Hi, Carson

MOS training on drill weekends is a constant battle.  As a Signal officer, I experienced many of the same problems while I was a company commander.  Soldiers want to do their MOS job. Without just passing the buck on this one, I will tell you that your best asset when it comes to this is your BN CDR, LTC Kevin Jones.  I’ve worked with him for years, and he loves logistics. Last summer, he had the only water purification team in the state pumping water from a river in W. KY, purifying it, testing it, and then running LOGPACs to E. KY to support the Engineer BN who were out at the training site conducting combined arms breaching exercises. He’s also really motivated to mentor captains. That’s the KY answer.

Since I don’t know that much about your company, in particular, you mention not having the assets, space, or opportunity.

1. Opportunity: as @rakimball mentioned.  Look for opportunities to send on missions with other units.  I just happen to know that another unit is heading to AT and they are short 92Gs (my daughter happens to be one). You can go to the J3 Sharepoint site and look at state calendar to see what units are doing AT when and then farm out your 92 series folks.  It all depends on what your BN has planned for AT and funding, but I have done that in the past.  It’s also a nightmare to administer. Your RNCO will hate you for it.  Another option is to send them to PEC for logistics training.  There are a plethora of schools available.  Again, this also depends on what year of the ARFORGEN cycle your unit is in.   What about NCOES? What is the BN CDR’s priority this year? My Signal company trained with a different MSC one year because most fo the BDE was deployed.  The following year I brought a Mobile Training Team (MTT) up from Gordon and got everyone Sec+ certified.  How about a trip to UPS? What about Ft. Campbell? One of the companies is now partnered with 101st.

2. Space: Yep, been there too.  Can you use WHFRTC without wasting most of your weekend driving to and from? What about in the community? Can you set up tents and run OPS out of that?

3. Assets: One year I didn’t have tactical signal equipment (we hadn’t received it yet) and I had to support an artillery BN in the field. I used Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) equipment from our emergency operations center to get the job done.  Note: the following year when the same BN couldn’t have wifi because I was using the tactical gear they were a little disappointed.  Whoops. What assets are you missing? Equipment or SMEs? Are there training packages that allow you to train the MOS task? A lot of branches have simulators to train with. Is it that the assets take too much to set up each drill? Can you bring in a couple Soldiers on an RMA the day before to set up training? I would bring in a core group a day or two before drill to get my SATCOM set up prior to drill so when the rest of the company hit the ground on Saturday they could begin training.  I also would bring in the civilian contractors once a quarter to work with the Soldiers.

I hope that’s given you some things to think about. I’m sure it’s probably stirred up a lot of new questions.