Soldiers Complete Intense Realistic Training
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Over the past month, more than 5,000 soldiers from the United States and Canada, led by the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Wisconsin National Guard, tested their skills at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Johnson. For many, this will be the only time they experience training on such a large scale.
“In the National Guard, so few organizations get to come to the JRTC and actually go through a rotation,” said First Sgt. Christian Byrd, 3rd Battalion, 126th Infantry Regiment headquarters company. “For a lot of these guys, as they move on in their careers, they may never get to experience another training event like this, so we encourage them to take advantage of the training and also try to have a little fun along the way.”
Capt. David Eischen, commander of Company C, 132nd Brigade Support Battalion, emphasized the realism of the training. “Because we are dealing with both real world and notional injuries and illnesses, there are more patients to work with here, as we try to simulate a large-scale combat operation environment, than I saw on multiple deployments,” he stated.
Command Sgt. Maj. Aaron Johnson, the senior enlisted leader of the 32nd IBCT, believes this was the most realistic training the soldiers have ever received. “The thing I’m most proud of is the attitude they had and how much they learned from being able to do their military job for such a solid stretch of time,” he said. “Now we need to figure out how to best build more of this realistic training into our drill weekends and annual training, considering our limited resources and time.”
Col. Brion Aderman, commander of the rotational support group for this training cycle, conveyed that this exercise will change the way the 32nd IBCT will train for decades. “A good majority of the next 2-3 generations of leadership are right here on the ground and shared this experience,” explained Aderman. “Going forward, those future first sergeants, company commanders, battalion and brigade commanders and command sergeants major, they will have this shared training to look back on, they’ll reflect on the lessons learned, and be able to move forward with a common understanding.”
