GRAYLING, Mich. – More than 3,000 U.S. and partner-nation service members participated in the first Army National Guard Combat Readiness Exercise, testing the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in a realistic, multi-echelon combat environment.
Combat Readiness Exercise, or CRX, 26-01 ran from July 11-25 at Camp Grayling Joint Military Training Center. The 15-day training exercise complements the Army’s existing warfighting programs by giving commanders the opportunity to train, assess and maneuver their formations during large-scale combat operations.
The brigade includes Army National Guard units from Ohio, Michigan and South Carolina, with the Indiana National Guard’s 38th Infantry Division providing division-level command and control. Ohio’s partners from Hungary and the Republic of Serbia through the Department of War National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program also were integrated into the exercise, extending the training across state and national boundaries.
Multi-echelon training is at the center of CRX. Platoons conduct attacks, defense, reconnaissance and movements to contact under company command and control, while battalion and brigade staffs plan operations, integrate enablers and synchronize intelligence, fires, maneuver, protection and sustainment.
The exercise design links tactical execution to the command-and-control systems required for a brigade to fight as part of a division. CRX is designed to certify proficiency at the crew, squad and platoon levels while developing the staffs responsible for directing and sustaining operations. Realistic, scenario-driven training challenges junior leaders to exercise mission command, integrate fires and key enablers and maintain momentum under pressure.
The goal is to be a lethal, flexible and resilient combat team prepared for an operational rotation or contingency demand.
Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Stubbs, director of the Army National Guard, and Command Sgt. Maj. Brian Kendrick, command sergeant major of the Army National Guard, visited the exercise July 20-21 to observe training, meet with Soldiers and assess how lessons from the first iteration can strengthen future CRXs.
“Readiness is built long before mobilization by commanders and noncommissioned officers training their formations to fight at echelon,” Stubbs said. “CRX is at the heart of the readiness and lethality required for large-scale combat operations. It gives leaders the opportunity to assess their formations, expose gaps and build the combat power our Army, joint force and allies will depend on.”
CRX places commanders inside one continuous brigade fight, requiring them to maneuver their formations, respond to division-level requirements and sustain operations as conditions change.
“CRX provided our brigade an opportunity to maneuver Soldiers at echelon and generate individual and collective competence that is difficult to achieve in a traditional annual training period,” said Col. Scott C. Elias, commander of the 37th IBCT. “The added value of multi-echelon training that I did not anticipate was the mutual trust it built across our formation, magnified under unexpectedly austere conditions.”
Competence and trust are critical to how the Army National Guard fights as part of the Total Army, joint force and combined team. As indicated through decades of combined and joint operations, Guard formations must be prepared to mobilize, integrate across components and operate with joint and multinational partners during division- and corps-level operations.
CRX also develops NCOs who translate commanders’ intent into action, enforce standards and lead Soldiers through uncertainty.
“CRX puts unit lethality where it belongs: in the hands of commanders and noncommissioned officers,” Kendrick said. “You cannot outsource lethality. Leaders must build it, own it and be prepared to employ it. This exercise gives our NCOs the repetitions, responsibility and confidence to lead Soldiers when conditions are uncertain, and the stakes are high.”
The exercise also extended beyond U.S. formations. A combined 102 Hungarian and Serbian service members are training alongside the 37th IBCT. The Hungarian company is integrated with the 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, while the Serbian contingent is training with the 2nd Squadron, 107th Cavalry Regiment.
Their participation follows 71 training days over four years for the Hungarian contingent and three field training exercises totaling 45 days for the Serbian contingent during the 2025 and 2026 training cycles.
“Exercises like CRX 26-01 strengthen our partnership by allowing us to train together, exchange ideas and improve interoperability. We have developed a light infantry company that can effectively train alongside the Ohio Army National Guard, and exercises like this help us continue building that relationship,” said Maj. Gen. Dr. László Drót, commander of the Hungarian Defense Forces Territorial Defense and Military Augmentation Command.
CRX has also tested the brigade’s ability to adapt. After hazardous air quality restricted portions of outdoor training, leaders shifted the brigade-level fight to a command post exercise while continuing approved platoon missions. The adjustment preserved key objectives while requiring commanders and staffs to manage risk and maintain operational tempo.
By the end of CRX 26-01, the 37th IBCT had more capable platoons, achieved greater staff proficiency and was a formation better prepared for an operational rotation or contingency demand.
Because the 37th is the first brigade to execute CRX, lessons from multi-echelon training, mission command, sustainment, multinational integration and exercise design will shape future iterations and help define how the Army National Guard uses annual training to build formations ready for large-scale combat operations.