Page 1 - Ft. Irwin High Desert Warrior, April 6 2018
P. 1

Volume 14, Number 4                 Published in the interest of the National Training Center and Fort Irwin community • www.irwin.army.mil                                   April 6, 2018

Hiring Our Heroes summit brings employment
training, mentorship to Fort Irwin Soldiers

        By Codi Kozacek             end. At some point, whether        job you want. So you need to                                                                                                                   Codi Kozacek
                                    you’re a first-term Soldier or     know where you’re going in
      NTC / Fort Irwin PAO          the Chairman of the Joint          order to package yourself and     Soldiers transitioning out of the military talked with mentors, learned about virtual
   FORT IRWIN, Calif. —             Chiefs of Staff, this ride has to  market yourself and promote       networking, and attended a job fair during the Hiring Our Heroes transition summit at Fort
Hiring Our Heroes, a non-           come to a stop.”                   yourself for the next career.”    Irwin April 3.
profit program focused on
helping veterans and their             The unemployment rate              One of the biggest chal-       resources available to help      of Soldiers and Veterans to         thinking about [your transi-
spouses find employment,            for veterans who served after      lenges for transitioning service  with their transition. Hiring    private organizations, govern-      tion] and educating yourself
joined with the USO to host a       September 2001 is currently        members is translating their      Our Heroes, for example, has     ment, non-profit organiza-          about what’s out there,” said
day-long “transition summit”        4.3 percent, just above the        military experience into civil-   an online tool called Resume     tions and universities. Virtual     Holder. “What you need to
at Fort Irwin April 3.              overall U.S. unemployment          ian terms.                        Engine that helps military       networking sites like LinkedIn      do is own it, be clear in where
   The summit was designed          rate of 4.1 percent, according                                       members explain their expe-      are also powerful tools for re-     you want to go.”
to educate Soldiers and their       to the Bureau of Labor Statis-        “They don’t realize they       rience to civilian employers.    searching and reaching poten-
family members about resources      tics. But even as more compa-      have had amazing training,        The Army’s Soldier for Life      tial employers and mentors,            More information about
and best practices that will allow  nies in the private sector are     and a lot of responsibility at    program helps direct Soldiers    Holder said.                        Hiring Our Heroes can be
them to successfully join the       looking to hire veterans, tran-    a very junior level. So when      to professional development                                          found at http://www.hirin-
civilian workforce after they       sitioning successfully takes a     they’re coming in, they are       and networking resources,           The biggest thing is to          gourheroes.org. The Resume
complete their military service.    lot of forward planning.           trained as leaders from day       and it also promotes the value   start early.                        Engine tool can be found at
   Transitioning out of the                                            one,” said Holder, noting                                                                              https://resumeengine.org/#/.
Army is something all service          “You really do need to          that many of their peers in                                           “It is never too early to start
members face eventually, said       put in the time and effort         the civilian sector do not have
Col. Seth Krummrich, Fort           to research and target where       that experience. For military
Irwin’s garrison commander.         you want to go and what you        spouses, who may have gaps
   “Our military careers can        want to do. Those are the first    in their resumes due to mili-
best be described as a choose-      questions you need to ask          tary moves, it is important to
your-own-adventure. We all          yourself and be honest with        gain and highlight volunteer
joined for our own unique           yourself,” said Marnie Holder,     experience, she said.
reasons, we had different oc-       director of transition summits
cupational specialties, duty        and virtual events for Hiring         “Don’t allow that gap to
locations and deployments,” he      Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber           just be a gap in time. Fill that
said during the event’s opening     of Commerce Foundation.            doing something and be able
remarks. “Our pasts have been       “It’s not about just capturing     to articulate how you filled
our own personal journeys, but      what your military experience      that time, and used that time,
they all have one thing in com-     was or what your experience        to position yourself for when
mon: they will all come to an       has been in the past, it’s really  the job is available.”
                                    understanding how to trans-
                                    late that experience into the         She also encouraged service
                                                                       members and their families to
                                                                       take advantage of the many

NTC strengthens interoperability with joint service partner

                            By Jason Miller                            than normal, thinking and breathing opposing force for the                                                                Pfc. Nicholas Guevara
                                                                       rotational training unit.                                          Maj. Douglas Woodcock, the operations officer with
                          NTC / Fort Irwin PAO                                                                                            2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd
   FORT IRWIN, Calif. — More than 700 Marines and                         Lt. Col. Mark Liston, commander of the 2nd LAR Bat-             Marine Division, debriefs with Army officers during a
Sailors joined forces with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regi-              talion, said there have been interoperability challenges work-     deployment for training exercise at Fort Irwin, Calif., Feb.
ment during a February training rotation at the National               ing with the Army in the past, but returning to the NTC has        6, 2018.
Training Center. The exercise helped enhance interoperability          improved tactical communication equipment barriers.
in terms of communications, tactics and operations for both                                                                                                                     See INTEROPERABILITY, Page 2
joint service partners.                                                   “It’s something we learned last year, our communications
   As the NTC’s professional opposing force, the 11th ACR’s            equipment operate in different wavelengths and frequencies
job is to give Army brigade combat teams their worst day in            as far as encryption,” said Liston. “It’s a lot of work for us to
combat. They do so 10 times a year, 14 days at a time, facing          make sure we are nested with the exact communications as the
approximately 50,000 service members and allied partners               Army, but it has paid off quite a bit from last year.”
who take advantage of the near-peer, conventional warfare
training.                                                                 In addition to overcoming communication obstacles and
   During the February rotation, the 2nd Light Armored                 identifying other small fractures in interoperability, Lt. Col.
Reconnaissance Battalion (LAR), 2nd Marine Division                    Rodney Morgan, commander of 2nd Squadron, 11th ACR
augmented 2nd Squadron, 11th ACR to provide a larger                   said fighting side by side with the Marines also challenges
                                                                       his Soldiers.

                                                                          “One of the advantages we [11th ACR] have is repeti-
                                                                       tion. That’s what makes a football team good,” said Morgan.
   1   2   3   4   5   6