West Virginia Guard Unit
Sabrina, Tyler's (T-Bird's) wife shared this link on FaceBook this morning.
West Virginia Guard unit trains to support Operation New Dawn - The Herald Dispatch
(click on the link and you can view the pictures associated with the article)
West Virginia Guard unit trains to support Operation New Dawn
The Herald-Dispatch
November 12, 2010 @ 12:00 AM
The Herald-Dispatch
FORT McCOY, Wis. -- Members of the 201st Field Artillery Battalion are at Fort McCoy, Wis., preparing for a deployment to support Operation New Dawn in Iraq.
Since their arrival at Fort McCoy in August, Soldiers from the 201st, an Army National Guard unit with its home station in Fairmont, W.Va., have participated in extensive training on equipment and procedures to learn skills they will need to be successful in their mission overseas.
Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Clay Coatney said in a written statement the unit's time at Fort McCoy is a continuation of the previous year's pre-mobilization training.
"The training at Fort McCoy is better defined as collective tasks -- that is tasks done by the platoons, then companies, and, ultimately, by what our unit currently is organized into, a task force.
"Our battalion normally is assigned M109A6 Paladin 155mm self-propelled howitzers," Coatney said. "But now we are task-organized into elements much like an infantry company, and our mission focus is force protection and convoy security. This is a veteran unit. Most Soldiers are on their second or third deployment."
Coatney said most of the battalion is from West Virginia, but there are a few Soldiers from the Carolinas, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio.
"The soldiers are professionals and have adjusted well to the tempo," Coatney said. "Morale is high. Our days at Fort McCoy are long. We rise at 5 am. and often do not quit until 10 p.m. We do not get day off. Our day starts with physical fitness training, utilizing the post gym, including Soldiers looking forward to using the pool. Most mornings we run.
"We have all improved our physical fitness level," Coatney said. "And we are not done yet. I visited the base in July that we will be occupying, and the gym facilities there are excellent. I am sure when we redeploy our families will be impressed. We do get a little time off. Some of our soldiers utilize the movies and use the free laundry."
This training is the cornerstone for priming soldiers for deployment. Soldiers train in an environment and in situations that replicate, as realistically as possible, those they will experience overseas. Soldiers lived in tents in a field location for a portion of the time they were training at Fort McCoy. The training area was surrounded by concertina wire, entry control points and guard towers. Soldiers traveled in convoys. They encountered role players posing as civilians on the battlefield or opposing forces. The training is repetitive, and its intensity increases with each iteration. The ultimate goal is to have soldiers respond intuitively to threats and situations they encounter.
"The training at Fort McCoy consists of performing tasks for Soldiers new to the formation," Coatney said, "To the collective tasks, which are events like base defense and how to run a forward operating base. We conduct .50-caliber and 7.62 mm machine gun live-fire training on the ranges that are some of the best I have seen in my 30 years in the military.
"Our Soldiers are ready to load the aircraft for the trip to Kuwait," Coatney said. "We will be back through Fort McCoy next October, then home with this mission complete."
The list of required training is extensive. The 201st participated in training related to weapons qualification, Army warrior training, physical fitness, leadership, combat life saving, improvised explosive devices, mounted combat patrol operations, urban operations, entry control point operations, motor vehicle operations and maintenance, detainee operations, hand-to-hand combat, reflexive fire, night live-fire, culture/customs/language, land navigation, and much more.
The 201st's training culminated in a mission rehearsal exercise, which incorporated and tested all aspects of the individual and collective training they had received under conditions similar to what they will encounter while deployed.
Prior to deployment, the unit will receive additional military occupation specialty training.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Fort McCoy has supported the mobilization and demobilization of more than 122,401 Soldiers from nearly 2,194 units located throughout 49 states and territories.
West Virginia Guard unit trains to support Operation New Dawn - The Herald Dispatch
(click on the link and you can view the pictures associated with the article)
West Virginia Guard unit trains to support Operation New Dawn
The Herald-Dispatch
November 12, 2010 @ 12:00 AM
The Herald-Dispatch
FORT McCOY, Wis. -- Members of the 201st Field Artillery Battalion are at Fort McCoy, Wis., preparing for a deployment to support Operation New Dawn in Iraq.
Since their arrival at Fort McCoy in August, Soldiers from the 201st, an Army National Guard unit with its home station in Fairmont, W.Va., have participated in extensive training on equipment and procedures to learn skills they will need to be successful in their mission overseas.
Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Clay Coatney said in a written statement the unit's time at Fort McCoy is a continuation of the previous year's pre-mobilization training.
"The training at Fort McCoy is better defined as collective tasks -- that is tasks done by the platoons, then companies, and, ultimately, by what our unit currently is organized into, a task force.
"Our battalion normally is assigned M109A6 Paladin 155mm self-propelled howitzers," Coatney said. "But now we are task-organized into elements much like an infantry company, and our mission focus is force protection and convoy security. This is a veteran unit. Most Soldiers are on their second or third deployment."
Coatney said most of the battalion is from West Virginia, but there are a few Soldiers from the Carolinas, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio.
"The soldiers are professionals and have adjusted well to the tempo," Coatney said. "Morale is high. Our days at Fort McCoy are long. We rise at 5 am. and often do not quit until 10 p.m. We do not get day off. Our day starts with physical fitness training, utilizing the post gym, including Soldiers looking forward to using the pool. Most mornings we run.
"We have all improved our physical fitness level," Coatney said. "And we are not done yet. I visited the base in July that we will be occupying, and the gym facilities there are excellent. I am sure when we redeploy our families will be impressed. We do get a little time off. Some of our soldiers utilize the movies and use the free laundry."
This training is the cornerstone for priming soldiers for deployment. Soldiers train in an environment and in situations that replicate, as realistically as possible, those they will experience overseas. Soldiers lived in tents in a field location for a portion of the time they were training at Fort McCoy. The training area was surrounded by concertina wire, entry control points and guard towers. Soldiers traveled in convoys. They encountered role players posing as civilians on the battlefield or opposing forces. The training is repetitive, and its intensity increases with each iteration. The ultimate goal is to have soldiers respond intuitively to threats and situations they encounter.
"The training at Fort McCoy consists of performing tasks for Soldiers new to the formation," Coatney said, "To the collective tasks, which are events like base defense and how to run a forward operating base. We conduct .50-caliber and 7.62 mm machine gun live-fire training on the ranges that are some of the best I have seen in my 30 years in the military.
"Our Soldiers are ready to load the aircraft for the trip to Kuwait," Coatney said. "We will be back through Fort McCoy next October, then home with this mission complete."
The list of required training is extensive. The 201st participated in training related to weapons qualification, Army warrior training, physical fitness, leadership, combat life saving, improvised explosive devices, mounted combat patrol operations, urban operations, entry control point operations, motor vehicle operations and maintenance, detainee operations, hand-to-hand combat, reflexive fire, night live-fire, culture/customs/language, land navigation, and much more.
The 201st's training culminated in a mission rehearsal exercise, which incorporated and tested all aspects of the individual and collective training they had received under conditions similar to what they will encounter while deployed.
Prior to deployment, the unit will receive additional military occupation specialty training.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Fort McCoy has supported the mobilization and demobilization of more than 122,401 Soldiers from nearly 2,194 units located throughout 49 states and territories.
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