ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. – One attendee at the First Army new command team orientation is serving in his third role with the organization, but he still found the event valuable and insightful.
Col. Reginald Williams serves as the 177th Armored Brigade commander, having previously been a battalion commander with the 5th Armored Brigade, and the training officer for First Army Division East. He said his earlier experience with First Army has been a plus as he settles into his new role, but that there was still plenty to learn at the orientation.
“Being in my third assignment with First Army gives me some situational awareness,” he said. “But here I was able to pick up an incredible amount of information, especially at the strategic level, in terms of…what the division fight looks like, the focus of First Army, and how the CG sees his fight.”
Williams was one of about four dozen attendees on hand as First Army welcomed its new commanders, command sergeants major, and Senior Advisors to the Army National Guard (SRAAGs) during the event, held Sept. 11-12 in First Army headquarters. Attendees were given an overview of First Army and equipped with the tools to carry out their duties. First Army Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Mark Landes, welcomed attendees and outlined the relevance of their jobs to the unit’s mission.
“This is critically important that we have the time to get together and to make sure that we’re all on the same sheet,” Landes said. “Before I got to First Army, I didn’t know anything about compo two and three. And I’ve come to really love compo two and three and I believe in the system.”
Integral to the success of those components are the SRAAGs, which each state and territory has, and whose mission is to provide military advice and assistance to the state's Army National Guard commanders regarding organization, operations, training, and readiness. They serve as a liaison between the states and First Army. Landes touched on how the new SRAAGs and command team members will help further the First Army mission.
“Our job, without a doubt, is to enable readiness in components two and three. We do it for Large Scale Mobilization Operations and we do it for current operations,” he said. “That is what we do, that is our purpose. The only means I have to do that is the Observer Coach/Trainer. OC/T readiness is my number one priority.”
Highlighting that importance of OC/Ts to First Army’s mission, the senior leaders went through three days of OC/T training at the First Army Academy, located adjacent to First Army headquarters, at the conclusion of the orientation.
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