KAISERLAUTERN, Germany - The 21st Theater Sustainment Command's 1st Human Resources Sustainment Center conducted their culminating training event Iron Will 15 May 18-21 at the Warrior Preparation Center, Vogelweh Military Complex.
The event was an opportunity to evaluate the center's capabilities and training needs in preparation for their future deployment to Kuwait. The training was focused on certifying the center's personnel on their key systems and to test their resourcefulness when simulated problems arise.
"In a crawl, walk and run sequence, I would consider this the walk phase," said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Rafael Vega, a 1st HRSC plans and operations officer and a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico. "We are certifying most of the Soldiers here and using the opportunity to train some of our newer Soldiers who are not as familiar with human resources systems."
The 1st HRSC Soldiers were given the scenario of deploying in support of a theater-level command, such as U.S. Army Central Command. Their mission was to conduct human resources sustainment operations including personnel accountability, casualty reporting and postal planning. Throughout the four-day event, the center's leadership implemented scenarios and problems the Soldiers would encounter in a deployed environment.
"We gave them scenarios covering mass casualties, we simulated our reporting systems going down and gave them any other scenario we could think to test them," said Sgt. 1st Class Carlos Barreto, the 1st HRSC plans and operations noncommissioned officer in charge and a native of Utuado, Puerto Rico. "They did incredibly well. Everything we threw at them, they overcame."
Another key aspect to the event was coordination with the 16th Sustainment Brigade's Human Resources Operations Branch, who provided insight on the execution of human resources operations.
"At our level as an HRSC, we plan for theater level human resources support," said Barreto. "The 16th (Sus. Bde.) HROB are the experts on executing the mission on the ground. Having their assistance provides us with a better understanding of how they would conduct human resources operations at their level."
The Soldiers of 1st HRSC also saw the event as valuable training.
"Normally, I work in the plans and operations section of the (1st) HRSC, but during the training event I got a chance to work in personnel accountability and postal," said Spc. Michael Smith, a 1st HRSC human resources specialist and a native of New Orleans. "It's important for all of us to learn every aspect of our mission."
As Iron Will 15 ends, 1st HRSC has two more training exercises coming up this summer. Their training will culminate with a mission readiness exercise scheduled for this fall.
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