Soldiers. Infantry, infantry heavy weapons, mortar, forward observer, and combat engineer specialties are expected to work as one cohesive unit to engage with, and destroy, the enemy.
“In preparation for xCTC, I emphasized the necessary tasks identified to achieve the comprehensive goals for the company. For example, radio communication, flexibility throughout the training, and working together to meet whatever the mission at the time dictates,” said First Lt. Conner Gross, the Executive Officer (XO) for Aco 2-135th IN.
Soldiers dig in and prepare to be on defense against a volley of enemy attacks. Combat engineers assigned to the unit for xCTC briefed their plan of action for the lane to the company leadership, detailing where traps, concertina wire (C-wire), dig-ins, and other defensive measures would be placed.
“The actual implementation of our enablers in conducting platoon and company missions was a big take away from xCTC. They integrated extremely well, and their expertise proved invaluable to the overall unit’s success,” said Gross. “Each position played a role during the exercise, ensuring that Soldiers had every opportunity to win the day.”
With half of the exercise behind them, Soldiers from 2-135th IN buzzed with anticipation for the next phase of xCTC. For three days, 2-135th IN Soldiers lived and worked on the live fire range. Rounds click into magazines, belts of machine gun ammunition rattle in drums, and body armor is loaded with protective ballistic plates. Range safety personnel don a strip of white engineer tape around their helmets, and blaze orange vests fit snug against their body armor.
Soldiers work through the Infantry Platoon Battle Course (IPBC) firing range based off “crawl, walk, run” phases. These phases are broken up to ensure the safety of all Soldiers completing the range. Phase I, the crawl phase, is where platoons walk the firing line with their weapons, but do not fire ammunition of any kind. Soldiers and their leadership get eyes-on the range and how it will run, dialing in spacing between Soldiers, figuring out areas with a limited field of view, and where Soldiers will conduct their roles for the range. Phase II, the walk phase, is where Soldiers see the targets pop up, shoot ammunition that does not fire a projectile, and complete the lane exactly as they will for the final phase. Phase III, the run phase, is done with live ammunition. All safety precautions and mitigations implemented, Soldiers complete the range and move as an effective element, engaging and destroying the enemy targets with each shot fired.
“[Training] helps instill confidence and the ‘BE-KNOW-DO’ mentality in Soldiers. Learning a rank above and asking peers to teach and mentor things I was deficient at,” said Staff Sgt. Royce Hsiung, a squad leader and the acting platoon sergeant for first platoon, in A Co 2-135th IN. “Go with the flow, be flexible and adaptive,” said Hsiung. “Rely on those who know when you don’t, be open minded to solve problems.”
The final battle to “win the day” as Gross said, is the cumulating 2nd BCT Field Training Exercise (FTX). Set to last the remaining four days of training and spread across a wide berth of training ground on CRTC, the final battle involved every battalion on ground for xCTC. Every Soldier had a role to play to ensure the success of the mission. This exercise is a large undertaking requiring Soldiers to work together to accomplish a common goal.
“xCTC is a large operation that has a million moving parts coming together to make each platoon more lethal, cohesive, and resilient. I believe Aco set the standard on digesting company and battalion level missions and grew in their performance considerably in the three short weeks at CRTC. 2-135th IN is better as a whole because of this opportunity,” said Gross.
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.31.2024 10:26 |
| Story ID: | 484299 |
| Location: | LITTLE FALLS, MINNESOTA, US |
| Hometown: | LITTLE FALLS, MINNESOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Win the Day: A Minnesota Army National Guard Training Exercise, by SSG Kjarra Wymore-Lowe, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
