{"id":7711,"date":"2022-07-24T18:38:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=7711"},"modified":"2022-08-30T15:30:47","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:30:47","slug":"oc-t-strives-to-improve-himself-and-others-at-xctc-22-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2022\/07\/24\/oc-t-strives-to-improve-himself-and-others-at-xctc-22-01\/","title":{"rendered":"OC\/T strives to improve himself and others at XCTC 22-01"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Army Maryland National Guard Staff Sgt. James Hamilton observes 3rd platoon, 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team during eXportable Combat Training Capability 22-01 at Fort Drum, New York July 17, 2022. Hamilton joined ARNG-OGW, headquartered at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, from the Warrior Training Unit at Fort Benning, Georgia, in June 2021. \u201cIt\u2019s long days and little sleep,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cBut that\u2019s the mission. We are helping them develop and refine their tactics and processes to become more proficient as an element.\u201d (Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Amberlee Medina)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FORT DRUM, New York (July 23, 2022) — A red light illuminates the camouflaged face of a 36-year-old Maryland Army National Guard engineer, Staff Sgt. James Hamilton, as he analyzes radio chatter between senior leaders of 3rd Platoon. The sun has almost set over Fort Drum, New York, and darkness begins to engulf Hamilton and the platoon of Jersey National Guard Soldiers sitting idle in their Humvees in a field.

\u201cSecond Squad will advance from the OP to recon to the objective,\u201d says the 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team platoon leader over the radio.

Hamilton exhales a sigh of anticipation as he scrambles out of his Humvee to join the platoon leader and the recon element. It is his job as the Embed Observer, Coach\/Trainer to observe and guide the platoon through their eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) Support by Fire training lane.

It is day five, July 17, 2022, of XCTC 22-01, and Hamilton\u2019s third XCTC rotation as an OC\/T in just his second year assigned to the Army National Guard\u2019s Operations Group Wolf.

\u201cIt\u2019s long days and little sleep,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cBut that\u2019s the mission. We are helping them develop and refine their tactics and processes to become more proficient as an element.\u201d

Hamilton joined ARNG-OGW, headquartered at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, from the Warrior Training Unit at Fort Benning, Georgia, in June 2021.

\u201cI had heard a lot about the battalion while I was working at the Warrior Training Unit,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cWhen I got my orders, I was excited to be doing something that would have a direct impact on training and mentoring Soldiers and influencing the success of future missions.\u201d

Hamilton was highly spoken of before arriving to the Battalion and leaders throughout the formation were excited to have him as part of the team.

\u201cI\u2019ve known him since my time at WTC,\u201d said Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Nungester, OGW Alpha Company Noncommissioned Officer in Charge. \u201cHe was on Active Duty for Operational Support orders as my [Headquarters and Headquarters Company] operations assistant. I have always seen potential in him\u2026and I think he is going to become a pivotal member.\u201d

ARNG-OGW is a training battalion composed of Title-10 ADOS and Active Guard Reserve Soldiers from across the United States.

\u201cSoldiers volunteer to work for this organization,\u201d said ARNG-OGW Battalion Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Haney. \u201cWe want Soldiers who challenge themselves, because we are some of the highest trained and most doctrinally proficient leaders in the Army National Guard.\u201d

Preparation and planning for XCTCs is just as intensive for the OC\/Ts as for the partner training units, like the 44th IBCT.

\u201cFor our OC\/Ts, it is a year-long process,\u201d said ARNG-OGW Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Victor Becerra. \u201cWe must maintain currency with the [First Army] Policy Memo 13, conduct Ranger\/Infantry Doctrine Boards, Mission Essential Task training and OC\/T validations.\u201d

Overall, over 200 hours of training is conducted yearly to ensure OC\/Ts are proficient mentors during XCTCs.

\u201cMy first XCTC was shortly after my arrival to OGW,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cI didn’t have much experience, or the formal training required, so I was shadowing senior leaders within the battalion.\u201d

Nungester said over time he has seen Hamilton gain the tactical and technical knowledge to become a trusted expert in the organization.

No longer considered a novice OC\/T, Hamilton still works every day to improve himself.

\u201cFor XCTC 22-01 I knew I would be on my own and as an engineer observing an infantry platoon, I researched and studied certain tasks and evaluations,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cI feel way more comfortable in my role and interacting with the platoon after all the training.\u201d

All that preparation and training was also well recognized by the 44th IBCT Soldiers.

\u201cOur experience with Staff Sgt. Hamilton was the utmost professional and rewarding,\u201d said Cpt. Jonathan Warren, D Company commander. \u201cHe brought new Troop Leading Procedures to our already slightly unconventional methods while encouraging us to continue to develop and refine our ways.\u201d

\u201cStaff Sgt. Hamilton greatly enhanced not only the operational readiness of 3rd Platoon, but D Co. as a whole,\u201d said Warren.

Training for combat training rotations are not the only objectives and motivators for Hamilton. He recently graduated from Ranger School.

\u201cI learned a lot about tactics, but mostly about myself,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cThe easiest part was going through the school. Now the hard part is living up to the name of being a Ranger.\u201d

With two years left at OGW, Hamilton said he hopes to complete more civilian and military courses to further develop himself into a better leader and Soldier.

\u201cWe encourage our OC\/Ts to continue to strive for both professional and military education while they are with our organization,\u201d said Becerra. \u201cThis provides OGW with the recipe for competent and motivated OC\/Ts which feeds into the organization\u2019s and National Guard’s mission success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORT DRUM, New York (July 23, 2022) — A red light illuminates the camouflaged face of a 36-year-old Maryland Army National Guard engineer, Staff Sgt. James Hamilton, as he analyzes radio chatter between senior leaders of 3rd Platoon. The sun has almost set over Fort Drum, New York, and darkness begins to engulf Hamilton and  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":7716,"comment_status":"closed","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":[25,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mos-spotlight","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711","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\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7711"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7717,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711\/revisions\/7717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}