FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - One hundred and fifty National Guard Soldiers from five states trained together at Fort Leavenworth Oct. 28-31 to prepare for the 42nd Infantry Division headquarters Middle East deployment next summer.
To train up for their stint serving as the headquarters for Task Force Spartan, the Army's 10,000-Soldier force in the region, the Guard Soldiers will be going through a division "Warfighter" training rotation.
The Soldiers, mainly officers and senior noncommissioned officers, came from New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Mississippi, and Ohio.
The 42nd Infantry Division's headquarters is part of the New York National Guard but has elements from the Northeast.
The week-long stint at Fort Leavenworth, the home of the Army's Command and General Staff College, covered the academic portion of that training.
Col. Andrew Couchman, the division's operations officer, said key officers and NCOs from the division's brigades went through the Mission Command Training Program (MCTP) to ensure they were up on the Army's latest warfighting doctrine.
He said the training enabled the Army's senior commanders to develop relevant expeditionary mission command instincts and skills.
Many of the division's Soldiers spent years of their careers fighting insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Couchman said the Army is refocusing on facing large-scale combat with a conventional enemy.
MCTP's role in warfighters and command post exercises is to help shape the training to ensure the division's leaders meet their training objectives at a higher readiness level for the upcoming deployment.
Maj. Gen. Jack James, the 42nd Infantry Division's commander, praised the officers and noncommissioned officers for their hard work.
"First and foremost, I want to commend the team on such impressive efforts and acknowledge the great learning tools they have utilized this week," he said. "I am so impressed by every one of you; the team-building and positive relationships are growing amongst the staff."
The training prepared the division Soldiers for upcoming command post exercises and the final Warfighter exercise at Fort Indiantown Gap near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
These exercises will include setting up communication systems, establishing three command posts, and ensuring mission command systems function and Soldiers know how to use them.
Command Sgt. Maj. Arnold Reyes, the division command sergeant major, said he was impressed by how everybody worked together at Leavenworth.
"This week during the academics, I watched everyone grow as a team, and I want to thank you for that; you are a winning team," he said.
Since 2017, the division headquarters has participated in division-level Warfighters, several command post exercises and multiple staff training exercises.
The 42nd Infantry Division is one of eight National Guard divisions and one of 18 U.S. Army divisions that provide fully manned, equipped, trained and expertly led units prepared to deploy and conduct unified land operations for combatant commanders.
In 2005, the division headquarters and support section deployed almost 4,500 Soldiers to Iraq, where the division commanded active Army and National Guard brigades north of Baghdad as part of Task Force Liberty.
In 2020, the division headquarters deployed to Kuwait, Jordan, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support Operation Spartan Shield, a 10,000-Soldier force from the Army, Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. The 42nd Infantry Division headquarters provided command and control for the troops.