{"id":1558,"date":"2013-02-01T15:29:48","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T15:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2017-07-22T08:58:02","modified_gmt":"2017-07-22T08:58:02","slug":"troopers-take-to-the-tropics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2013\/02\/01\/troopers-take-to-the-tropics\/","title":{"rendered":"Troopers take to the tropics"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”1562″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1500478185542{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”]By Staff Sgt. John Higgins, 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1500478758938{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”]Maryland Army National Guard soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 158th Cavalry Regiment, recently showed how quickly and efficiently they can project their capabilities during a weekend training mission to Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

No matter what the weather is, for some reason, it\u2019s worse on a military flightline. It\u2019s colder or hotter and always windier.<\/p>\n

Soldiers from the squadron\u2019s B Troop, C Company and Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, were reminded of this curious fact on a Friday morning in late February as they boarded air craft at both Hagerstown Airfield, Md., and Warfield Air National Guard Base, Md. National Guard units from four other states took the Marylanders on a five-hour flight to the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

\"\"Several Soldiers remarked the dramatic temperature change was like their most recent trip to Kuwait, the traditional gateway to U.S. Central Command\u2019s area of operations. \u2028\u2028They settled into barracks on Camp Santiago quickly, setting their gear out for the next morning and checking maps of the training area. C Company would leave at 1 a.m., and B Troop would step off at 6 a.m.\u2028\u2028Soldiers trained in land navigation, known as \u201cland nav\u201d in military slang, with a twist: each squad not only had to find their points on a map, but should they see another squad moving, that squad\u2019s movements would be called in as enemy movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose this mostly because it\u2019s new terrain to the soldiers, and the topography is great for orienting yourself without too many electronic accoutrements,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Erik W. Rittler, a team leader with B Troop. He spat the word \u201caccoutrements\u201d with extra emphasis, like most people would use the phrase \u201cbells and whistles\u201d, with a sneer through his tightly maintained regulation mustache.<\/p>\n

\"\"He went on. \u201cIt\u2019s small training area, we\u2019re kind of confined. With boundaries and mountainous terrain all around us and with six separate teams operating in this area, they have to be tactically proficient in moving through the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to get it over with; moving fast as [they can] like \u2018I\u2019m done with this.\u2019 I\u2019m the same way, so I know, but everyone should be patient.\u201d said 2nd Lt. Michael C. Herrera to several of his troops during the exercise.<\/p>\n

They discussed how people were moving and how the low-moving Soldiers were much harder to spot, as the training area had experienced a wildfire the day before removing much of the higher-growth vegetation that would have concealed troop movements.<\/p>\n

That kind of \u201ctactical patience\u201d is important in urban environments, like the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq and in rural environments, like the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Later that day, Herrera elaborated,\u201cthe basic idea is to \u2018make a scout a scout\u2019 back to basics, the core stuff that all scouts need to know. In such a small area, it could take 40-50 minutes to move 100 meters.”<\/p>\n

Patience is just one part of the training, and Capt. Eric Nelsen, commander of B Troop, found that getting to the training area held broader military lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith minimal preparation, we are able to extend ourselves from Maryland out to probably anywhere in the United States – very quickly and be ready to provide a service or services to another host country – or National Guard entity.\u201d said Nelsen.<\/p>\n

This training will help the 158th soldiers qualify this summer in the Army National Guard\u2019s eXportable Combat Training Capability or XCTC, a system to evaluate military units to be sure they are ready for deployment, Nelsen said.<\/p>\n

And while the Maryland Guard prepares for the XCTC, the \u201cbig picture\u201d benefits of this training were apparent to the unit\u2019s commander, Lt. Col. Bradley Martsching.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we deployed simultaneously from multiple locations using aircraft from four different Air National Guard units increased the complexity of the event but also the training value.\u201d said Martsching. \u201cAdditionally, we demonstrated a rapid employment capability by establishing both digital and voice communications via our tactical [high frequency] and [satellite communication] radios with our home locations over 2,500 kilometers away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The 158th\u2019s place and capability within the National Guard\u2019s multi-level mission has only expanded in the past decade, and the training reflected this, said Martsching. \u201cThe ability to quickly deploy and establish operations is essential in our role as military first responders, but it also applies to other civil support operations as well as offensive and defensive operations associated with war-fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, the Soldiers packed up their gear and got on their military flight back to Maryland.<\/p>\n

Back from the heat and into the February cold again, some of them were already discussing future deployments, the next drill and what the future might hold for them, their unit and their place in the National Guard.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maryland Army National Guard soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 158th Cavalry Regiment, recently showed how quickly and efficiently they can project their capabilities during a weekend training mission to Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":1562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[63,56,380,365,53,379,381],"class_list":["post-1558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maryland-line","category-news","tag-158th-cavalry-regiment","tag-camp-santiago","tag-hagerstown-airfield","tag-land-navigation","tag-puerto-rico","tag-training-mission","tag-warfield-air-national-guard-base"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1558"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1568,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions\/1568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}