RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia National Guard’s Staunton-based 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) will be the first Army National Guard brigade to test and evaluate a prototype task organization for a mobile brigade combat team (MBCT) during its 21-day eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) rotation in June at Fort Pickett, Virginia.
The MBCT concept is part of the U.S. Army’s transformation initiative, which aims to make units more agile and lethal.
“The 116th has an incredible opportunity to be at the forefront of the Army’s transformation initiative, and I am confident the Soldiers of the Normandy Brigade will rise to the occasion,” said Col. Jared Lake, commander of the 116th. “There are still many variables in the transformation process, but our Soldiers are going to focus on their core warfighting skills that will make us a more ready and lethal organization by the end of XCTC.”
XCTC is a series of field training exercises that simulate realistic combat scenarios, including live fire, situational training lanes and force-on-force with a dedicated opposing force. It is intended to increase the skills and readiness of National Guard units.
The 116th will be configured as the MBCT during the XCTC rotation, and it will be an opportunity to continue testing and evaluating the proposed force structure, Lake said.
The mobile brigade combat team force structure focuses on three infantry battalions with organic logistics support and the addition of a multi-purpose company in each battalion and a multi-functional reconnaissance company in the brigade.
Battalion scout, mortar and assault platoons move to a battalion multi-purpose company to provide ground and aerial reconnaissance, indirect fire support, launched effects, counter unmanned aerial systems and deception capabilities to fix and attrit enemy forces that allows for infantry companies to close with and destroy the enemy.
The MFRC provides reconnaissance and surveillance with the brigade deep area to enable targeting and provide timely, accurate reporting of enemy activity, detect and target enemy high-payoff targets and shape the brigade deep area to enable operations.
The multi-purpose companies and MFRC will be employed along with the 116th’s three infantry battalions during the culminating field training exercise near the end of the XCTC rotation.
The cavalry squadron and the brigade engineer battalion are not part of the prototype MBCT task organization. The U.S. Army is still analyzing the future force structure for those organizations. Soldiers assigned to those units will continue to focus on honing skills specific to their military occupational specialty (MOS) during XCTC.
The field artillery battalion will conduct live fire during XCTC and other MOS-specific training. When that force structure comes online in the long term, the artillery battalion will align under the 29th Division Artillery.
A key piece of equipment for the MBCT is the infantry squad vehicle (ISV), which is designed to transport infantry squads across the battlefield. The 116th has not fielded the ISVs, but it will still train on employing the new MBCT formations with its existing equipment.
The official 116th IBCT force structure has not changed. Lake said it is not scheduled to change until the Army validates and finalizes the new MBCT structure and then approves that change for the 116th IBCT. This process is anticipated to occur over the next three years.
“Every Soldier still has a home in the 116th IBCT and every opportunity to continue their service with the Virginia Army National Guard,” he said.
Lake explained that, while some Soldiers may be attached to other units for XCTC, there are no plans for permanent reassignments until the new official force structure is approved. Some Soldiers may have the opportunity to change their military occupational specialty and career field, but most will not need to change their MOS.
The Army’s 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team was the first mobile brigade combat team. In July 2024, its members conducted a Joint Readiness Training Center rotation at Fort Johnson, Louisiana, to experiment with, test and collect Soldier feedback on the MBCT concept.
About the 116th IBCT:
The 116th IBCT is authorized approximately 4,100 Soldiers and is the largest major subordinate command in the Virginia National Guard. The 116th has units throughout Virginia from Winchester to Pulaski along I-81, from Staunton to Virginia Beach along I-64, from Danville to Lynchburg to Warrenton along Route 29 as well as Fredericksburg, Manassas and Leesburg. An infantry battalion based in Barbourville, Kentucky, is also aligned with the 116th for training and readiness oversight.
A brigade combat team is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the U.S. Army and carries with it support units necessary to sustain its operations away from its parent division. The 116th consists of three infantry battalions, a cavalry squadron, a field artillery battalion, a brigade support battalion and brigade engineer battalion.