Thunderbolt Brigade reunites in the field for annual training

Soldiers from the six battalions and headquarters company ofthe California National Guard's 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT)coalesced June 15-30 for two weeks of Army National Guard Annual Training (AT)at Camp Roberts on California's Central Coast. It was the first time in morethan three years that the 79th as a whole was in the field training together.

At more than 3,700 soldiers, the 79th IBCT is the CaliforniaNational Guard's largest, and most lethal, combat brigade. The Brigade consistsof 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment; 1st Battalion, 160th InfantryRegiment; 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment; 1st Battalion, 143rd FieldArtillery Regiment; the 578th Brigade Engineer Battalion; the 40th BrigadeSupport Battalion; and Headquarters and Headquarters Company. Many of theBrigade's units have deployed overseas over the past three years. This ATperiod allowed them to come back together as a Brigade and train as one again.

"For Annual Training 2019, my intent was thereintegration and synchronization of the Brigade and all six of ourbattalions," 79th IBCT Commander Col. Richard Mifsud said. "I knewthe battalions and the Brigade headquarters were going to be rusty in workingwith each other. AT allowed us to work the bugs out, reestablish a fieldTactical Operations Center (TOC), and conduct lanes training down to the squadlevel."

Mifsud explained that the 79th is in Year 1 of the Army'sfive-year Sustainable Readiness Model (SRM) cycle in which units reset afterdeployments. The Brigade's units have recently returned from overlappingdeployments to Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and Kosovo, as well as a trainingexercise in Hawaii.

Mifsud served as the Brigade's deputy commander in Kosovowhere the brigade headquarters was deployed in 2018. He took command of the79th in January 2019 shortly after returning home. He has spent most of hiscareer in the Brigade, having served as the S3 Operations Officer for the1-184th Infantry Battalion, and commander of the 1-160th Infantry Battalion,among several other positions.

79th IBCT S3 Operations Officer Maj. Edwin Rodriguez saidthe training accomplished over AT 2019 included the 1-160th and 1-184thInfantry Battalions conducting AT4 and mortar live fires, and squad-levelSituational Training Exercise (STX) lanes at Camp Roberts. The 1-184th ran theranges for Individual Weapons Qualification (IWQ) for the Brigade on the M4rifle, M9 pistol and crew-served weapons. In addition, soldiers from the1-160th and 1-184th conducted sniper training and .50 caliber machine gunmounted live-fire crew validation at the Fort Irwin National Training Center.

The 1-143rd Field Artillery Battalion trained on its M119A3and M777A2 howitzers, finishing out the AT with an "Artillery Rodeo"in which its batteries competed on their speed and accuracy in emplacing thehowitzers.

The 579th Brigade Engineer Battalion set up concertina wireand pickets for perimeter defense around the Brigade and Division commandposts, and conducted training with its heavy equipment at the Camp Roberts EngineerTraining Site, moving dirt and digging fighting positions. The EngineerBattalion also paved roads and graded parts of the cantonment area on CampRoberts.

The 40th Brigade Support Battalion provided medical care,conducted driver's training, maintained and repaired vehicles, and cooked forthe Brigade.

The 1-18th Cavalry Regiment, having only recently returnedfrom a deployment to Jordan, provided soldiers to supplement its sisterbattalions.

For Lt. Col. Fritz Roggow, AT 2019 had special significance.During the AT, he took command of the 1-184th Infantry Battalion from Lt. Col.Joel Armstrong at a Change of Command Ceremony at the historic Camp RobertsSoldier Bowl.

"This was a great time to take command," Roggowsaid. "A lot of our training was consolidated with our sister battalion,the 1-160. This AT really forced us to coordinate with our sister battalions,as well as steal best practices from each other. It was a great opportunity forthe organization to improve as a whole."

Roggow said the biggest challenge for his soldiers during ATwas the heat. Some days the temperature climbed above 100 degrees Fahrenheit."It was hot," he said. "But once we acclimated to the weather itwas great to see the Soldiers out there executing the mission, staying focused.Once the heat subsided a little bit, or at least we kind of acclimated to it,everybody did a great job."

"Annual Training 2019 went extremely well,"Command Sgt. Maj. Andrew McKindley said. "It was good to knock off therust, get all of our systems out and test them to make sure we could all talkto each other. The troops did an outstanding job. Col. Misfud's intent was tointegrate the battalions. What that means is we're not single entities out onan island by ourselves. We're working together. We accomplished this and showedour interoperability and fulfilled the commander's initiative ofintegration."

This was McKindley's last AT with the 79th after 19 yearswith the Brigade. He'll be moving on to a position with the Cal Guard's 224thSustainment Brigade.

"This AT was reinvigorating," McKindley said."You're able to see all the hard work the soldiers were doing, how theywere giving 110 percent in the heat, performing like soldiers, doing theiractual jobs, their combat jobs.”

McKindley pointed to his Thunderbolt patch. "What I wanteveryone to remember is that we're the Thunderbolt Brigade. A thunderbolt is areal thing that happens when lightning and thunder occur at the exact same timeand space. A thunderbolt produces a devastating effect, and that's what we doon the battlefield as the Thunderbolt Brigade."

Having completed this year's Annual Training for its federal mission, the Brigade is gearing up for its state mission. Soldiers from the 79th will be the Cal Guard's main effort in manning hand crews to support CAL FIRE in protecting the residents of California during the 2019 wildfire season.

Source: US Army