From July 13-27, thousands of Army Reserve Soldiers from multiple units descended on Fort McCoy for the 87th Training Division’s Warrior Exercise (WAREX) 87-24-02, training in scenarios “validating Soldier warfighting capabilities in both individual and collective common Warrior tasks,” and more.
To make sure those thousands of Soldiers have the working training areas they need, such as live-fire ranges, and the supplies they need, such as food-service support, the Fort McCoy team is there behind the scenes.
Fort McCoy Food Program Manager Andy Pisney with the Fort McCoy Logistics Readiness Center (LRC) has often said that “food service is a training enabler.” For WAREX, the LRC Food Program Management Office and LRC Supply Subsistence Management Office (SSMO) stepped up to provide a large amount of support.
Pisney said for food service the SSMO supported WAREX with Class I in the following quantities: Meals, Ready-to-Eat, 17,964 meals; Unitized Group Rations, 62,844 meals; UHT milk, 19,602 containers; bagged ice, 42,000 pounds; and additional enhancements such as cereal, fresh fruit, and vegetables and bread.
“The Unitized Group Rations require food-service capability — a food-service specialist — to prepare,” Pisney said. “These rations are configured in 50-person modules and contain meat, starch, vegetables, condiments, and beverages.”
Pisney said his team always works hard to meet mission requirements and wants the troops to always have what they need for food service and support.
“We don’t ever want it to be a distractor,” Pisney said in a previous article about supporting mission requirements. “The mission always comes first, and if we can support the mission without distracting from it — that’s perfect.”
Pisney said WAREX personnel also used Dining Facilities 817 and 2815 on the cantonment area for feeding troops as well as field feeding teams at Logistical Staging Area-Freedom and Logistical Staging Area-Liberty.
Army Reserve troops at WAREX also trained on numerous live-fire ranges at Fort McCoy early-on at installation completing weapons qualifications on the M4, M2, M249, and more. Range Safety Specialist Erik Christanson with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS) said a large team of people at DPTMS not only supports an exercise like WAREX, they make sure those Soldiers who are training can achieve success because through deconflicting schedules, ensuring ranges are working, and so much more.
“For something like WAREX, a lot of scheduling is done ahead of time so we can have it ready when they start the exercise,” Christianson said. “There’s a lot of work done before an exercise starts, while they are here for any support that’s needed, and after it’s done to get everything ready again for the next training event that might be supported.”
Some of those DPTMS support functions during a training event like WAREX that are extra busy might be Range Maintenance, Range Fire Desk, Range Safety, Range Scheduling, Range Operations, Training Coordination Branch, Training Support Branch, and more.
Other Fort McCoy organizations that supported WAREX training and Soldiers included the Fort McCoy Commissary, Fort McCoy Exchange, and the Fort McCoy Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation and its McCoy’s Community Center. The Wisconsin USO center at Fort McCoy also hosted hundreds of the Soldiers as they stayed at the installation as well.
In a video by Capt. Christina Winters of 84th Training Command Public Affairs, Staff Sgt. Brenda Chairez with the 974th Quartermaster Company said coming to Fort McCoy to complete the training was worth it.
“Being in the Reserve, we don’t really get to do training like that often,” Chairez said after completing a training scenario on a training area managed by Fort McCoy DPTMS. “So being able to come out here and experience that, going through that is really great. I know other Soldiers really loved it. I think we should do this more often.”
Learn more about the 87th Training Division by visiting their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/87thTrainingDivision or their Army Reserve page at https://www.usar.army.mil/84thTC/87thTD.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
