FORT POLK, La. -- Despite the threat of indirect fire, attack by opposing forces, and the Louisiana heat, the New York Army National Guard mechanics of Company E, 427th Brigade Support Battalion have shown their ability to perform their mission at one of the Army's most demanding training sites at Fort Polk's Joint Readiness Training Center and still teach their newer Soldiers along the way.
The Soldiers of the 427th BSB are responsible for providing medical, supply, and maintenance support to the over 3,500 Soldiers of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. During the brigade's month-long training at the JRTC July 9-30, it will conduct combat training in a realistic environment that features a well-trained opposing force, civilian role-players on the battlefield, high-tech systems that monitor the action and observer-controller/trainers to evaluate unit actions.
The 427th BSB's medical, maintenance, supply and transportation, and support companies are tasked with keeping the maneuver and combat elements in the fight during the rotation's 10-day combat training exercise. The JRTC replicates are the required combat service support requirements that the 427th manages: treating casualties, fixing equipment and delivering supplies and ammunition.
Sgt. Adam Lamb, assigned to Co. E, is the only generator mechanic in the maintenance company. Responsible for keeping all of the generators in the logistics support area running, Lamb has still been able to find time to lend his experience to the wheeled vehicle mechanics and also learn from their experience.
"I have an outstanding support system with the rest of the mechanics," Lamb said. "A lot of them have an immense amount of experience, both in the military and on the civilian side. For any question I have along the way, I have a good core of NCOs that I can fall back on to check and make sure I'm doing the right thing."
The mechanics of the maintenance company came prepared for their mission, leveraging their experience from past rotations and overseas deployments to know the parts and equipment they would need for an extended field exercise without external support. Their preparations paid off, allowing the mechanics to repair over a dozen vehicles with real-world mechanical failures, Lamb said.
As the JRTC exercise progresses the mechanics are faced with a variety of field problems, including mechanical failure, vehicles stuck in concertina wire, and battle damage. These problems give the senior enlisted the opportunity to refresh their own skills and teach the younger Soldiers how to solve issues they may have never encountered.
"We work with the junior enlisted about how we would approach problems," he said. "We do walk throughs and we talk them through the tools that would be used in each type of event. A lot of people in this unit have been deployed, so they share their experiences from the past on how they actually have resolved situations that have been notionally presented to us here."
But working on problems in a stressful and fast-paced environment is only one part of the mechanics' JRTC training. The exercise requirements of planning and executing resupply convoys as a team has provided training and experience beyond the normal monthly drills, Lamb said.
"Team building is the biggest thing I've gotten out of JRTC, and certainly training with the junior enlisted and establishing trust with them," he said. "That's definitely fast-tracked in an environment like this, as opposed to a normal weekend drill."
Outside of Co. E's own training, working with the infantry companies gives both sides an opportunity to learn about the others' operations and give infantrymen confidence in calling on Co. E for assistance.
"When they have a vehicle go down, they might not know where to start," he said. "It may seem like a large problem to them, but with us they're able to solve it really quickly."
"I can't say that they've had a vehicle go down that we haven't been able to resolve the problem," Lamb said.