| Training |
Mission Readiness Exercise highlights 344th mobilization training |
|
| By Loni Witscheber, Triad Contributor Two months of training on mobilization exercises at Fort McCoy came to a head the week of May 25-30 for the 344th Combat Support Hospital (CSH). The final task, the Mission Readiness Exercise (MRX), was a conglomeration of all training conducted.
Since the beginning of April, the unit has trained on various theatre immersion exercises, i.e., trauma nutrition, sustainment training, patient flow and tracking, automatic carrier landing system training, detainee training, and ground assault convoy operations (GACO) with the assistance of contracted and volunteer role-playing Civilians on the Battlefield and Opposing Forces. These training events then were combined in an assortment of drills for the MRX. Soldiers of the 344th CSH were expected to diligently perform their duties, individually and collectively, according to the Mission Training Plan established by First U.S. Army. The unit was evaluated on the timeliness and quality of operations performed. Lt. Col. Danny C. Tye, First U.S. Army Command Surgeon's Office, said this exercise was an accumulation of all training that the unit has accomplished through the Regional Training Site - Medical, the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), and the GACO operations. "Documentation and training specifics that we've worked on will be utilized by First Army, Medical Air Force Communications, and in the future for training the force," said Tye. Lt. Col. Joseph G. Keary, Medical Services, U.S. Army Reserve Chief for the Ancillary Service 405th Combat Support Hospital, was an observer/controller trainer (O/CT) for the 344th. Keary said the MRX was the pinnacle event of the 344th mobilization. It successfully brought together tactical and medical skills. The unit "pulled it all together," he said. "The O/CTs saw highly motivated and highly competent Soldiers doing a variety of complex tasks at the same time," Keary said. "They were able to treat their patients while responding to indirect fire, safeguard their patients while protecting themselves from potential assaults from detainees, and respond and receive messages from higher headquarters while disseminating information down to their people." The 344th CSH, consisting of more than 250 Soldiers, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom at the beginning of June for the duration of at least one year. The unit is replacing the 115th Field Hospital unit from Fort Polk, La. The 115th has been deployed for one year. Members of the 344th CSH gained confidence throughout months of training and were able to apply their overall knowledge in the MRX. Tye said the Soldiers are in better shape, they've honed their skills, and their jobs will be conducted on a more-efficient basis. Altogether, the 344th CSH has spent hundreds of hours training on mobilization preparation. It was the first unit to live in the recently constructed medical FOBs at Fort McCoy and the first hospital unit ever to undergo this extensive training. The unit's success will serve future mobilizing medical units well. "There's no more important job in the Army today," said Keary, "than getting these people ready to go to war."
|
