Page 8 - Fort Irwin High Desert Warrior, May 2021

8 High Desert Warrior www.aerotechnews.com/ntcfortirwin
May 2021
Community

Commander of the U.S. Army

Combat Readiness Center Visits NTC

By: Abe Dawoud Hilmes also attended an unexploded ordnance (UXO) brief
Fort Irwin Public A airs and was briefed on how di erent agencies within the installation
handle and demilitarize UXOs.
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Brig. Gen. Andrew Hilmes,
Commander of the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, and “Without a doubt, the way the NTC clears UXOs from the
Command Sgt. Maj. William Gardener, visited the National training area can be mimicked by other installations,” he said.
Training Center and Fort Irwin on April 27. e visit came “It’s an extremely deliberate approach. Tracking UXOs from
with a focus on interacting with the Senior Commanders’ and cradle to grave is something other installations in the Army
Garrison safety o ces to understand the challenges they face. could utilize.”
“Every installation has its own unique challenges,” said During the end of his visit, Hilmes awarded Spc. Yagus the
Hilmes. “By understanding the installation’s Army safety pro- Safety Guardian Award for saving the lives of multiple soldiers
gram, we’re able to learn and propagate best practices. But just in a Humvee when the vehicle’s brakes failed.
as importantly, we want to understand the friction points on “ ere is a lot of training that goes across the Army each and
our installations to see if we could apply resources to x safety every day, but when you look at rotational units coming here,
issues.” and the amount of training done here, I don’t think any other
During his visit to the NTC, Hilmes visited the Safety Cen- visited the National Training Center more than a dozen times installation handles as much large-scale training in volume like
ter of Excellence, attended a brief at the Ammo Supply Point, as a member of a rotational unit,” he said. “What really stands Fort Irwin,” Hilmes said. “Many of the processes when we bring
toured forwarding operating base Santa Fe, and attended a hot out to me from this visit, rst and foremost, is the reputation in equipment by air, rail, and land, may seem like a daily routine
refuel brief at Bicycle Lake Air eld. of the National Training Center to provide safe, world-class to Fort Irwin, but for the rest of the Army it is not. ey don’t
“I’ve been in the Army for about 26 years now, and I’ve training to our Army.” have the same representatives and soldiers that Fort Irwin has.”

Call to Virtue: Where to look when you’re struggling

By Sgt. 1st Class Midine Beauvais we have an issue. Identify the issue and the My inner peace and strengths come
Senior Religious A airs NCOIC, Operations Group root cause of this issue. Ask yourself: Is this from God, and with the help of my fam-
issue causing shame? Am I hiding it? Who ily, I continue to be spiritually resilient
From the earliest days of my enlisting
into the United States Army, I have always can I share this issue with? If I don’t get help and strong. So I encourage and challenge
with this issue, how will this impact me,
embraced the call to virtue. e moral my family and friends? Is it even possible everyone who is reading this article to re-
foundation of our Army is solidi ed in our to change my behavior without someone’s ect on your own spirituality and identify
highly-coveted, Seven Army Values. support, why haven’t I been able to change resources by which you feed and protect
Each soldier is called upon to embody it? Who can help me with this issue? your soul. What do you have in your
these values as the newfound standard For me, my greatest resource is my spiritual arsenal to guard against negativ-
to live by upon entering our ranks. We spirituality. I did not say religion, frankly, ity, lies, and deceits? What resources do
embrace and practice them to maintain because I’m not religious. I believe that you have that can encourage with spiritual
good order and discipline. Especially, in every person needs a resource to sustain and virtues of love, praise and gratitude?
the toughest of times, we learn to practice support their spirit and soul. Every day, we Lastly, surround yourself with positive
these virtues with actions, with words like feed our soul every day through the choices people who always will hold you account-
“roger” and “hooah,” and we carry on. social conformity to appear normal. I mean we make. As a Christian, I choose to feed able. We all need people in our lives who
But truth be told, tough times reveal after all, who wants their dirty laundry be- my soul by using the word of God. e are unafraid to tell us the truth about
true character. Virtue sounds pleasant, until ing aired out in public? No one! As a result, word of God serves as the moral compass ourselves. As military members, we also
we are placed into a desperate situation and we are left to face our inner monsters, vice, to guide my thinking, my words, and my have the bene t of having countless pro-
then we become self-focused instead of and dark secrets alone, because we are actions. I guard against all thing negative fessionals who care, such as our behavioral
virtuous towards others — that is the result afraid of the cost of our transparency and that I know can in uence and impact my health professionals, our Chaplains and our
of our imperfection. We all have issues and vulnerability. What would people think of emotions and feelings. I also use prayer as spiritual leaders. In the end, we are all in
problems that we each wrestle over each us, if they really knew the inner struggles a tool when I’m happy, sad, and speci cally this incredible Army together…and being
day. Yet, we will do everything possible to of our lives? when dealing with negative in uences and there for each other is what our virtues are
refrain from exposing our inner con icts First, let me tell you that you are not energy in my surrounding. all about.
or our vulnerabilities. As we hide ourselves, alone. We all have baggage. Some of this
we resist against our inner desire to connect baggage comes from our story, our upbring-
with others through healthy community. ing, or our culture. We are all di erent, but
We hope to nd communities that allow each of us have our own set of struggles. If Chaplain’s
us to nd others who would support us, you are dealing with a challenge in your life
but often these seem to only be found with because of a bad experience, trauma, abuse,
Corner
pretense and hiding our vices to survive. self-induce pain, or stuck with making bad
As a result, our deepest dark secrets, our choices or practicing bad behavior, there is
joys and our sorrow are suppressed by a still hope. First, we must acknowledge that

For more information go to home.army.mil/irwin