JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST -- Soldiers from across the Army recently attended the North East Regional Field Artillery Symposium at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, April 11 - 12, 2017.
Comprised of field artillery units spanning from West Virginia to Maine, the NERFAS provided an opportunity for organizations to communicate across state lines, creating a venue to share tactics and lessons learned from past training.
“This forum has been able to bring together both Active Duty and National Guard command elements to share training tips and improve communication - which ultimately improves readiness,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Berk Parsons, the field artillery Command Sgt. of the Army. “We share ideas, tactics, techniques and procedures in order to allow future initiatives to be much more conducive to what we need to achieve to support the total force.”
When deployed, the field artillery forces fight the same conflicts; their ability to achieve parity in communications training and efforts further enhances their ability to fight effectively and cohesively, explained Parsons.
“We want to develop cross-talk between the states for the National Guard,” said Lt. Col. Thomas G. Wilson Jr., 3rd Battalion, 314th Field Artillery First Army Battalion commander. “Sometimes it seems like there is an invisible wall between states, but this is a venue where we can start knocking those walls down. This is definitely something we want to do start doing annually.”
Following the event, the field artillery units train to take the information gathered and lessons learned back to their units, ensuring these units with similar mission goals are on the same page.
“The biggest takeaway from this has been the opportunity to meet each other and share information,” said Wilson. “As a direct result, we will increase our cross-communication and conduct more combined training.”