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NEWS | Aug. 3, 2022

Driving the lanes to Army readiness

By Spc. Christie Ann Belfort 361st Theater Public Affairs Support Element

The training supports Army Strategic Readiness, which is the ability to mobilize and project power into contested environments, and the ability to sustain forces in large-scale combat operations.

This year’s STX focused on tactical communication, medical tasks, and squad movement drills. Each lane consisted of scenarios Soldiers may possibly encounter in a combat environment. Observer Coach Trainers (OC/T) observed and evaluated Soldiers on their performance executing the lanes.   

“The primary focus is to get Soldiers trained up on communication which includes giving operational orders, situation report (SITREP), hand signals, and how to communicate and move together as a squad through the lanes,” said Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Price, OC/T, a 3rd Battalion 318th Regiment.

As the U.S. Army and Army Reserve undergo a significant transformation to support the joint force with credible land-combat power necessary for deterrence and decisive victory, units across the force must maintain Readiness. This way Soldiers can meet operational demands to a baseline for performance.

“We have to train to a standard,” said Maj. Gen. Jeffery Jurasek, First Army Deputy Commanding General Support “when you pull everyone together with your experts, we can ensure that standard is being enforced across the formation.”

During battle assemblies, U.S. Army Reserve units familiarized personnel with the Army Warrior Tasks needed to successfully complete their STX lanes.

“Soldiers will go through a real-world situation where we give them scenarios to react to with the intent to communicate and operate efficiently as a team using AWT skills,” said 1st Lt. Dan Conwell, an OC/T with the 3-363 Transportation Battalion based in Los Alamito, California.

During the exercise, squad leaders were given a general scenario by the OC/Ts. While navigating the STX lanes, Soldiers came across a variety of events such as encountering IEDs, civilians, and tactical combat casualty care.

“This was exciting,” said Pvt. Amaya Moss with the 368th Engineering Battalion. “I now have a lot of confidence in myself and our squad.”

At the end of the exercise, squads completed an after-action review of their performance.

“The training we are doing here is very important,” said Spc. Zane Townsend, a combat engineer with the 368th Engineer Battalion. “To stay proficient in our tasks, we must practice and train to stay sharp.”

OC/Ts were successful in operating exercises and evaluating Soldiers throughout the lanes.

“This exercise went great today. We had all the necessary equipment to facilitate our OC/Ts,” said Sgt. 1st. Class Price. The OC/Ts on the ground are very knowledgeable about the task, and the Soldiers had an excellent time training.”