OCSJX-15 Participants Undergo Three Phases of OCS Training

By Staff Sgt. Veronica Montes, OCSJX-15 Public AffairsMarch 25, 2015

Roughly 1,000 joint, total force and coalition service members and civilians traveled from around the world to participate in the largest Operational Contract Support exercise to date, OCS Joint Exercise 2015.

The 140-member exercise planning team has worked more than 60,000 hours to ensure the training audience is exposed to the appropriate curriculum consisting of three phases which are happening at both Fort Bliss, Texas, and Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

The three phases of OCSJX-15 are Warrior Task Training, Academics and the Scenario Execution.

The reason we do separate phases is because one of our objectives is a trained and ready work force, said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Louis Orndorff, OCSJX-15 exercise officer in charge and Air Force District of Washington Headquarters deputy director of contracting. Because of that we are conducting three phases of the exercise to prepare the participants physically and mentally. The third phase is the application of that knowledge.

"The two locations help simulate and amplify the reality of tierney of distance," he continued. "The first phase is for the tactical training audience, and the other two pieces include all participants."

The first phase is WTT, which is a seven-day compellation of various combat skills and battle drills for military and civilian trainees.

"The primary purpose of the Warrior Task Training phase is to instruct the training audience on how to shoot, move and communicate with a combat arms unit," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. George Scheers Jr., OCSJX-15 Warrior Task Training cell OIC and 6th Contracting Squadron commander at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. "The goal is to make the participants an asset to the team they will be a part of in a combat environment."

The training included tactical vehicle roll-over egress training, combat lifesaver skills, convoy operations, Engagement Skills Trainer 2000, weapons familiarization, land navigation, small unit tactics and individual troop movement.

"We hope participants gain an appreciation of how contracting members have a direct impact on the war fighter downrange and at home station," said U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Rene Roman, OCSJX-15 Warrior Task Training cell Noncommissioned Officer in Charge and 6th CONS superintendent at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

Roman and Scheers said this WTT is done at the beginning because it puts the participants into the warrior mindset and helps them come together as a team.

Both Roman and Scheers agreed it was great to have the reservists from the 1109th Mobilization Support Battalion bring more than 35 years of deployment experience to the training here, and are looking forward to the knowledge the instructors will bring at Schofield Barracks.

WTT reinforces basic training and allows participants to practice with their Department of Defense battle buddies, said U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. T. Hammond, OCSJX-15 Army senior enlisted advisor and 412th Contracting Support Brigade command sergeant major at Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Then training moves into the second phase, Academics, taking participants to a classroom environment to share their joint knowledge from each respective service.

Hammond said he calls WTT and Academics the "crawl to walk" phases.

"The purpose of Academics is to prepare students mentally for the exercise," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Richard Dawson, OCSJX-15 lead academic planner and 1st Special Operations Contracting Squadron commander at Hurlburt Field AFB, Florida. "It is important to learn knowledge in an academic setting and then apply it."

During the four-day Academics phase several Department of Defense agencies will be attending to brief including the DoD Inspector General, Government Service Administration oversees, Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency.

Dawson said there are various plans for instruction tailored to different audiences in the exercise, and everyone will learn different things depending on their previous experiences.

The third phase of OCSJX-15 is the scenario execution, which is seven days long, including set-up day. Hammond said this is the "run" phase, where they begin to be evaluated on their performance.

"This is where the rubber meets the road," Hammond said.

Between the two locations, 343 scenario events are planned to engage participants, said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Larry Mercier, OCSJX-15 Joint Exercise Control Group lead and 55th Contracting Squadron commander from Offut AFB, Nebraska.

During the execution piece there will be six training audiences: Pacific Command, Joint Requirement Execution Center, Combined Joint Task Force, Joint Theater Support Contracting Command, Senior Contracting Officials and the Regional Contracting Commands and Finance.

"At least a third of the injects will affect more then one training audience," Mercier said. "A lot of work has been done this year to map out injects, which will not only allow us to test communication and coordination across different training audience cells, but also be able to easily roll up the observations across the different cells for the after action report."

One could compare OCSJX-15 to a professional sports team; if you only practice with half of the team, it is difficult to win the game, he continued.

Mercier encourages participants to go back and educate their units about OCS.

"The real objective of OCSJX-15 is for everyone to understand OCS and the operational effects their roles can have, both positively and negatively, on the overall mission," He said. "Another important part of OCS is to get everyone at every level, up to the geographic combatant command, to understand it and make it a priority."