1st Lt. Zachary Simons from the 2-2 SBCT files this report:

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - The 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division is slated to deploy to the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., later this summer, where it will certify as a globally-available and regionally-aligned combat brigade.

The NTC is one of the nation's premier training facilities, and to prepare, the Lancers sent senior leadership from the brigade down to the subordinate companies to a Leader Training Program in Fort Irwin, April 14 - 23.

However, training doesn't stop when leaders are away.

"First Lt. [Henry] Hart has performed very well multiple times with minimal guidance and oversight. He is a very strong leader that shows great potential and understanding of combined arms maneuver," said Capt. Justin Shine, commander of Company C, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 2-2 SBCT, 7th ID.

Hart, a Philadelphia native, is a mobile gun system platoon leader with C Company, 1-17 Infantry, and during LTP, he assumed command.

During Hart's time in command, the company conducted urban operations training April 14-18.

"The Platoon Leaders showed great initiative and discipline during my absence. They have taken ownership and have worked with their NCOs to develop great teams," said Shine.

Hart is slated to be promoted to captain Friday, May 2.

The four military police officers snaked down a darkened hallway before stopping in front of room 203.

"JBLM Military Police! Come out with your hands up!"

Silence.

The four then quickly opened the door and decisively entered the room.

A man with a gun appeared.

Shots were exchanged; the shooter went down.

While one MP kept his weapon trained on the downed man, another MP cautiously approached the downed man, kicked his gun away and began putting handcuffs on him.

The two other MPs checked several other rooms.

"We're good," one MP called out as he and his partner finished checking a closet.  "We'll call for medics for the guy down."

The four MPs had been told that shots had been fired.  Their task was to locate and stop the threat.

They accomplished the mission.

>>> Lt. Rayvaun Smith, directorate of Emergency Services, briefed soldiers, who played the role of "bad guys and gals," before a training scenario. Photo credit: J.M. Simspon

This active shooter scenario conducted at the closed Heartwood Elementary School at McChord Field was designed to add a sense of realism and raise the level of difficulty for the 42nd Military Police Brigade soldiers taking part in the training.

The two-day training conducted at the school is a part of the larger Protector Professional Police Course, a month-long series of learning events coordinated by the 593rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command.

>>> Moving through dark rooms looking for "shooters" during a training exercise confronted soldiers in the 42^nd Military Police Brigade. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

"Soldiers learn what to do and what not to do," commented Lt. Rayvaun Smith, an officer attached to Joint Base Lewis-McChord's Directorate of Emergency Services.

"These soldiers are great to work with; they are willing to learn and remember."

One of the key points that Smith continually stressed to the young soldiers was the need to talk to each other as they worked.

"Communication is key," he said repeatedly when he stopped training to make a point. "Talk to one another, and make sure that you always work as a team."

In a quiet, professional and clear manner, Smith took the time to talk through the challenges each training scenario presented.

"Can you tell where I am?" he asked as he walked down a dark hallway and turned off his flashlight.

"No," came back the answer.

"By turning your flashlight on and off like this, you don't give the bad guys an idea as to where you are," Smith pointed out.

Heads nodded; the lesson had been learned.

"This has been outstanding training, the instructor is very good," 2nd Lt. Erin Hilt said. 

"Understanding urban ops and how to move systematically is great for us to know in keeping this community safe."

>>> Soldiers from the 42nd Military Police Brigade subdue a "shooter" during a Protector Professional Police Course, a month-long training exercise. Photo credit: J.M. Simspon

For the first time since 2006, the Air Force and Army at Joint Base Lewis-McChord partnered this week for a joint training on the rapid air deployment of the Stryker.

About 25 Strykers were flown from McChord Field on C-17s to the airport at Moses Lake. The Strykers were then driven to the Yakima Training Center for a three-week exercise.

"The bottom line is this is a great opportunity," Maj. Reed Burggrabe said, a battalion operations officer in the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. "And it can only be done at this location."

With the military's mission focus shifting from the Middle East to the Pacific, JBLM's preparedness for moving an early entry force becomes a focus. That requires being air mobile, a readiness to load and ship armored vehicles.

"To be an early entry means you have to be air mobile," Burggrabe said. "So, we're able to deploy by air to get where we need to go. It gets us in quickly."

It's a concept that hasn't been practiced because the armored vehicles in the Middle East were already in position for use.

"Our focus has been on OIF and OEF for a long period time," Burggrabe said. "Now, we're moving our focus to the Pacific and this is an opportunity to work those roles and build the relationships."

The partnered training Monday and Tuesday at JBLM prepared soldiers and airmen for rapid deployment in support of the Pentagon's shift to the Pacific Theater of Operations.

"This is something we haven't done in a while," Burggrabe said. "Each day we're getting better and better."

The 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the 7th Infantry Division and the 62nd Airlift Wing partnered in this training.

Depending on how much other equipment is loaded, a C-17 can carry two or three Strykers. Since the state DOT requires two Humvees to escort a Stryker on the highways, about 50 Humvees were also transported.

"You can learn it in a classroom," Burggrabe said. "But you can't actually do it until you do it."

Lakewood City Councilmember, Pierce College teacher and longtime Ranger reporter John Simpson has been training long hours to ready himself for Wednesday night's 25-mile Manchu Mile foot march. He will join roughly 300 soldiers and 50 civilians for one of the 4-2 Stryker Brigade Combat team's final events before the unit's March 14 inactivation.

The 4-2 SBCT Public Affairs office just released the details of the march, as well as another huge event before the inactivation - the Spur Ride.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Soldiers of 4-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division are slated to participate in two crucible events before the unit's March 14 inactivation.

Soldiers will complete the Manchu Mile, a 25-mile foot march, March 5-6 and a Spur Ride March 4-6.

The history of the Manchu Mile dates back to 1900. Soldiers of the 9th Infantry Regiment marched 85 miles during their assault on Tientsin as part of the Boxer Rebellion and the China Relief Expedition where the regiment earned the nickname "Manchus". During the Battle of Tientsin, the regimental commander, Col. Emerson H. Liscum, was killed by Chinese fire and uttered his dying words which became the regiment's motto: "Keep up the Fire!" Those who complete the foot march will receive a Manchu belt buckle, the only authorized belt buckle in the U.S. Army.

The cavalry squadron will execute a Spur Ride, March 5-6 to validate individual task proficiency of assigned Troopers and to celebrate the history and lineage of the unit.

Soldiers will be tested on the APFT and 18 individual tasks, qualify on the M4 rifle EST and complete a 12-mile tactical road march.

See Also

4-2 Stryker Brigade headed for big changes at Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Staff Sgt. Dayan Neely with the 20th Public Affairs Detachment files this report:

The U.S. Army owes a lot of its success in combat to the ability to operate in dark hours. Under black skies blanketed by clouds, soldiers from 4th Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade conducted nighttime driver's training Feb. 27.

Soon, the soldiers will join 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. The night driving was part of weeklong training designed to fine tune the platoon's capabilities.

"All of the training that we're doing out here is going to accomplish our overall (desired) training and what matters at NTC," said 2nd Lt. Shaun Cunningham, the 4th Company's distribution platoon leader.

Utilizing night vision optics, the drivers maneuvered the rocky, rolling hills of JBLM's training areas, moving the convoy through water holes and up steep grades. The purpose of the exercise was to build confidence in much less than optimal conditions.
"My intent was to get everyone out here doing something or learning something new," said Cunningham. "We also are doing a lot of cross-training."

Cunningham pointed out that his platoon is short-staffed and that his soldiers stepped up to handle extra work as a result.
"The training itself was a little tasking because of our manpower issues," stated Sgt. 1st Class Fernando Perez, the distribution platoon sergeant. "But, [the training] has still kept the squad tactics in place, and that's what we're out here for."

At the end of the road course, a simulated enemy surprised the convoy with an ambush. The drivers and passengers were met with gunfire from every direction while passing through a training village.

"I just wanted everyone to get comfortable with night driving," said Cunningham. "And getting them used to direct fire, ambushes, reacting to contact, seeing what IEDs look like, and just the overall experience of what [combat] is like."

"I thought it was great!" said Pfc. Edward Gomez, a truck driver in the distribution platoon. "I'm new. I've only been here for four months, and I'm learning a lot."

Where the dirt road narrowed is where the gunfire on the left began.

Quickly recovering from the surprise attack on their three-vehicle convoy, soldiers spilled out of the trucks and returned fire.

The woods echoed with the sounds of M4s and an M240B.

As the firefight escalated, two soldiers sustained wounds. While one soldier began to apply first aid, the convoy commander - with a telephone in one ear and a radio in the other - coordinated his soldiers while calling for a quick reaction force for aid.

Within seconds the attack ended.

The woods were silent.

A moment later, Sgt. 1st Class Fernando Perez called together the soldiers assigned to the Distribution Platoon, Forward Support Company, 14th Engineer Battalion for an immediate assessment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord yesterday.

He reminded the dozen soldiers in front of him to remember to use the Field Standard Operating Procedures they had learned.

>>> Sgt. Ricky Schneider, Distribution Platoon, Forward Support Company, 14th Engineers, takes cover during an ambush while calling for support. Photo credit: J.M. Simspon

"Your convoy commander gave a very good brief," Perez said. "What made it particularly good was the fact that he made you guys repeat it back to him."

After touching on a few minor discrepancies, Perez told his soldiers to mount up and head for the next objective.

"You're doing good; keep it up," he said.

As the Army downsizes its force and trains to fight in a more conventional manner, its training has to keep pace while remaining combat ready.

A forward support company is a mobile and multi-functional unit that includes a field feeding section, distribution platoon and a maintenance platoon organized to provide support to a combat or combat support battalion.

"We have to be able to get up and move, sometimes without the use of convoy escorts during day and night movements," Perez explained.

"This training sharpens that ability."

>>> Soldiers assigned to the 14th Engineer's Distribution Platoon run for cover during an ambush on their convoy. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

The 14th Engineer Battalion will travel to the National Training Center later this year in order to sharpen its convoy skills.

"We may not always have the electronic warfare capability; we are relying on our eyes and ears as we shift back to a more conventional way of fighting," Perez said.

"We have to be able to deal with ambushes, IED attacks and indirect fire, and this is valuable training for us to get."

Quite often the journalists stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord lead off their reports and feature stories with soldiers doing or saying something awesome. It's a natural lead paragraph. Soldiers and airmen perform spectacular feats. With such a lead, the story grabs a hold of us and never lets go.

One of our favorites at JBLM, Staff Sgt. Christopher McCullough, wrote a report on Arrowhead MPs training with pepper spray. This report doesn't lead off with quotes or colorful descriptions. It just makes a statement. And McCullough nailed it.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Pepper spray shows up on television and in the news quite often. There is a good reason for that. It hurts. It really hurts.

In order to certify their ability to carry pepper spray, military police officers with 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division held training Feb. 21 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Pepper spray, also known as oleoresin capsicum, OC spray, OC gas, and capsicum spray is a chemical compound used for riot control, crowd control, and personal self-defense. It irritates the eyes, causes tears, pain and even temporary blindness.

This mandatory training teaches the MPs what it feels like to be hit with OC spray and also forces them to work through several obstacles while under its effect.

Read McCullough's full report here.

Exercise Cobra Gold 2014 - the largest multinational and multiservice exercise in Southeast Asia, which takes places annually throughout the Kingdom of Thailand - concluded Friday. This year's iteration included forces from the U.S., Kingdom of Thailand, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, and several other observer countries.

According to Rech Sgt. Sean Tobin from the 62nd Airlift Wing, aircrews from Joint Base Lewis-McChord participated in the exercise.

The 18-hour flight across the Pacific not only provided an opportunity for C-17 crews to gain experience conducting combined airdrop operations, but also gave them experience executing large-formation air refueling operations.

Read Tobin's full report here.

Stories and photos of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division's recent training exercises at the National Training Center has been popping up on the Internets more than photos of heart shaped food. And why not, the 3-2 SBCT out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord were involved in severasl first at NTC, including bilateral training with Japanese soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 1st Company, 1st Mechanized Battalion, from Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (that's a mouthful!).

Staff Sgt. Christopher McCullough with the 3-2 SBCT, was one the scene with soldiers from 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which in conjunction with Task Force Arrowhead, shared operational tactics with their Japanese counterparts.

"We had eight Abrams tanks out there to mentor the Japanese and work with them in terms of armored formations and tank maneuvers in the desert," Capt. Christopher Walgren, Chief of Operations for 3-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division, told McCullough.

"This is the very first time for the Japanese Ground Defense Forces," said Maj. Yoshinoki Adachi, of Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, company commander for 1-1 BN (Mech), JGDF. "The coordination with the U.S. Army was impressive because the language was different ... yet we can fight alongside the U.S. Army to achieve the same objective."

The overall mission was to gain a working relationship with one of the U.S. Army's main allies in the Pacific region, Walgren, a native of Gardner, Mass., said.

Read McCullough's full story here.

Airmen and soldier put the "joint" in Joint Base Lewis-Mcchord last week when six McChord C-17 Globemaster III aircraft transported 12 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and more than 100 personnel from the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment to Schoonover, Calif., for a weeklong exercise to sharpen hands-on training in a simulated deployed environment to maintain readiness.

Airman 1st Class Jacob Jimenez of the 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs was on the story:

"These exercises expand our capabilities and prepare us to deploy in real world scenarios," said Army Staff Sgt. Gilbert Wood, Alpha Battery, 5-3 FA Bn., 17th Fires Brigade section chief.

Planning, which began months prior to the exercise, consisted of joint concept briefings to coordinate and plan the timeline for the exercise.

"The prep work, static load training and dry runs that take place before each mission are essential to the success of the exercise," Said Army Capt. Earl Dean, 62nd Operations Group ground liaison officer.

Read Jimenez's full report here.

LINK: Good news! 17th Fires has 185 photos from the HI-RAIN exercise on its Flickr page