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FORT DRUM, N.Y. - Col. Stephen Michael, commander of 1st Brigade Combat Team, and Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Defreese, 1st BCT senior noncommissioned officer, traveled south Aug. 11-14 to spend time in Fort Polk, La., visiting with more than 400 Warrior Brigade Soldiers who are serving as trainer / mentors and host nation security forces at the Joint Readiness Training Center there.
The 1st BCT soldiers arrived in deep woods of Fort Polk earlier this month to provide augmentation trainer / mentors for the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Richardson, Alaska, during their JRTC rotation in preparation for their upcoming deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
“We are here to increase the number of trainer / mentors to provide positive feedback to the soldiers of 4-25,” said Maj. Joseph Geraci, operations officer for 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment “Triple Deuce.” “We are here to help them prepare for their upcoming deployment to Afghanistan by improving their individual and collective tasks.”
Before officially becoming T/Ms, soldiers went through five days of training consisting of classes ranging from key leader engagements to calling for fire.
Soldiers representing all six battalions who are serving as T/Ms have grown as leaders and have learned from their experiences observing the rotational unit while providing the needed training and mentorship.
“All of this is different when you see it from the outside,” said Sgt. Nick Mako, a Cavalry Scout squad leader with A Troop, 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment. “It has given me insight [on] how I can do things differently and think outside the box more.”
Mako, who has served as a member of a personal security detachment, is assigned as a T/M to a PSD. He calls upon his own experiences, which allows him to provide better feedback to the ro- tational unit.
“They have been extremely receptive to me and the insight I have to give them,” Mako said. “Seeing their progress is like seeing the progress of my own soldiers. I want them to learn and do well, and it makes me feel good when they do.”
Roughly 350 soldiers from Triple Deuce are taking part in the training in an entirely different way by taking on the role of host nation security.
Wearing desert combat uniforms in order to look different from the rotational training unit, these soldiers are not allowed to speak English while on the training lanes to simulate the real interaction between U.S. soldiers and their Afghan counterparts.
“Our soldiers are also learning what it’s like to be the host nation security force,” Geraci said.
“There’s no better way to learn about them than to be in their shoes.”
From this vantage point, Triple Deuce soldiers are able to take away lessons from the interactions with the rotational unit, while also enjoying this time to run around in the dirt with weapons.
“My soldiers are learning a lot from this experience, especially the new guys,” said Staff Sgt. Edwin Aviles, a squad leader with C Company, 2-22 Infantry. “Some of my guys are straight out of basic training, so it’s good for them to see collective training like this. It teaches them right away the pro-per way of doing things. They are all excited to see this training and to be a part of it.”
The time spent together as a unit has proved to be beneficial to Triple Deuce soldiers.
“A lot of soldiers here are new to the unit, so this gives us a chance to build unit cohesion,” Aviles said. “It has given me and my soldiers a chance to bond and get to know each other better. We are now closer than we were before we came down here.”
As the brigade continues with the reset process, Michael said he believes this couldn’t have come at a better time.
“This is great for Triple Deuce,” he said. “They can start building the team and strengthening the relationships. During the reset phase, some soldiers can become very bored not doing the things they expected to be doing when they joined the Army, so I think for a lot of them they really excited about this training.”
During the visit, Michael met with multiple soldiers to discuss topics ranging from their families, their future goals and their current assignment.
“My plan was to go down and visit with the soldiers, see what they are doing and meet some of the leadership,” he said.
“My other goal for this trip was to visit JRTC and see how we can benefit and learn from being there,” Michael added, “and [to] help prepare us as a brigade for our rotation coming up in a little over a year.”
Michael left Fort Polk very happy with what he saw from the soldiers and confident about the brigade’s future.
“I saw soldiers who had good discipline and soldiers who had pretty high morale, so that tells me that we have a lot of strong leaders who are making that happen, because that kind of thing doesn’t happen by accident,” Michael said. “I left there pretty impressed. I already knew I had strong leadership at the battalion levels, but I also have strong leadership at the junior levels.”
Now Michael and the rest of the 1st BCT leadership focus on taking the lessons learned at JRTC back to Fort Drum and building upon them to continue to improve the brigade to be the best.
| Date Taken: | 08.26.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2011 10:26 |
| Story ID: | 75983 |
| Location: | FORT DRUM, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 151 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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