JULY 29, 2024 – “From low, darkening clouds the drops spattered on the State’s good highways, on its hundreds of marshy roads, on its pine forests, and on its deep swamps full of quicksand… In rain and darkness hungry and tired, they had fought continuously and well for days at a time.” (October 6th, 1941, LIFE Magazine issue).
Fast forward over 80 years later, in the same marshy roads and thick, green pine forests, the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) once again return to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Fort Johnson, Louisiana. Just like the men and women who trained to fight the Red Army before entering into World War II in 1941, the 41st IBCT now trains for Large-Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) against a peer force, instead of the Counter-Insurgency operations used in the last twenty years.
Historically, the Joint Readiness Training Center has prepared Soldiers for a number of battlefield situations, with the intention for soldiers to learn difficult lessons here, rather than in combat when it counts the most. The first battalion, 509th –otherwise known as “Geronimo” — is the active-duty unit that oversees all rotations at JRTC. Part of Geronimo’s duties are to operate as Observer Controller/Trainers (OC/Ts) and the opposing forces (OPFOR) that fight against units going through the rotation, ensuring the training is challenging and useful. 1st Lt. Alex Andrade, one of the leaders with Geronimo, explained, “If we can help save a life, that’s what matters.” Every lesson that a Soldier learns at JRTC could potentially save their life when they are in a real combat situation. “It makes us a better Army as a whole,” he added, pointing out that if they are able to provide simulated, real-world combat experiences for these units, it can have a positive effect on how the Army operates.
In addition to the 41st IBCT, 25 other states and two territories participated in this rotation, which resulted in 4,900 trainedSoldiers.. Although the 41st has trained at Camp Roberts, California for eXportable Combat Training Capabilities (XCTC), this is the first time in 26 years that the brigade has stepped foot on Fort Johnson, La. for a JRTC rotation.
Even though the main portion of the exercise is only 14 days, the planning process started almost a year ago, in August 2023. Leaders and key players in planning also took a trip down to Louisiana in February of this year to meet with JRTC staff and review mission expectations. They did a site reconnaissance and started the planning process with the historical guidance of past JRTC rotations.
Further into the planning process, units were identified for participation in the exercise and travel preparations were made. Throughout June and the beginning of July, necessary supplies were loaded into Conex Boxes to be shipped, while larger equipment like trucks and tanks were shipped by rail. “We had to think about needs vs. wants,” Sgt. 1st Class James Ruks, from Joint Force Headquarters S3, reported.
As JRTC is located nearly 2,776 miles from Oregon, it was important to know exactly what was necessary, and what could be left behind. If equipment or supplies were needed once soldiers arrived in Louisiana, there were no other options for timely fulfillment. Sgt. 1st Class Heatherlee Hunking, the Transportation Non-commissioned officer (NCO) from Oregon Training Command noted, “We hadn’t done such a big movement in a long time, and it took a lot of planning.” Without these essential logistical pieces, the rotation could not have been successfully implemented.
After months of planning, the advanced party arrived on July 4th, sacrificing time with their families to start setting up for the main element. The following days focused on in-processing every Soldier that arrived. “We had interactions with every single Soldier,” said Sgt. Nicholaus Wolchesky, from the Oregon Army National Guard personnel office (G1), which is responsible for developing, implementing, and sustaining policies and programs to build personnel readiness. Overall, Soldiers had about a week before they were scheduled to go into the “box” (a.k.a the training area). The focus was on packing and getting everything they needed for the upcoming weeks.
Administrative tasks weren’t the only challenges members of the 41st faced, as Staff Sgt. Le said, “The military moves on its belly. Without food, the Army does not move.” Teams of cooks worked long days to ensure everyone had food. “For the first seven days, we fed over 4,000 people a day,” Spc. Horton from the 141 Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) detailed, explaining that they would sleep for a few hours, then rotate back into the kitchen. Finally, after seven days of feeding 4,000 Soldiers, over 3,000 transitioned into the box.
While in the training area, no cell phones are allowed, simulating a realistic operational environment that units may face during deployment. In an age of immediately available communication to anywhere in the world, Soldiers had to say “see you in a couple weeks” to their family and loved ones.
During real-world emergencies, the G1 section is in charge of getting Red Cross messages (real world emergencies) from families out to Soldiers. In this exercise, they acknowledged that it was definitely an adjustment to not be able to communicate easily with the units in the field. “It was hard to track down any one individual at a time. We had to adapt our plans,” Wolchesky added.
The G1 section was critical to ensuring that Soldiers were being tracked as they moved in and out of the box, especially as family emergencies and injuries occurred throughout the rotation. “It has been rewarding to get soldiers back home,” said Wolchesky, further explaining that by doing this we’re showing that Soldiers and their families are their top priority.
From the Soldiers’ perspective training in the box was grueling. However, most felt that the important lessons they will take back with them will be imperative to future deployments and combat operations. “We miss our spouses, our families, our friends back home but together out here, we are learning so much. We’re bonding as our group is getting ready for future missions. At the end of this, we know we’re going to come out better trained, [and] to serve not only our community back at home, but the world abroad,” Lt. Col. Christopher Markesino remarked.
For the first week of the rotation, most of the units conducted live fire training, while others worked on Mission Essential Task Lists specific to their type of units. The second week of the rotation kicked off with force-on-force training, where units conducted combat operations with the OPFOR, simulating real world LSCO operations.
Lt. Col. Derek Hotchkiss, 2-218th FA Acting Commander mentions that “Training value has been excellent. Our OC/Ts out here that are assigned to each battery, are active-duty soldiers that are experts in their profession, so, we’re learning from the best. We’re learning a lot about ourselves.”
While at JRTC the 41st IBCT was broken down into various task force elements. Each task force was composed of units from different organic battalions and sometimes even from different states. This approach simulates a possible real-life situation when National Guard units are deployed and attached to other Guard or active-duty units in support of large-scale operations.
“It’s been more of a challenge than I think anyone expected or that anyone’s experienced unless they’ve gone through a similar rotation, but Task Force Guardian Soldiers are reacting very professionally,” Lt. Col. Joshua Rapp, the Task Force Guardian Commander stated. He added that everyone has shown great resilience and was impressed with the effort that was put forth by the Soldiers.
As the rotation comes to end, the 41st IBCT will go home and prepare for their upcoming deployments with many lessons learned. Master Sgt. Joshua Martin, 741 Brigade Engineer Battalion Operations NCO, summed up this rotation in a great way:
“Everyone misses their families, everybody misses home, but we’re here together. Daily we remind each other of that, that with each other we can get through this,” adding that this experience will be remembered for a long time to come.
In an organization built upon challenging and unique situations, current members of 41st IBCT now join the ranks of countless Soldiers who trained at JRTC before them; they will remember the emotions, lessons, and grit it took to survive something only 3%, of the 1%, who serve in the United States military have ever had the opportunity to experience.
Story by 1st Lt. Kayla Fleshman and Spc. Frank Ritchey
115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment