FORT DRUM, N.Y. — Clear and consistent communication is how the 10th Mountain Division (LI) maintains an advantage in combat, but it’s not a skill that comes without constant refinement and rehearsal of coordination strategies.
Command Post Exercise 1D, held Aug. 12-16, 2024, on Fort Drum, is designed to address this domain and get Soldiers assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, the hands-on experience needed to succeed in operational settings.
Soldiers participating in CPX-1D are tasked with establishing, maintaining, operating and relocating command posts. Command posts are collections of critical communication infrastructure established in operational environments that quickly and effectively disperse information to Soldiers on the ground, crucial to the success of their mission.
“They’re really the heart of the division,” said Maj. Richard Steinouer, the executive officer of Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 10th Mountain Division. “The order that comes from the highest general, down to the lowest Soldier, comes from these command nodes that we’re establishing.”
CPX-1D allows Soldiers to refamiliarize themselves with practices they’ll need to be ready to execute but also allows them to learn and use new technologies and outlets to accomplish their duties. The Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System Artillery Execution Suite is one of the new technologies that 10th Mountain Division Soldiers participating in CPX-1D had the opportunity to use for the first time.
The AFATDS AXS augments the ability to conduct fire missions by streamlining the information presented to the Soldier, accelerating the process by which information is transmitted to the operator, and introducing new channels to work from, such as detaching and operating as a tablet.
“The Army’s all about speed, and we have to make sure that the software that we develop also matches the speed of need,” said Maj. Henry Castillo, an assistant program manager assigned to the U.S. Army Project Executive Office. “We have to make sure that it can react properly to every single new threat from a near-peer adversary.”
Gaining experience with systems like the AFATDS AXS builds familiarity with the necessary tactics, techniques, and practices that will become critical to the 10th Mountain Division when operating in practical environments. Without the ability to rapidly construct and function in command posts in high-stress situations, the 10th Mountain Division loses one of its greatest strengths: its clear, consistent, and concise communication.
“Without those command nodes and the network they need with the right people at the right node, you’re not going to be able to do any kind of mission command,” Steinouer said. “The only way to do it well is to do it over and over again.”
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