JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A group of Florida Army National Guard Soldiers left Thursday morning
for a month-long exercise in Louisiana where they will help train some of the
U.S. Army's most elite units.
More than 40 combat engineers
and heavy equipment operators from the Lake City-based A Company, 53rd Brigade
Special Troops Battalion, departed by air from Cecil Commerce Center in
Jacksonville for the rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at
Ft. Polk, Louisiana.
At Ft. Polk they will join
more than 370 other Florida Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry
Regiment, and 2nd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery Regiment. Together they will
serve as an Opposing Force (OPFOR) for the upcoming training cycle of active
duty units.
In Jacksonville, the Soldiers
from A Company loaded their weapons and equipment onto a C-130 transport plane
flown by Airmen from the Puerto Rico National Guard's 156th Airlift Wing,
before departing for the unique mission.
1st Sgt. Scott Gentry of A
Company, 53rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, explained that the Florida Army
National Guard contingent will be at the Louisiana post acting as opposing
forces primarily against Soldiers from the storied 82nd Airborne Division and other
specialized units.
"We will basically be
creating havoc on the battlefield for the friendly forces," Gentry said, noting
his unit will actually be in the battlefield "box" for about two weeks during
the training.
Gentry said his engineers
will use the exercise to also train themselves for combat, as well as help the
Airborne and Ranger units with their training.
"It gives them a chance to do
what they are supposed to be doing as Soldiers and keep their levels of
proficiency up to the maximum," he said. "These guys are excited…their spirits
are up, their morale is up. They are ready to go. I think this will be a tough
challenge, but it will be fun."
Staff Sgt. Chad Corriveau, a squad
leader with A Company, said this trip to JRTC will be especially beneficial for
some of his younger Soldiers who have not deployed in combat situations before.
"They will get to see how the
active duty operates," Corriveau, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in
Afghanistan, said. "We have a lot of Soldiers that haven't deployed overseas
since (the 53rd IBCT) went to Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. A lot of the
Soldiers now are right out of school or college and haven't deployed before."
At JRTC the Florida National
Guard Soldiers will also help add to the realism of an overseas battlefield by
wearing different OPFOR uniforms and even growing beards.
Corriveau said he hopes this
trip to JRTC will give his Soldiers a different perspective from what they've
seen during previous training experiences.
"Now we get to see it from
the enemies' side and see how their units maneuver and operate, and communicate,"
he said.
JRTC is focused on "improving
joint readiness by providing highly realistic, stressful, joint, and combined
arms training across the full spectrum of conflict." The exercises replicate
many of the situations and scenarios a military unit may face during a
deployment, including encounters with civilians on the battlefield, media,
insurgents and terrorists, and non-governmental organizations.