TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. -- Nearly 100 Soldiers from the 232nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Illinois Army National Guard (ILARNG), spent two weeks in 10 depot shops last month honing their skills through a wide and diverse range of training.
Capt. Jon Anderson, commander of the 3625th Support Maintenance Company (SMC), spoke highly of the opportunity for the Soldiers to experience unique, hands-on training they wouldn't normally receive anywhere else.
"The training was relevant, practical and applicable to our unit's domestic and wartime mission," he said, adding that there will be a direct improvement to the combined unit's posture and readiness across the board.
Anderson first became familiar with Tobyhanna while stationed at Fort Benning where he noticed the depot's name on countless hand receipts for various pieces of equipment. He recognized the depot's commitment to quality and warfighter support.
"You could see the difference when a piece of equipment would come in from Tobyhanna because it was in markedly better shape than the others. It's neat to have the chance to come here, see that level of quality first-hand and then experience it through detailed training."
The Soldiers engaged with depot personnel to train on a variety of systems and processes, including the Long-Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System, Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System, Harris radios, Test, Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment, systems troubleshooting and more. Sgt. 1st Class Eail Morgan, 3637th SMC, lauded Tobyhanna's effort to provide specialized training for him which he can pass on to Soldiers throughout the ILARNG.
"I felt like a kid at Christmas when I was told I would be able to train on CAISI (Combat Service Support Automated Information Systems Interface) here," said Morgan, adding that the ILARNG fielded the CAISI system but no training was given to the users. "The benefit of receiving this critical training is that now I can go back to Illinois and basically train the whole state on this."
Command Sgt. Maj. Lester Edwards, 108th Sustainment Brigade, stressed the importance of coming to Tobyhanna and what it means not just for the units that came here, but for the entire Illinois Guard.
"The types of training the Soldiers are getting here provides more in-depth details they need to remain effective warfighters," he said. "As opposed to simply replacing circuit cards, Soldiers have learned to adjust or repair them which leads to significant cost savings over the course of a year.
"They're seeing many things here for the first time and can take away unique experiences to use in the future."
The Soldiers also worked toward various training certificates including advanced soldering, A+ certification, and Network and Security + certification that correspond to civilian certifications available at Tobyhanna. Depot personnel are required to maintain their certifications and use the same training programs offered to Soldiers, ensuring the quality and consistency of the training.
Anderson said the overall experience at Tobyhanna was second to none.
"No other word can be used to describe the training other than exceptional," he said. "The most relevant and impactful lessons learned from the depot came not from the specialized equipment or facilities, but by the combined knowledge, experience, and work ethic of the depot employees -- years of knowledge and experience passed from highly-skilled workers that will have an immediate impact on unit readiness, posture, and mission capability across the state."
Tobyhanna Army Depot is a recognized leader in providing world-class logistics support for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems across the Department of Defense. Tobyhanna's Corporate Philosophy, dedicated work force and electronics expertise ensure the depot is the Joint C4ISR provider of choice for all branches of the Armed Forces and industry partners.
Tobyhanna's unparalleled capabilities include full-spectrum logistics support for sustainment, overhaul and repair, fabrication and manufacturing, engineering design and development, systems integration, post production software support, technology insertion, modification, foreign military sales and global field support to our Joint Warfighters.
About 3,100 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command. Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, the command's mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.
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