Fort Sill units display task force readiness on rails for exercise

Soldiers from various Fort Sill units performed railhead operations Jan. 8 in preparation for an Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise (EDRE).

The III Corps commander initiated an EDRE to test the unit’s ability to alert, recall and deploy portions of 75th Field Artillery Brigade; 2nd Battalion, 18th Field Artillery Regiment; 4th Battalion, 60th Air Defense Artillery Regiment; and 69th Forward Support Company.

These units’ railhead operations entailed loading dozens of wheeled and tracked military vehicles onto rail cars to get them to the National Training Center (NTC) in Fort Irwin, California.

Col. Stephen Walker, 75th FA Brigade commander, said despite the cold weather and rain, the rail operations went well and everyone stayed safe.

“[This EDRE] is important to us to ensure we don’t rest on our laurels,” Walker said, “to ensure we have systems in place and the readiness to be able to project for [Forces Command] and support the missions our country asks us to do.”

The Army routinely conducts EDREs to assess the overall ability to provide the national command authority options to deploy Army ground forces with no notice or on short notice.

Lt. Col. Richard Farnell, 2-18th FA commander, said the railhead operations wasn’t the start of the EDRE process for his Soldiers, but a culmination of their day-to-day training to prepare for combat at a moment’s notice.

“We have to live deployable and to stay ready at all times,” Farnell said. “That starts with making sure we have 10-20 standard maintenance done on our vehicles, making sure we understand what our Unit Deployment List looks like so we can configure our vehicles in our motor pool to line up against that UDL, so we can get out there, wherever they may call us to go, expeditiously.”

Sgt. 1st Class Chad Payne, a master gunner with 2-18th FA, said EDREs are a great way for young Soldiers to experience and train on what a combat deployment would be like before going on a combat deployment.

“I love the fact our motto is ‘Mission Ready,’” Payne said. “That’s what we always instill in the new Soldiers coming in. And we always tell them that at a moment’s notice, we might get pulled overseas to do the next event. We look forward to that, I think — it brings the morale up a lot. And it’s always people first when it comes down to it.”

The Army’s training is designed to provide extremely capable and agile forces to meet combatant commander requirements. EDREs are routine training events in the Army and are not called in response to any ongoing political or military situation.

Spc. Bryden Jordan, a gunner with 2-18th FA, said rail operations were well-organized, there was a huge priority on safety and leadership made sure everyone at all levels knew what they were doing so they could be successful in their EDRE training.

“I’m looking forward to some really good training,” Jordan said. “I think it’ll be good for our battery to really get that cohesion we need, so our sections can have that camaraderie and can trust each other. When the mission does come down, we all have each other’s back so we can complete the mission and come home safely.”

Spc. Adrian Morales, a young fire control support specialist with 2-18th FA who has been in the Army less than three years, said he and his battle buddies keep each other motivated so they can keep on the right path and come back from training in one piece.

“For my first [EDRE] experience,” Morales said, “everything is moving very smoothly and happily, thank God.”

Additionally, Soldiers from 4-60th ADA exercised loading other vehicles onto a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 at the Fort Sill airfield on Wednesday in preparation for the EDRE.

Payne said safety is the biggest concern when loading vehicles to deploy, but success is achieved when Soldiers are empowered.

“Like the boss says, if you’ve ever talked to Lt. Col. Farnell, that ‘mission ready’ is always forward and in the front of our minds,” Payne said.

Farnell said Army success and readiness start with the right mindset–if Soldiers’ minds are right, then the rest of the tasks will come easy.

“If their minds are focused on being ready, and they understand what the mission is, anything is accomplishable,” Farnell said.