Montana Guard Soldiers “MOUT” Up in Helena
"What did you do this weekend?" That's a good water cooler question many of us ask at the office on a Monday, right? It's also the question posed by the Montana Army National Guard.
Here's what the soldiers of B. Co. 1-163rd did over the weekend:
Credit goes to Staff Sgt. Christopher A. Hoffert for putting that video together.
According to video shared by DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service), the combined arms battalion soldiers conducted a company assault as part of their urban operations training at Fort Harrison, Montana over the weekend:
The exercise began with Bravo Company being air assaulted to a landing Zone (LZ) by CH-47 helicopters from the 1-189th General Support Aviation Battalion based out of Helena, Montana. From the LZ, Bravo Company foot marched to the MOUT site where they began their assault. They fired blank and simulated (SIM) rounds while moving towards their objectives as opposing forces (OPFOR) employed SIM rounds as well in an attempt to delay or stop their advance. This sort of direct contact training allows our Guard members, Soldiers and leaders, to react to real time conditions and changes on the battlefield.
*Note: MOUT training stands for "military operations in urban terrain."
These soldiers obviously have to train to be ready to potentially serve in multiple different countries and environments. According to the National Guard Bureau's 2021 Posture Statement, Guard troops are currently deployed in multiple locations:
More than 16,000 Army Guard Soldiers are deployed in support of missions in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Ukraine, Poland, Kosovo, Eastern Europe, the Horn of Africa, Central and South America, and the Sinai Peninsula.
More than 1,200 Guard Airmen from 48 units served in nine different locations while filling 33% of the Total Force’s civil engineer needs overseas last year.
Click here to read the full posture statement.
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