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Issue link: https://engineer.epubxp.com/i/145930
with a Phase III fght; progress to a "road to war" scenario
that includes setting the theater and initial-entry operations
(with additional units not in the primary training audience);
involve operations by Phase IV forces in a joint, interagency,
intergovernmental, and multinational environment; and
then continue with postconfict operations after a traditional exercise terminates? There could be multiple training
audiences for different phases of the operation, just as there
can be training opportunities for higher-level "white cells"
that interact with the training unit commander. As we move
toward "one Regiment," many formations can participate
(virtually or physically), getting training value from a table
that is set with limited dollars. The opportunities are there
if we want to pick them up.
Seventh Army Service
Component Command
A
Army National Guard engineers drill a water well in Africa.
individual training platoon sergeants, or observerscontrollers at a training support battalion? Or are they still
pushing the next assignment to a line unit and another
Afghanistan deployment? USACE districts offer broadening
opportunities; but looking toward one Regiment, are we taking full advantage of the other opportunities available, such
as the Olmsted scholarships, White House fellowships, and
joint schooling such as the Engineer School joint engineer
offcer training?
Exercises
here has been a decrease in overall exercise participation due to a loss of funding. Can we afford to
have exercises that only involve a single component?
Should not all components participate in a troop construction exercise that may also serve to support theater security cooperation planning and execution? Exercises such
as Nuevos Horizontes in the U.S. Southern Command area
of operations and Operation Sand Castle at the National
Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, were focused on
Reserve Component units, but provided training opportunities for all. We need to get better at this. If brigade combat
teams will lead efforts to start the Army's regionally aligned
force, should not other components be part of this solution
by bringing the echelons above brigade force structure that
has been a hallmark of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom?
T
During the Cold War, U.S. Army Europe developed "multiechelon training." Can we not conduct exercises that start
8 Engineer
s resources decline, so too will funding for facilities
maintenance and renovation. Is now not the time
.when we, together with the facilities engineer tribe,
develop demand signals (as a normal Army service component command would use global force management tools)
that lead to associations and missions that hone critical
construction skills, while also helping ourselves? The time
is now for Army engineers to meld facilities requirements
(under the U.S. Army Installation Management Command)
and turn them into the sort of training opportunities that
our U.S. Air Force Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force
(BEEF) and Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers (RED HORSE) brethren
exploit when they are not forward-deployed. Could we see
a small subunit of a "construction effects" battalion dedicated to perform as the repairs and utilities section that
picks up daily work orders from the Directorate of Public
Works and gains critical job skill training at the same time?
Is the U.S. Army Installation Management Command not
the seventh Army service component command? If so, what
is the Engineer Regiment engagement strategy to support
its requirements?
Conclusion
his article should serve to stir discussion about how
we come together as "one Regiment." It is by no means
all-inclusive. It is apparent that we must turn the
turbulent fow generated by fscal uncertainty back to a laminar fow by producing less stovepiping. Above all, we must
not stop the fow due to retrenchment into our basic tribes.
Otherwise, when the music stops, we will fnd ourselves
without a chair to sit in. As always, the author welcomes
vociferous debate and can be reached at