From January to December, which covers the end of fiscal year 2023 and the beginning of fiscal year 2024, Fort McCoy supported training for tens of thousands of troops from multiple services as well as civilian-affiliated agencies throughout the year, according to Fort McCoy Garrison’s Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS).
DPTMS planners said 86,000 or more personnel have trained on post during 2023. It’s approximate because training numbers are normally tracked by fiscal year and for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 — October to December — exact training numbers are not available yet. The total training numbers for fiscal year 2023 at Fort McCoy was 86,090.
The types of training at the installation included institutional training from organizations like Regional Training Site (RTS)-Maintenance, RTS-Medical, Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer Academy, Wisconsin Military Academy, Wisconsin Challenge Academy, and the Wisconsin State Patrol Academy.
Training support also included that for annual, weekend, and extended combat training for military units from a wide array of areas that are both active- and reserve-component forces, DPTMS officials said.
Starting off the year in January, firefighters with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department donned their dry suits and diving equipment and slipped below the ice of Big Sandy Lake on Jan. 11 to practice rescuing a victim during ice rescue training for the department’s dive team.
Members of fire department’s dive team spent most of the day at the lake practicing various scenarios and honing their ice diving skills as part of an annual requirement to not only refresh skills but also maintain certifications, said Assistant Fire Chief Hunter Young. He said it’s especially important for each member of the dive team to maintain their readiness, especially if the team is called for a real-world response.
Young explained the main scenario they practiced for each diver.
“We were doing (a scenario) that has a fisherman who has fallen through the ice,” Young said. “The first team we have that goes out is going to rescue the fisherman through a surface rescue, and then the fisherman is relays back that his partner has went under water. From there we activate a dive team. The dive team then gets ready, goes in, and finds the second victim.”
Young also explained why it’s important to practice and maintain these skills every year.
“It’s a very technical skill,” Young said. “It can be claustrophobic under the ice, so they’re learning to be comfortable down there. They can have very low visibility under the ice once the mud gets stirred up, so it’s a great thing to get out here and practice and make sure you’re comfortable when the time comes to have to do your job.”
Also in January, Fifty Airmen with multiple Air National Guard security forces units completed a 16-day Cold-Weather Operations Course (CWOC) at Fort McCoy in a training effort led by Air Force security forces instructors.
Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Harvey, security forces manager with the 164th Mission Support Group, 164th Airlift Wing, at Memphis Air National Guard Base, Tenn., helped get the training organized. Harvey had previously trained in Fort McCoy’s version of the CWOC.
He said holding an all-Air Force version of CWOC at Fort McCoy in 2023 made sense. The 16-day course his team of instructors was reflective of the former Fort McCoy CWOC course that ended in spring 2022.
“We actually had to turn away people for this session because there was so much interest,” Harvey said. “We’re glad to come here and hold this course.”
Tech. Sgt. Michael Samsa, one of the instructors supporting the training who’s with the 164th Security Forces Squadron at Memphis, said they goal was to teach a wide range of cold-weather skills and tactics during the course.
“We’re teaching how to use an ahkio sled, how to use thermal shelters, how to traverse rugged terrain with snowshoes and ski poles and be able to sustain operations in these types of cold-weather environments,” Samsa said in January 2023.
In February, more than 40 teams of Army ROTC cadets under U.S. Army Cadet Command descended on Fort McCoy for competition in the 2023 Northern Warfare Challenge, which is hosted by University of Wisconsin–La Crosse’s Eagle Battalion and 3rd Brigade Army ROTC.
The ROTC teams came to the installation from across the Midwest, Arizona, and Vermont, said Lt. Col. Brian R. Knutson with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
At Fort McCoy on Feb. 24, teams competed in rifle marksmanship, cold weather first aid, knot tying, and fire-starting, Knutson said. On Feb. 25, teams then participated in a 16-mile ruck march through the bluffs of La Crosse, Wis., on the Hixon trails with 35-pound rucksacks, beginning at the Forest Hills golf course.
A Feb. 24 Facebook post by U.S. Army Cadet Command stated what competitors were facing.
“Teams arrived at Fort McCoy to make their final preparations and were tested on winter survival skills — a winter range event, treating a hypothermia casualty, building a fire, and tying knots,” the post states.
In April, Challenge Academy cadets were spotted out participating in training April 3 on the cantonment area at Fort McCoy. Cadets with that class, class 50, moved about the installation in their companies for exercise and team-building training and activities, and more, according to the academy.
The Challenge Academy observed its 25th year of operations in 2023. In an article by the academy’s Outreach Coordinator Julee Katona in January about the anniversary at https://ng.wi.gov/news/23007, it states that since the program started, “4,454 at-risk youth have graduated from the Challenge Academy, and 3,538 cadets earned a high school equivalency degree.”
Also in the article, Katona wrote that more than 4,776 mentors for Challenge Academy cadets have been trained statewide since the program began, including “more than 1,000 over the past five years alone.”
From late-April into May, training operations for military police with the units associated with the 300th Military Police Brigade were ongoing for the Spartan Warrior IV Exercise. The exercise assesses the individual and unit readiness of the 300th Military Police Brigade.
Also in early May, Aircrews with the Wisconsin National Guard at Madison operated several UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters May 4-5 at the installation as part of annual training at the post. Members of the unit regularly complete training operations at Fort McCoy and the unit also supports numerous training events at the installation each year.
According to the Fort McCoy DPTMS, Black Hawk crews were supporting aerial gunnery training on May 4 and on May 5 they were supporting a medical training exercise on post.
Additionally in May, approximately “90 U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) Soldiers from a myriad of USAR medical units from both Army Reserve Medical Command and 807th Medical Command Deployment Support echelons provided grading, training, administrative, and logistical support for the 2023 U.S. Army Reserve Expert Field Medical Badge competition” April 30 to May 14 at Fort McCoy, states a story about the competition by Staff Sgt. Christopher Hernandez of Army Reserve Medical Command at https://www.dvidshub.net/news/444588/cadre-establish-maintain-concept-operations-2023-usar-efmb.
Capt. Peter Padilla, an emergency room nurse with the 352nd Field Hospital out of Camp Parks, Calif., and recipient of the EFMB in 1987 in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, said in the article that strict adherence to standards is paramount in preserving the legacy of the EFMB competition.
“The goal of course is to perform flawlessly in maintaining that standard and the spirit behind the badge that was first implemented in 1965, and upholding those standards as they evolved throughout the years,” Padilla said in Hernandez’ story. “And as medicine and evidence-based medical practices are put into place, the EFMB is also designed to grow and improve.”
In June, Soldiers with the Rear Detachment of the Army Reserve’s 411th Engineer Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, were at Fort McCoy in June to support several troop projects but completed one large road-building project.
The project work for the road 411th Soldiers graded and graveled is in an area of land near the old Gate 20 and Logistical Support Area Liberty and the cantonment area fence, said Troop Projects Coordinator Larry Morrow with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works (DPW).
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joshua Eaton with the 411th said his small contingent of Soldiers were supporting the 389th Engineer Company at the installation on projects but completed the road project with their engineer Soldiers of which many were new to the unit.
“We’re here in conjunction with one of our sister units, the 389th, and we’re doing some troop projects,” Eaton said. “We were able to get a lot of our newer Soldiers fresh out of advanced individual training some valuable stick time. We’ve got three pieces of equipment — we’ve been running a road grader, a loader, and a 10-ton dump truck which has been giving them some valuable experience.”
Also in June, the 389th Engineer Company, an Army Reserve unit based in Iowa, returned to Fort McCoy to complete more work on troop projects at the installation, and one project was a big one — installing new energy-efficient light poles at the Fort McCoy Central Receiving Shipping Point (CRSP) parking lot.
Staff Sgt. Tyler Goodman with the 389th discussed the work his company completed at the CRSP parking lot.
“Our company was tasked with assisting in setting in 28 light poles for the CRSP Yard, which has not had very good lighting for years from what I hear, so it's good training for our Soldiers to get their hands on something that they’ve probably never experienced before,” Goodman said.
In July, Fort McCoy Garrison staff and Soldiers with the 181st Multi-Functional Training Brigade (MFTB) combined to support the mobilization training of Soldiers with the 323rd Chemical Company during July and early August.
The 323rd, an Army Reserve unit based in Sioux Falls, S.D., was completing their mobilization at Fort McCoy through Pershing Strike 23 and its associated Mobilization Exercise (MOBEX) Level II. Pershing Strike 23 is led by First Army Headquarters at Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., and includes participation from both active- and reserve-component forces at multiple installations.
Over the course of their training, Soldiers with the 323rd Soldiers completed a lot of range time on Fort McCoy ranges, states an article at https://www.dvidshub.net/news/450466/fort-mccoy-supports-mobilization-323rd-chemical-company-part-pershing-strike-23. Rifle time included qualifying on the M4, M249, and the M2. There also was time spent completing driver training and on the Engagement Skills Trainer.
Also in late July, the 153rd Engineer Battalion with the South Dakota Army National Guard and its corresponding units convoyed with 90 vehicles and equipment in early July to Fort McCoy to hold their annual training.
The unit held their training July 8-19, said 153rd Commander, Lt. Col. Heath Abraham. Throughout their time, the unit stayed busy completing unit tasks, training, and more.
“So, I brought units from Huron and Madison, S.D. — three different companies — here to Fort McCoy this summer to train for annual training,” Abraham said. “Our battalion headquarters was conducting TOC (tactical operations center) operations. Our HHC (headquarters and headquarters company was supporting our exercise. Our forward support company was supporting two other (engineer) companies and the ongoing LOGPAC (logistical packages) operations.”
And then on July 17, all of the unit combined for the culminating training event of their annual training — a breach-of-a-complex-obstacle training event at Warrens Drop Zone on Fort McCoy’s North Post.
In this training event were M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, M60 Armored Vehicle Launch Bridge vehicles, M88 Recovery Vehicles, Mine Clearing Line Charge, Humvees, and more.
In July and August, too, Fort McCoy supported a Combat Support Training Exercise (CSTX) and an eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) exercise. One of the installation’s biggest support there was in food support.
Fort McCoy Food Program Manager Andy Pisney has often said that “food service is a training enabler.” During July and August 2023 at Fort McCoy, it surely enabled thousands of troops as Pisney and his team provided tens of thousands of meals for troops training at the installation.
Though July was very busy, August was likely the busiest training month Fort McCoy has seen in some time with thousands of troops training at the installation for the Wisconsin National Guard’s 2023 XCTC exercise as well as the 86th Training Division’s CSTX 86-23-02.
“For XCTC we supported their Class I requirements only,” Pisney said. “We didn’t feed them in the dining facility.”
Pisney said the XCTC exercise received support from the Logistics Readiness Center (LRC) Food Program Management Office and LRC Supply Subsistence Management Office that included 5,757 cases of Meals, Ready-to-Eat (69,084 meals); 96 cases of Halal Meals, Ready-to-Eat (1,152 meals); 1,391 Unitized Group Rations (69,550 meals); 975 cases of milk (26,325 individual milk containers); $15,000-plus of food enhancements (cereal, fruit, salad mixes, and dressings); and 6,374 20-pound bags of ice.
The support for CSTX was even greater, Pisney said.
“For CSTX, we supported them in Dining Facility 1672 which fed 31,102 meals for those participants on the cantonment area,” Pisney said.
Pisney said the CSTX received support from the LRC Food Program Management Office and LRC Supply Subsistence Management Office that included 8,892 cases of Meals, Ready-to-Eat (106,704 meals); 33 cases of Kosher Meals, Ready-to-Eat (396 meals); 154 cases of Halal Meals, Ready-to-Eat (1,848 meals); 2,250 cases of Sun Meadow Meals (40,500 meals); 2,366 Unitized Group Rations (118,300 meals); 4,380 cases of milk (118,260 individual milk containers); $71,000-plus of food enhancements (cereal, fruit, salad mixes, and dressings); and 8,022 20-pound bags of ice.
“Meal kits are just a complete meal that requires no food-service preparation,” Pisney said. “The Unitized Group Rations require food-service capability — a food-service specialist — to prepare. These rations are configured in 50-person modules and contain meat, starch, vegetables, condiments, and beverages.”
Fort McCoy even supported training for an airshow in late July. Multiple units with Wisconsin’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard combined July 27 to hold a practice session of their airshow event at the Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport at Fort McCoy.
The event, which was a practice for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture airshow in Oshkosh, Wis., included Soldiers and Airmen and included field artillery, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, an F-35A Lightning II, and a KC-135R Stratotanker.
The artillery belonged to the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 120th Field Artillery. The Black Hawks belonged to the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment of Madison and West Bend. The F-35 belonged to the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing, also in Madison. And the KC-135R belonged to the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee.
Lt. Col. Dan Allen, commander of the 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment, said the “dress rehearsal” at the Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport was a complex and coordinated event.
“It began with the F-35 … coming across the airfield conducting what we call suppression of enemy air defenses,” Allen said. “That was followed by insertion, or air assault, of two Black Hawks from the 147th with 120th Field Artillery to fire off their 105 Howitzers followed by four aircraft (with Soldiers) who conducted actions on an objective.
“After that, the 147th had two medevac assets come in, and (they) conducted a live hoist simulating an injured casualty. After that, there was an air refueling pass with the … KC-135 and the F-35.”
Additionally in August, the Fort McCoy Regional Training Site (RTS)-Maintenance’s Wheeled Vehicle Recovery Operations Course trained Soldiers with 91-series military occupational specialties (MOS) in the Army’s H8 additional MOS skill identifier.
According to the course description, the 17-day course covers operation and maintenance of recovery vehicles and use of standard procedures to rig and recover wheeled vehicles. Related training tasks include oxygen and acetylene gas welding; boom and hoist operations; winch operations; and recovery of mired, overturned, and disabled vehicles.
Students also have classroom training and testing, and they spend nearly 80 percent of their training time at Fort McCoy’s Vehicle Recovery Site learning more about wreckers and vehicle recovery, said senior instructor Staff Sgt. Alicia Curtis with RTS-Maintenance.
One military vehicle used in the training is the M984A4 Recovery Truck (Wrecker). The truck is equipped with a crane and winch-retrieval system and can recover vehicles weighing in excess of 10 tons. Students also use the M1089 (MTV Wrecker. This wrecker, based on the M1083 cargo truck, is fitted with a recovery hamper and a recovery winch. It also has a crane with a 5-ton capacity that can be used for various lifting and hauling tasks.
During training, Curtis discussed what students were learning, and more.
“They apply the techniques they learned in class on how to recover a mired vehicle,” Curtis said. And during a deployment or in-garrison, knowing these skills are important for these specialists.
“Obviously, this would be very important … because you (just) never know,” Curtis said. “Vehicles, whether in garrison (or deployed) has a tendency of getting stuck.”
In September, A-10C Thunderbolt II and C-130 Hercules aircraft were at Fort McCoy on Sept. 14 and several other days completing training operations at the installation. Several A-10s and C-130s completed taking off and landing at Young Air Assault Strip on South Post and flying routes over the installation. UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft also were busy completing training operations with the Airmen flying the A-10s and C-130s.
September also was busy with lots of end-of-year unit annual and weekend training, DPTMS officials said.
October brought a new fiscal year, but training continued to be steady. More units began doing more weekend training and extended combat training, and many of the institutional training organizations began new fiscal year 2024 training classes. Students and units could be found traversing throughout the post.
One of the biggest training activities in October included numerous Wisconsin National Guard units completing weapons training and more in late October, DPTMS officials said.
Also included in October was 35 Soldiers with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team completing three days of railcar-loading training at Fort McCoy in late October to prep for a future rail movement.
The training was coordinated through the 426th Regional Training Institute/Wisconsin Military Academy of the Wisconsin National Guard, a Fort McCoy tenant organization, where the Unit Movement Officer Deployment Planning Course is taught.
Chief Warrant Officer 1 Eric Frank, a UMO course instructor, described what the training was all about.
“This was three days of pure rail training,” Frank said. “We (brought) in a rail expert from the Yermo Rail Yard located at the National Training Center in California to train our 32nd Soldiers on how to properly move vehicles on railcars, how to properly tie them down, how to inspect tie downs, and then how to remove vehicles and equipment from rail cars.
In November and December, units continued to complete weekend and extended combat training. Additionally, institutional training organizations kept on with their training. Included was training with the Wisconsin Challenge Academy’s 51st class.
Additionally, in November and December, many institutional training unit staff took time to complete staff training. At the Fort McCoy NCO Academy, staff were working together to complete different types of cold-weather training in early December.
Fort McCoy DPTMS Chief of Training Coordination Larry Sharp said training in 2024 should be reflective of the training at took place in 2023 and the overall training numbers will likely be similar.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
(Staff Sgt. Christopher Hernandez with the Army Reserve Medical Command and the Fort McCoy Multimedia-Visual Information Office contributed to this article.)
Social Sharing