Latest news with #IowaArmyNationalGuard
American Press
21 hours ago
- General
- American Press
Under pressure: More than 4,000 Iowa National Guard soldiers train at Fort Polk
From junior enlisted soldiers to senior Iowa Army National Guard leaders, all participants endured mental, physical and emotional exhaustion during their training at Fort Polk. (Special to the American Press) By Sgt. Ryan Reed | Special to the News Leader FORT POLK — More than 4,000 soldiers from the Iowa Army National Guard trained throughout June at Fort Polk, undergoing one of the Army's most demanding combat training events in preparation for an upcoming overseas deployment. Known since the Vietnam War era as 'Tigerland,' Fort Polk and the Joint Readiness Training Center have become synonymous with forging combat-ready soldiers through intense, realistic training. For Iowa's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry division, this rotation marks a pivotal moment: their first full brigade deployment since 2010. At the Joint Readiness Training Center, or JRTC, soldiers are evaluated under pressure. Their minds are stressed, their physical limits are tested and their endurance is pushed to the edge. From junior enlisted soldiers to senior Iowa Army National Guard leaders, all participants endure mental, physical and emotional exhaustion. The JRTC is one of four Army combat training centers. The others are the Joint Multinational Readiness Cente in Hohenfels, Germany; the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. The JRTC, however, is known for being the most grueling. The simulated combat environment, complete with force-on-force scenarios and constant stressors, provides soldiers with some of the most realistic training they will encounter in their careers. 'There are a lot of methods that we use to test soldiers while they're in the training area. One is simply the stress and pressure of combat,' said Brig. Gen. Derek Adams, the senior trainer for rotation 25-08. 'We try to simulate that as best we can.' As the senior trainer, Adams works closely with observer-coach/trainers and the JRTC leadership to design, execute and evaluate the training rotation. He coordinates with the operations group, which oversees the exercise, monitors unit performance across all war-fighting functions and delivers objective feedback through after-action reviews to improve readiness at every level. 'JRTC emphasizes DOD's priorities of lethality, war fighting and readiness by training the entire brigade combat team, from the individual Soldiers to the brigade combat team level,' Adams said. 'It's a large, complex organization, and this training reflects that.' This type of training marks a broader shift in Army doctrine. The Army is transitioning from the counterinsurgency operations of the past two decades to large-scale combat operations, or LSCO. Large-scale combat operations prepare soldiers for potential conflicts with near-peer adversaries by emphasizing large-scale maneuvers, complex logistics and sustained combat power. 'LSCO changes sustainment operations sheerly in the magnitude of what occurs,' said Col. Tony Smithhart, commander of the 734th Regional Support Group. 'You're talking about large numbers of soldiers, large numbers of equipment.' The Regional Support Group is structured to provide logistical support to up to 20,000 soldiers in a deployed environment. As the Regional Support Command for the JRTC, the RSG was tasked with coordinating all sustainment efforts. This included feeding more than 5,800 soldiers, managing medical treatment and staging and preparing more than 2,500 pieces of equipment for operation. Planning for the JRTC began more than a year before the first boots hit the ground. 'I made my first trip to Fort Polk about 18 months ago to determine the actual area we'd operate in,' Smithhart said. 'Since then, my team at the 734th Regional Support Group has returned about six times to coordinate with Fort Polk staff, validate our node concepts and rehearse operations to support reception, staging, onward integration and base camp management.' The JRTC has earned its reputation. The environment is humid and rainy, the terrain is unforgiving and the scenarios evolve constantly. All of these factors come together to form a stressful and taxing exercise, but one that will toughen Soldiers. 'The scale of this operation is critical to the development of our soldiers,' Smithhart said. 'It's been called a generational training opportunity, and I believe that's accurate.'
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wrestling fans have fun at the State Tournament
DES MOINES, Iowa — At the State Wrestling Tournament in Wells Fargo Arena, there's lots to see besides wrestling. In one corner of the venue there are rows and rows of high school cheerleaders waiting their turn to get on the mat to cheer their schools' wrestlers. 'It's really cool because you're going to be up close to all the action and see everything up close,' said Junior Cheerleader, Ella Johnson of AHSTW School in Avoca. 'I like everything about it,' said Junior Cheerleader, Kayla Lund. 'Such a great experience. I've met a lot of fun people through this and I get to cheer for my cousin which is super awesome, and he's doing really good so far.' For many fans, coming to the State Tournament means picking up a cool t-shirt. 'I gotta get the shirt and they have all sorts of designs that you could put on there and get it customized to what you want,' said Kayla Wingert, of Logan. 'You come out here with everybody and it's memorable and you make a lot of memories along the way.' Highlights from Iowa boys state wrestling tournament semifinals 'Pretty much you can come and get any T-shirt item or sweatshirt item any logo I have here on the table, put anywhere on the T-shirt or sweatshirt,' said Earl McClure, who runs a t-shirt printing company. McClure said he plans to offer the same type of t-shirts for girls and boys state tournaments. People also enjoyed the high striker, which you hit with a hammer to see what kind of score you can get. The Iowa Army National Guard brought this item, not to sign up recruits, but to let people know about the Guard. 'This is one of our more popular events, and kids can do it all the way through adults. You know it's fun for like moms and fathers, they come over and see the kids do it and then completely obliterate their score,' said Alex Niehaus, of the Iowa National Guard. 'We want to make people aware of who we are at the National Guard, mainly what we do so like a natural disasters like spring if flooding were to happen, we're the ones that respond to that.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
