Across DoDThursday, augusT 1 , 2013

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MREsOut with old,in with new AA2

Key Army issues identifiedEach week, the Sentinel will pull

key issues from the Army’s Stand-To! and highlight them here to better inform Soldiers and fami-lies on top issues from Washing-ton, D.C. For more on these topics visit www.army.mil/standto.

Ready, Resilient campaignThe Ready and Resilient cam-

paign seeks to enhance readi-ness and resilience across the total Army Family – Soldiers, (active, National Guard and Army Reserve), civilians and Family members. In support of this cam-paign, Army leaders incorporate resilience training into all educa-tional and professional develop-ment programs. Soldiers of all ranks must practice skills that build resilience as part of the col-lective effort to sustain a strong Army team.

Comprehensive Soldier and Fam-ily Fitness, or CSF2, is the Ready and Resilient campaign’s main effort as it is the Army program designated to build resilience and enhance the performance of members of the Army Family. It does this by providing Resilience and Performance Enhancement training throughout the Army, an assessment and self-develop-ment opportunities through online interactive applications.

CSF2 has already integrated this training across the spectrum of recruitment, basic, unit, and institutional training, as well as during transition from the Army. CSF2 continues to expand this effort having opened 16 CSF2 training centers offering localized resilience training at continental United States installations.

CSF2 has trained more than 17,000 certified Master Resil-ience Trainers across the force to date. MRTs provide training directly to Soldiers, down to the unit level, as well as to Family members and Army civilians.

CSF2 will train another 7,400 MRTs in the next year, helping the Army reach its goal of one MRT per company. Also, CSF2 will be opening another six CSF2 Training Centers in the next fiscal year, each providing both unit-level resilience training and MRT training at the local level. Finally, CSF2 is preparing to launch an innovative new online personal development training site called “ArmyFit,” designed to give mem-bers of the Army Family a new way to improve their overall fit-ness and resilience.

CSF2 has a pivotal role to play in the Ready and Resilient cam-paign’s success, particularly in the campaign’s Line of Effort 2, which is to build and maintain ready and resilient Soldiers, Soldier Families, Army civilians and ready units. CSF2’s mission is to ensure all members of the Army Family are empowered to maximize their potential and face challenges that arise while deployed or at home.

STAND-TO!

Section AA

In this file photo, Staff Sgt. Ty Carter provides overwatch during a 2012 deploy-ment to Afghanistan. Carter will become the fifth living Medal of Honor recipient

for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan, Aug. 26, when he is recognized for his actions during a 2009 battle in Afghanistan’s Nuristan Province.

U.S. Army photo

Soldier to receive Medal of Honor for valor in AfghanistanBY AMERICAN FORCES

PRESS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — A Soldier now serving at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., will receive the Medal of Honor for valor in com-bat in Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama will present the nation’s highest award for battlefield gallantry to Army Staff Sgt. Ty Michael Carter in a White House ceremony Aug. 26.

Carter, who will become the fifth living Medal of Honor recipient for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan, will be recognized for his actions in the Kamdesh district of Afghanistan’s Nuristan province on Oct. 3, 2009, while serving as a cavalry scout with the 4th Infantry Division’s Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cav-alry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team.

Carter earned the Medal of Honor during a six-hour battle that ensued when enemy fighters attempted to overrun Combat Out-post Keating using heavy small-arms fire and indirect fire. Carter resupplied ammunition to fight-ing positions throughout the battle, provided first aid to a battle buddy,

killed enemy troops and risked his life to save a fellow Soldier who was injured and pinned down by over-whelming enemy fire.

Eight Soldiers were killed and more than 25 were injured in

defense of the outpost.Carter enlisted in the Army in

January 2008 as a cavalry scout. He completed a second Afghani-stan deployment in October, and now is assigned to the 7th Infantry

Division. He grew up in Spokane, Wash., and now calls Antioch, Calif., his home. He and his wife, Sharon, have three children: Jayden Young, Madison Carter and Sehara Carter.

Courtesy graphic

BY STAFF SGT. SUZANNE RINGLE36th Inf. Div. Public Affairs

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — Texas’ 36th Infantry Division deployed approximately 150 Soldiers to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, July 14-Mon-day, to participate in the fifth Talis-man Saber training exercise.

Talisman Saber 2013 is a U.S. and Australian multi-service military training exercise involving nearly 30,000 troops in a complex and real-istic warfighting scenario.

In order for the scenarios to be authentic as possible, the exercise design included conditions for actions to take place on several levels, including civilian living conditions and infrastructure concerns.

In these scenarios, each separate element relies on another’s informa-tion or actions.

The Arrowhead Division Soldiers’ command and control efforts in a computer center fed into higher ele-ments’ operations halfway around the world.

At the same time, an exercise of this scale allows the division head-quarters to work within a combined task force.

“We are interested in learning staff processes,” said Maj. Gen. James

“Red” Brown, 36th Infantry Divi-sion commander. “Since the 2010 deployment, we have new people in new jobs. Most of the people that are here have done some type of job in a division headquarters, but probably not the job that they are doing.”

The 36th Division Soldiers, known as “T-Patchers,” gained new under-standing of the processes involved at a variety of decision-making levels.

Brown sees the exercise as a

superior and cost-effective way to train those in his command.

“This is the Army of today,” he explained. “These systems that we use are the systems we go to war with. This is an in-depth exercise over multiple days in current Army systems, current Army doctrine and working at a level that we normally don’t get to do. So this (training) is beneficial.”

Ten days into the exercise, new

and old staff members said they had developed into a much more effective team.

Lt. Col. Danny Quick, division operations officer, said this staff had developed synchronization tools he had seen others take months to cre-ate.

“I would highly recommend this type of exercise for other divisions in the Army,” said Lt. Col. Paul Nunn, division chief intelligence officer. “It offered a different environment with combinations of all sorts of geo-political interests, different terrain or problems that we may run into. I thought it was well designed.”

T-Patch Soldiers working in the response cell provided training for the division staff and higher elements by moving their units in computer tracking systems, responding to their assigned missions and sending up incident reports from their area of responsibility.

Many Soldiers acted in roles well above their current rank.

Capt. April Frye, 36th Inf. Div. physician’s assistant-turned brigade commander for the exercise, said, “I’ve had to grab a lot of informa-tion and resources from the per-sonnel around me. We have people here with limited experiences, but collectively we have a multitude of

experience at different levels from battalion and below. This makes our positions in this exercise easier.”

This mission has the Guardsman working two shifts in rooms filled with three-screened computers and the air humming with a palpable sense of urgency. Like a scene out of a movie, the information flow sounds like controlled chaos from the interspersed ringing phones to shouts of, “attention in the TOC!” or, “Call division and get that info to them now!”

Maj. Jessica Emery, 36th Inf. Div. military intelligence officer, who helped the response cell, said she has seen them quickly master their new positions.

“I am proud of all of them,” Emery said. “Over the past week, our level of understanding, across the board, has improved 100 percent every single day; every day it is that much better.”

The training during this exercise was as real as it could get, Frye said. During one incident where casualties were part of the scenario, she felt “a real emotional reaction,” adding she believed that knowing how the situa-tion feels before it happens is helpful preparation.

The Talisman Saber exercise brings together U.S. and Australian forces every two years.

Texas Nat’l Guard’s 36th Inf Div trains with Australians for Talisman Saber

Members of the the 36th Inf. Div. train at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., as part of Talisman Saber 13. The biennial exercise with U.S. and Australian land, sea and air maneuvering forces, command groups and staff, training in the Pacific and the United States.

Photo by Staff Sgt. Suzanne Ringle, 36th Inf. Div. Public Affairs