LINCOLN, Neb. – Army National Guard company command teams from across Nebraska attended Operation Heartland Fury at the Camp Ashland and Mead training sites Aug. 27.
The operation, hosted by Training Center Command (TCC), 209th Regional Training Institute, included events and tours of training installations and equipment to show what capabilities are available to support all of Nebraska’s units. Events included trench-clearing with medical evacuation, a leaders’ reaction course, the rappel tower and vehicle recovery.
“Running through these lanes and seeing the capabilities that we have in the state opens doors to units that don’t know that we have these resources out here and available,” said 1st Sgt. Luke Katz, first sergeant, A Company, 2-134th Infantry Regiment (Airborne). “It was really good to run through this and get briefed on the training sites and training resources.”
While some of the training resources are most often used by combat arms units in the state, even leaders from those units discovered new training resources.
“It was a great reminder that TCC has contractors that can work with us and assist in training operators to run some of the equipment,” Katz said.
TCC has been improving the facilities of the training sites for the past couple of years, so many of the leaders saw at least one new thing during the event.
“I didn’t know the trench lines or vehicle recovery lanes were out here,” said Staff Sgt. Jose Torres, supply sergeant, 267th Support Maintenance Company. “Hopefully, more units will make time to use these areas to train.”
After the event concluded, there was an after-action review (AAR) where participants voiced their opinions and concerns.
“The AAR presented TCC with a lot of good feedback that is already being considered in the initial planning phases of next year’s OHF,” said Lt. Col. Raymond Phillips, TCC commander. “Recommendations such as including more lanes with less time on a lane to give even more exposure of training site opportunities, targeting a different audience and how to improve specific lanes that were conducted are all being considered to enhance future experiences.”
Phillips, one of the main planners of the event, thanked the Soldiers who participated.
“I understand the time commitment it takes to plan and execute an event such as OHF and time it takes away from other things our Soldiers could be doing, but in the NEARNG tradition, our Soldiers answered the call and met the challenge with full fervor,” Philips said.
The event also served as a precursor to the annual Commander’s Training Synchronization Workshop the following week.