Tag Archives: JRTC

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The Battalion Battle Captain

A Staff Lieutenant at JRTC

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Life as a staff lieutenant has many demands. As the battle captain, you will be responsible for managing all of the information coming in and out of the Main Command Post (MCP) and control all current operations. Your command team, staffs, and company leadership will lean on you heavily for an updated status of the operation. You will have minimal guidance and instruction yet will be expected to perform at the level of a career course-qualified Captain. Too easy, right?

Life at a CTC for a staff lieutenant often means a similar surrounding of radios, maps, and trackers inside an command post tent or expando van. (U.S. Army photo submitted by author).
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The CBRN RECCE Platoon

Training and Preparing for JRTC and Beyond

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In December 2017, as part of the 3BCT, 101st ABN (AASLT) Brigade Field Training Exercise, my Dismounted Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and (CBRN) Reconnaissance (RECCE) Platoon received a mission to support an infantry battalion task force air assault operation to seize an objective with an underground storage facility for chemical weapons. In planning and executing this training mission, we validated many aspects of our individual and team collective training leading up to this BCT collective training exercise. We also identified many of the challenges and gaps in our training both internal to the CBRN RECCE Platoon and ways the Brigade Engineer Battalion and the BCT could facilitate better training.

Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers; engineers; chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) specialists; as well as medical units conduct Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) training to help prepare them to respond to a CBRN catastrophe at home or abroad. (Sgt. 1st Class Brent Powell)

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Bringing the Crucible to your Couch

JRTC Virtual Training

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The enemy doesn’t practice social distancing. Great power competition and the adversary threat continue to grow during the time of COVID. The force is currently fighting to maintain the proper balance of safety for our troops and families, and readiness training to accomplish the mission. We must remain flexible and innovative. The Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) is here to help!

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A Peak Behind the Curtains

Leveraging Interagency at the JRTC for Successful Real-World Engagement

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Secretary of State Michael Pompeo recently remarked on the interdependence of defense and diplomacy during an address at Texas A&M University noting that “Neither diplomacy nor the military can succeed at delivering for presidents and for our country without the other.” A key element of “delivering for our presidents and for our country” is projecting influence overseas in accordance with United States foreign policy priorities. There are two principal means for doing so: through diplomatic suasion and military force. The Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of State (State), and other agencies of the U.S. government (USG), such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the intelligence community, comprise some of the most important members of the complex bureaucratic structure within which most U.S. foreign policy is formulated and decisions are made about policy implementation. This bureaucratic structure, the interagency (IA), is led by the President in Washington, D.C., and under the authority of the Chief of Mission (COM) abroad (usually the U.S. Ambassador) and through combatant commanders.

Capt. Christopher Young, a combat advisor team leader assigned to the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade speaks with simulated Afghan locals during rotation 18-03 at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Jan. 15, 2017. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Sierra A. Melendez, 50th Public Affairs Detachment, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs)
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Defense of the Cajun Bayou

Choose Your Course of Action

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Brigades that come to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) will fight a brigade fight. Every unit, regardless of echelons or component, from the squad through the battalion, from infantry to military police to transportation to aviation, will leave better than they arrived after enduring the crucible training event here in Louisiana. However, small unit training can occur anywhere. The swamps and humid head of Fort Polk offer a unique opportunity. Through rational design and Observer Coach Trainer coaching, brigades can focus on their role in shaping deep, synchronizing maneuver, allocating resources, and setting conditions necessary for battalions to succeed in both the offense and defense. This book is an effort to reach units prior to their arrival in Louisiana by giving them realistic scenarios to think about while following the Cajun Brigade through the planning and execution of a defense.

Soldiers with 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, take movement guidance Nov. 12, 2017, during the brigade’s rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La. (Photo by Joint Readiness Training Center Public Affairs Office)
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The Science of Control

Synchronizing Current Operations

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The current operations (CUOPS) cell is essential to translating plans to orders and eventually the execution of combat operations. The CUOPS integrating cell “is the focal point for controlling the execution of operations. It “involves assessing the current situation while regulating forces and warfighting functions in accordance with the mission, commanders intent, and operations.” (ATP 6-0.5) CUOPS synchronizes operations, sustains the common operational picture (COP) and mitigates risk to the mission. In the operations process, the CUOPS cell is the commander’s most prominent tool to understand, describe, visualize, and direct operations. Because of the cell’s importance, the CUOPS teams must organize and train personnel, information systems, and processes to enable the commander to make a decision base on understanding rather than data points.

Currently, main command posts, commonly known as TOCs, still must be housed in tents until the U.S. Army can make the mission command systems smaller and mobile. Photographer SGM Thomas Murphy