DVIDS – News – Soldiers from the Army National Guard and the 1st Infantry Division from several states build their operational readiness during joint exercises

FORT RILEY, Kansas – Soldiers from the National Guard’s 35th Infantry Division packed up their gear and drove in convoy the 125 miles from Leavenworth to Fort Riley, Kansas, June 9-23 to participate in an unprecedented training event for the division: a joint command post exercise with the 1st Infantry Division.

The two divisions developed the concept of a combined CPX in response to changing priorities of the Army, which identified the division as a new action unit in support of the national defense strategy.

Just a few years ago, the National Guard’s eight divisions were divisions in name only. Most consisted of a headquarters without assigned subordinate brigades like their active-duty counterparts. But that has changed since the establishment of the National Guard’s operational division structure. The goal is to enhance these division headquarters by creating coordinated relationships with brigade combat teams, air brigades, supply brigades and other support elements typically found in a traditional division structure.

“The priority of the director of the Army National Guard right now is to build eight versatile divisions ready to fight and win in large-scale combat operations. We are one of those eight divisions,” said Col. Larry Leupold, chief of staff of the 35th Infantry Division.

To prepare the 35th Infantry Division for this role, the staff developed a unique exercise that involved not only two division headquarters – the Army National Guard’s 35th Infantry Division and the active component 1st Infantry Division – but also National Guard Soldiers from four of the 35th Infantry Division’s seven allied brigades: the 35th Division Artillery Brigade from Kansas, the 110th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade from Missouri, the 230th Sustainment Brigade from Tennessee, and the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from Oklahoma.

“Interoperability is a commander’s most important training objective,” Leupold said. “People, processes and systems, and equipment — but there’s also a relationship component. In an LSCO environment, we wouldn’t be out there alone; there will be multi-division corps side by side on the same battlefield.”

Maj. Mike Anderson, operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, said coordination between the two units leading up to the exercise went smoothly.

“We had great open communication channels leading up to the event,” Anderson said. “We received the 35th Infantry Division’s planning and tactics briefs in advance, so we understood some of their specific terminology and how they do things. Seeing how division personnel talk about it and put it into practice was invaluable.”

Anderson said that while he has had the opportunity to train with National Guard units in the past, it has not been as part of a command post exercise of this nature.

Because the active component lacks some of the military specializations and organizations needed to support the full Army, Anderson said it is critical that the active component train with the National Guard and Reserve components to achieve full Army readiness.

“We know we rely on the other components,” Anderson said. “And the last place we want to do that for the first time – to understand the personalities and capabilities – is in combat.”

Anderson explained that training events like this CPX not only provide division headquarters with an opportunity to practice collaboration, but are also important because they give management at multiple levels the opportunity to give and receive feedback.

“Sometimes we develop a plan and we’re not our own worst critics,” Anderson said. “It’s difficult to get feedback without a subordinate unit saying, ‘Hey, this is my detailed planning two levels below you, and these are the impacts I see that could disrupt your higher headquarters’ plan.'”

Maj. Chris Koochel, 35th Division Artillery Brigade Operations Officer, reiterated the importance of being able to practice synchronization in echelon formation.

The 35th DIVARTY is a brand new unit that will celebrate its official activation at a ceremony in September.

“In general, DIVARTYs go hand in hand with their division,” Koochel said. “As a new organization in the 35th Infantry Division, our main focus was integration – figuring out how we delineate between the division fire cell and DIVARTY. This can come in many forms, whether it’s targeting processes or product development, the military decision-making process and differentiating roles and responsibilities by organization.”

“We are an executor of the department’s plan, so the more we know about the department’s processes, the better our future collaboration will be,” Koochel said.

Koochel said the exercise was fast-paced and a lot was learned in a snap.

“We compressed a lot of planning processes into a few days,” Koochel said. “And then we implemented those plans through a 48-72 hour ‘battle’ over the air mission. I think we have a much better shared understanding now, but there is always room for improvement.”

The 35th DIVARTY Battalion, co-located with the division headquarters in Leavenworth, stated that continued cooperation with the 35th Inf. Div. following CPX will be critical to the division’s success.

“We were able to start building the framework and infrastructure for our standard operating procedures,” Koochel said. “And then in the future, as we get further iteration through other exercises, plans and operational directives that we receive over the next few months, we will continue to validate that framework and build upon it to codify our standards and processes.”
At the end of the exercise, the leadership of the 35th Infantry Division stated that they considered the combined CPX a great success.

“It is significant that the 35th Infantry Division is going through a transition in the life cycle of a unit: we are moving from a modernization year to a first year of training,” said Leupold. “So we are still at a very early stage of preparation to participate in a CPX of this level with a first component division.”

Leupold said the CPX not only provided division personnel with the opportunity to create a learning environment where the two divisions could share best practices, but it was also a critical step in the 35th Infantry Division’s overall training plan.

“During this CPX, we will gain additional field experience in MDMP and tasking and rehearse key events we will be required to conduct during the expanded response cell when supporting the 36th Infantry Division at Warfighter 25-5,” said Leupold.

Leupold said the 35th Infantry Division’s ultimate goal is to lay the foundation early with high-quality “sets and repetitions” as the division prepares for its own validation exercise, Warfighter 26-4, and subsequent operational deployments.

“We want to be able to not only do a task, but we want to master the craft and excel during the preparatory phase,” Leupold said. “You can’t just show up to a Soldier and say, ‘Okay, now we’re at this peak and we’re going to do it really well.’ We all know that starts now.”

Major General John Rueger, commanding general of the 35th Infantry Division, said we must start now to look to the future and consider the lessons learned from CPX and all partner organizations involved.

“This exercise was unprecedented for the 35th Regiment,” said Rueger. “We have been innovative in our training. This CPX helped us see ourselves and I don’t think we could have achieved this level of training any other way. Now we need to take the input and figure out what things we need to work on over the next few months leading up to the next CPX and beyond.”