FORT PICKETT, Va. - Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team completed three weeks of pre-deployment training at Fort Pickett, Virginia, on April 23, where they completed a variety of physical and mental training requirements in preparation for their mobilization later this month.
Having worked long hours on Army training milestones to include tactical patrol scenarios, land navigation, combatives and a staff planning exercise, the 30th ABCT Soldiers are one step closer to their upcoming deployment to Kosovo in support of the NATO peacekeeping mission in the region, known as Kosovo Force or KFOR.
"The goal for this Annual Training was to complete all the pre-deployment tasks, both Army Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills and theater-specific training tasks, required to validate to go into the area of operations," said Col. Vernon Simpson, the 30th ABCT commander.
Simpson, a 27-year U.S. Army veteran, has spent his military career as an Army National Guard Soldier assigned to the 30th ABCT, to include nine years as an enlisted cannon crew member and forward observer. After joining the officer ranks, he completed a combat deployment to Iraq in 2004, and later spent time as a battalion commander and brigade deputy commander before assuming command of the 30th in 2013.
"Everything about this training exceeded my expectations. This team was brought together late in the game as we formed the staff from across the North Carolina National Guard, and then conducted a Command Post Exercise based on the mission in Kosovo," Simpson said. "None of us really knew what to expect, and the staff performed just especially well. I think we're ready for the mission."
Operations, intelligence, sustainment and other special staff leaders showed their mental agility during the four-day Command Post Exercise, or CPX, which replicated scenarios based on the operating environment in Kosovo. Using the 30th ABCT's tactical field tents as a command center, staff officers and NCOs combined their subject-matter expertise to react to crisis scenarios and recommend courses of action to the commander.
While Simpson's goal for the CPX was to familiarize the staff with KFOR terminology, task organization and reporting chains, he said the staff quickly caught on to the structure, which allowed them to hone in on the exercise's scenarios.
"I didn't intend to get into more complex issues like the Administrative Boundary Line, or complex riot control situations, but we were able to get through the basics so quickly that we were able to take it to the next level, and really understand our role in the environment," Simpson said. "The CPX exceeded my expectations."
While the CPX kept most headquarters staff members surrounded by the command post's lights, generators and radios, the event was followed by a week of sun, mud and pollen on Fort Pickett's training ranges. There, each Soldier regardless of rank or specialty revisited the basic warrior skills necessary to anyone wearing a U.S. Army uniform. These lessons included rendering combat medical aid, assaulting as a unit through an objective, planning and executing convoy operations, and identifying and marking dangerous ordnance.
On the final day of training, the brigade's NCOs and junior officers led their teams through a tactical culmination exercise, where the Soldiers were collectively tested in shooting, moving and communicating as a team under pressure. On foot and as a vehicle convoy, the groups were required to identify unexploded ordnance, establish traffic control points and interact with role-players.
"The thing that got us through the collective training lanes was really the overall cooperation and motivation from our junior enlisted leaders and noncommissioned officers," Simpson said. "Through more than 10 years of war, these Soldiers really understand what it means to take charge of a combat patrol and move a force onto an objective."
"Kudos to our young noncommissioned officers in this brigade, they're really second to none," he said.
The 30th ABCT, based out of Clinton, North Carolina, is part of the North Carolina National Guard. Through this Annual Training - as they will be in Kosovo - the headquarters was joined by elements from two of its subordinate units: 1st Battalion, 252nd Armor Regiment, an NCNG unit based out of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and 1st Battalion, 150th Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, part of the West Virginia Army National Guard.
2015 is going to continue to be a busy year across the 30th ABCT and its subordinate units as they spread out to conduct missions in two major theaters of operations.
"The 30th ABCT is the most relevant brigade combat team in the Army National Guard," Simpson said.
"We've proven ourselves in two combat deployments [in 2004 and 2009], and right now we're globally engaged," he said. "We have a field artillery battalion heading to Bahrain to do stability operations. We have a combined arms battalion in the Middle East conducting theater security cooperation. We have a Military Engagement Team spinning up to deploy into the Middle East later this summer."
Despite the various deployments facing elements of the 30th ABCT, Simpson said the brigade has left sufficient combat power in North Carolina to meet one of the National Guard's most traditional missions: Supporting civil authorities and local citizens in the event of a natural disaster or threat to the homeland
"I think we've done a good job of balancing ourselves across the globe," Simpson said.
Following its mobilization ceremony on April 30, the NCNG Soldiers deploying with the 30th ABCT headquarters and 1-252 Armor Regiment will travel to Fort Bliss, Texas, to continue their mobilization training.
Social Sharing