British Army Maj. Dave Wakelin, senior planning officer for 71 Engineer Regiment, Army Reserve Regiment of the Royal Engineers, speaks with Col. Chad Kirchner of the 416th Theater Engineer Command (TEC), after briefing participants at the Resolute Castle 2022 (RC22) final planning conference on the engineer regiment's participation in the exercise and efforts into developing the artillery firing points. The 416th TEC and U.S. Army Europe and Africa Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff - Engineer (ODSENG) hosted the RC22 final planning conference, at the Parkhurst Army Reserve Facility in Darien, Illinois, from Feb. 23-25, 2022. The exercise is scheduled to start in Spring, 2022, and engineer units will perform construction projects throughout the countries of Greece, Poland, and Romania.

416th Theater Engineer Command (TEC) and U.S. Army Europe and Africa Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff - Engineer (ODSENG) members in a joint effort prepared for Resolute Castle 2022 (RC22). RC22 is a multi-national, multi-component exercise that builds relationships and improves infrastructure within European Allied countries. Participating units from the 416th TEC came together to solidify operations before the exercise is scheduled to start in Spring, 2022. ODSENG Lt. Col. Katie R. Fidler (right) planned in coordination with members of 416th TEC.

The U.S. Army Reserve's 416th Theater Engineer Command and U.S. Army Europe and Africa Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff - Engineer hosted the Resolute Castle 2022 final planning conference at the Parkhurst Army Reserve Facility in Darien, Illinois, from Feb. 23-25.

Multi-units, components, and allied partner nations participating in RC22 came together to solidify operations before the exercise is scheduled to start in Spring, 2022.

The exercise will have units performing construction projects throughout the countries of Greece, Poland, and Romania.

U.S Army Europe and Africa ODSENG provides Army engineer expertise to U.S. Army Europe and Africa commanders, staff, units and sister services, and synchronizes engineer efforts across the theater to fulfill requirements of the campaign plan.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Herman N. Hoffman, 416th TEC G3 Chief of Operations and Collective Training, organized and spearheaded the session.

“The final planning conference is where the final validation of mission preparation takes place. It is an essential event in the planning timeline where all administrative, operational, and logistical preparation tasks are verified for completion,” Hoffman said. “These tasks can be quite complex for OCONUS [outside the continental U.S.] missions, especially when being charged with tracking and validation task completion for both Army Reserve and National Guard units.”

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Katie R Fidler, ODSENG Chief of Troop Construction Operations, U.S. Army Europe and Africa, traveled from Europe to participate in the conference.

“We handle all the engineering construction throughout Europe and Africa. Specifically, the stuff that is not on an installation," Fidler said. "If it’s off on a contingency base, ODSENG controls, oversees and manages construction."

Hoffman said the objective for the planning conference was to essentially confirm that all of the sustainment and logistic requirements are locked in, and that all of the movement requirements, and requests for movement support, are set.

During the conference multi-component and British Army Engineer unit planners synchronized rotations for RC22 construction projects that will begin in May, 2022.

“Because it’s an engineer-specific exercise, we’re doing actual construction work, we have a lot of units that are rotating into the construction projects, and out, so one of the big things is making sure that we’re synchronized,” Fidler added.

There are two parts of the construction projects units will perform during RC22. First is the actual construction operation that will take place in Tinku, Romania, at the National Joint Training Center, and in Smardan Training Area.

One of the enduring tasks in preparation for construction missions is the balance and synchronization of project execution. The U.S. Army Reserve's 301st Forward Engineer Support Team – Main, out of Denver, provided construction design expertise for RC22 and templated the synchronization of construction execution by way of a specialized chart, Hoffman explained.

“Gantt charts are used by project managers to assign and manage resources to projects," he said. "Our FEST teams with the 416th TEC excel at project design and are continually sought after by ASCCs [Army Service Component Commands] and COCOMs [Combatant Commands].”

The construction projects for RC22 focus on road and training area improvements at the National Joint Training Center in Cinku, Romania. The projects will be performed by units from National Guard units out of South Dakota and Ohio, the 420th Engineer Brigade, 372nd Engineer Brigade and the 301st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. The British Army’s 71st Engineer Regiment, an Army Reserve regiment of the Royal Engineers, is also a participant of RC22.

Because engineer construction designs take time, plans are being designed for projects in 2023, said Fidler. Forward Engineer Support Team-Advance will provide technical engineer plans and designs for construction and will travel to Poland and Greece to survey projects for the follow-on year.

To learn more about U.S. Army Europe and Africa visit: https://www.europeafrica.army.mil/

To learn more about 416th Theater Engineer Command visit: https://www.usar.army.mil/Commands/Functional/416th-TEC/About-Us/

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