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Soldiers train chemical training mission

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Gerrelaine Alcordo
  • 174th Infantry Brigade Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  First Army trainers from the Midwest and East Coast came together to transition a training mission and prepare a deploying chemical unit for its Operation Enduring Freedom mission.

Soldiers of the 174th Infantry Brigade's 1-314th Infantry Regiment, joint base, and the 157th Infantry Brigade's, 2nd-289th Field Artillery, Camp Atterbury, Ind., prepared troops of the 401st Chemical Co., Boston, with their mission specific training of the duties they are set to perform in Kuwait.

The 314th as a result of the training will now oversee training for similar organizations assigned to a chemical mission here.

"This was a combined effort that required detailed planning, rehearsals and execution between the two 1st Army Division East units as well as the 401st Chemical Company," said Lt. Col. Dwight Griffith, 1-314th Infantry Regiment Battalion commander, 174th Infantry Brigade. "The validation of the O-C/Ts is a priority for any mission but was critical during this transition. We develop our trainers to coach units on not only small unit tactics and leadership but on chemical specific collective and individual tasks as well."

The reason for the transition is a part of a First Army reorganization plan to gain fiscal and training efficiencies by partnering with U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard units to support training under the Army Force Generation Model, a five year plan to a units' scheduled mobilization-in the pre-mobilization training cycle.

First Army Soldiers, known as Observer-Coach/Trainers, from the 289th were very prepared for the 401st Chemical's training mission and establishing their partnership with the 314th, said Capt. Benjamin Koczera, assistant operations officer of the 314th.

"The key to the combined success of the 157th and the 174th was with the in-depth rehearsals that the partnered O-C/T teams conducted together," said Koczera.

1st Lt. Christopher Heck, operations officer, Bell, Calif., based 307th Chemical Company, 453rd Chemical Battalion, 505th Signal Brigade pointed even the most experienced chemical officers have to go back to the basics while training others.

"Being a chemical officer, some things comes second nature (to me)... but having to explain it to those whose branch, or military occupation specialty, isn't chemical makes me slow down and think," said Heck.

Although, training the 1-314th for their upcoming responsibilities as the primary chemical training unit, providing quality training to the 401st for their upcoming deployment to Kuwait and mission specific tasks was still a top priority.

"The training that the 401st experienced here was a beneficial experience to the company for their deployment to Kuwait, but also for the mission that they are reinforcing," said Heck. "The company is prepared to now respond to the ARCENT area of operations with many different possibilities and scenarios they may be faced with."

First Army Division East, in partnership with the USAR and ARNG, advises assists and trains Reserve Component Forces, in both pre and post mobilization through multi- component integrated collective training, in accordance with Army Total Force Policy, Department of the Army, FORSCOM and First Army directives in order to achieve ARFORGEN directed readiness requirements.