Category: Archived

BOISE, ID, UNITED STATES
02.19.2019
Story by Capt. Robert Taylor

The 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s B Company, 2-116th Cavalry Regiment conducted gunnery Feb. 8-15 at the Orchard Combat Training Center, marking the first time female armor officers qualified in the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank in the Idaho Army National Guard’s history.

2nd Lt. Brooke Berard and 2nd Lt. Lauren Bolt graduated from the U.S. Army’s Armor Basic Officer Leaders Course Feb. 1 before returning to Idaho and accompanying their company to the field to conduct gunnery.

“After seeing the Abrams tank, I didn’t feel like I had another option,” Berard said. “Once I saw the tank’s power, that’s all I wanted to do.”
Both lieutenants will serve as platoon leaders for B Company, which is located in Nampa. As platoon leaders, each Soldier will command a platoon of up to 14 Soldiers and four Abrams.

Berard and Bolt are the first qualified combat arms female officers in the Idaho Army National Guard’s history. They follow other Idaho Army National Guard female Soldiers into the combat ranks since females were permitted to serve in all positions in the military in December 2015.

In 2016, 1st Sgt. Erin Smith became the first enlisted Soldier in the U.S. Army to graduate from the service’s M1 Armor Crewman School. In 2017, Staff Sgt. Kylene Huetra became the first female assigned to the 2-116th Cavalry Regiment as a tank crew member. She was recently reassigned as B Company’s supply sergeant.

Sgt. 1st Class Melanie Galletti graduated from the Infantry Transition Course in April 2017, becoming the first female Soldier in the state’s history to earn the Army’s blue infantry cord. She served as a squad leader in C Company, 2-116th Cavalry Regiment until she was reassigned to a position in a different company and subsequently promoted.

“I don’t care if you’re male or female,” said Lt. Col. Jason Gracida, commander, 2-116th CAV REG. “I care if you’re a good leader and Soldier. At the end of the day, you’re going to lead Soldiers into combat. I need to know if you’re a capable officer.”

Both junior officers know and understand their role on the battlefield.

“We close with and destroy the enemy with shock, mobility and firepower,” said Berard. “Not only do you have this firepower, you also have to make choices quickly.”

The M1A2 Abrams main battle tank is the Army’s most advance battle tank.

“When we get together and put rounds down range, and begin to maneuver as an element, there’s nothing more exhilarating,” Bolt said.

Bolt served as an 88M motor transport operator with the Nevada Army National Guard before transferring to the Idaho Army National Guard to become an armor officer. Both her parents also served in the military.

Gunnery tables often mean long days, with mechanical issues and winter weather causing delays, adding to the stress for new lieutenants conducting gunnery for the first time.

“Sometimes it doesn’t feel like work,” Beard said. “You’re tired but it’s so much fun.”
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05.05.2019
Story by Capt. Rebecca Solosabal

A new commander took lead of the Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing during a change of command ceremony May 5, 2019, at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho. Col. Shannon Smith accepted accountability of the wing in front of guardsmen, community leaders, family and friends.

“I am truly humbled and honored to stand here before you today, and I thank you for sharing in this moment,” said Smith, as he addressed Airmen as their new commander. “Your presence here today is witness to the service and sacrifice of our Idaho guardsmen and their families.”

Smith assumed command of the 124th FW from Col. Tim Donnellan, who had led the wing since 2015 and has been selected to serve as the Idaho ANG chief of staff within the Idaho Military Division.

Brig. Gen. Michael Nolan, assistant adjutant general–air, Idaho Air National Guard, presided over the ceremony and, with the guidon, symbolically passed leadership responsibility of the wing from Donnellan to Smith.

“Col. Donnellan, my hat’s off to you; you are a man of action and your words count,” said Smith. “My sincere gratitude for your service and your devotion to our mission and our Airmen, and I commit to uphold the standard you have so vividly set.”

With 27 years of military service, 17 of which were in Idaho, Smith comes with an abundance of command experience. Prior to his current role, Smith served as the 124th Operations Group commander, and before that as the 124th Maintenance Group commander. He also previously deployed to Operation ENDURING FREEDOM as deputy commander, 455th Expeditionary Operations Group, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.

“Airmen of the 124th Fighter Wing, as you well know, we are always on mission,” said Smith. “This fighter wing is at the tip of the spear, and that is exactly where we belong.”

Both commanders touted the readiness and accomplishments of the wing. Donnellan highlighted the “heroic” effort of the wing’s Airmen over the last four years as they executed the largest deployment in IDANG history and strengthened community ties at home. Smith reminded the wing of Airmen who are currently deployed in various theaters throughout the world, and that readiness, partnerships and innovation would be essential to future operations already on the horizon.

As he addressed his new wing, Smith emphasized the uniqueness and importance of the Guard members as citizen Airmen. Smith said, “We are who we are by design, and we will not apologize for that. Our nation needs the Guard now more than ever.”

“I would choose no other team, at no other time than here today with you,” he said. “Go Guard! Attack!”

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04.30.2019
Story by Master Sgt. Joshua Allmaras

“I think I didn’t get it,” said Master Sgt. Douglas Brock, a tactical air control party craftsman assigned to the 124th Air Support Operations Squadron in Boise, Idaho. “I didn’t get my look and this is going to have to happen all over again. I’m going to recycle.”
Brock was almost to the end of his journey to become the first graduate of ranger training in 124th ASOS history. Although there have been prior service ranger-tab-wearers in the squadron, no one has graduated directly from the unit until now.
The road to this moment for Brock wasn’t a typical one. He hadn’t thought much about ranger school, but when a fellow Airman asked if Brock wanted to put in for it, he agreed. To their surprise, they were both accepted in early 2018.
“Another Airman in my unit did the legwork and got us seats and I give him all the credit for opening this door for me,” said Brock.
Unfortunately due to a government shutdown, Brock’s seat at the school was cancelled, but his interest in becoming a ranger didn’t fade from his mind.
“I went to the NCO Academy and that’s where I thought, ‘I need to do this,’” said Brock.
He got everything lined up and ended up securing another seat. Soon, Brock departed out of Boise for Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the ranger pre-qualification courses.
“I was very anxious,” said Brock. “There were a lot of nerves and I didn’t know what to expect. I was also very excited to the point that I wasn’t eating.”
Although Brock didn’t know what to expect, when he arrived in Columbus, Georgia he quickly found out he wasn’t alone.
“We all had two to three large green duffle bags and we all had shaved heads,” said Brock. “I began to piece together that we all were going to the same place.”
In order to qualify for ranger school, hopefuls must complete a pre-ranger course. Brock chose to attend the Army’s Ranger Testing and Assessment Course where he hoped to blend in.
“I get to RTAC and there’s 120 of us who show up in PT gear,” said Brock. “I’m the only one in Air Force PT gear.”
Everyone had questions about the Air Force guy, but it didn’t faze him.
“I had all this pressure of being the oldest guy and the Air Force guy, but really everyone’s on the same playing field,” said Brock.
The two-week course was over before he knew it and Brock was ready to attempt to move forward to ranger school.
“There’s no guarantee you’ll get a slot in ranger school after RTAC,” said Brock. “I walked over to ranger school and stood in formation for hours and finally got selected to stay.”
The initial course candidates were separated into three companies, each of which complete three phases of schooling. The first phase focused on individual performance.
“The first phase is pretty cutthroat,” said Brock. “The first week is the ranger assessment phase and it’s all individual-based training. It’s not easy and I thought to myself, ‘what did I just get involved with.’”
Being the outsider wasn’t easy.
“It was a pretty painful process for me during the first three weeks,” Brock said. “I asked a lot of questions because I didn’t know the Army lingo. There was a lieutenant who took me under his wing and helped me all the way to graduation. This was the perfect example of how the Army and Air can work together.”
Ranger school isn’t easy, but there was one thing that was particularly tough for Brock.
“Motivation was the hardest part,” he said. “Despite the fact that you are completely worked over, you have no food in your system, you haven’t slept in I don’t know how many hours and you still need to operate. You still need to function. You have to find a way to not only motivate yourself, but also the rest of the guys in the company to stay focused and get the job done.”
The rigors of the course took a toll on every company member. It was more than camping and playing in the dirt with the Army.
“Every phase you have an evaluation and you get two looks during each phase,” said Brock. “You have to pass one of them to move on.”
Through the exhaustion, hunger and increased pressures of the course, one memory stood out for Brock.
“I got my first assessment in the third phase and failed it,” he said. “We were on a 10-day field training exercise and I finally got my second look on day eight. They don’t tell you right away if you pass. They wait an entire day.”
The waiting wasn’t easy. What made it more difficult was watching two of his fellow teammates receive bad news.
“Both of these guys got an hour debrief and I can see what’s going on and they are getting berated,” said Brock. “I’m thinking about it and stressing. I can feel the tears in my eyes.”
The other guys were finally done and Brock couldn’t wait any longer. Eager to hear his fate, he approached the ranger instructor.
”Let’s cut to it, did I pass?” asked Brock.
The instructor was shocked, but put his hand out to shake Brock’s and said, “You got your go.”
That simple statement from his instructor gave Brock immense relief. This moment and more motivated him during the 62-day course.
“Every day I was struggling and it was hard to put one foot in front of the other,” said Brock. “I kept thinking about April 5 and being at Victory Pond with my dad putting the tab on.”
Brock graduated as the course’s enlisted honor graduate April 5, 2019 as the first ranger to be qualified directly from the 124th ASOS.
His father pinned his tab on and his goal to become a ranger was complete. His experience culminated in words of wisdom for his fellow Airmen.
“If you truly want something bad enough, there’s truly nothing that can get in your way and stop you,” said Brock. “If you want to go do something, establish a program or plan and then make it happen. There’s no excuses. You can do it.”

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BOISE, ID, UNITED STATES
03.19.2019
Story by Master Sgt. Sarah Pokorney
Joint Force Headquarters, Idaho National Guard

A team of personnel from the Washington National Guard’s 10th Homeland Response Force, dressed in tan protective suits enters a partially collapsed building in search of possible survivors. The damage to the building and potential deadly argon gas contamination is the result of a catastrophic earthquake and jolting aftershocks affecting southern Idaho. Across town, in a dark, cramped room deep within the Lucky Peak Dam, Guardsmen of the Idaho 101st Civil Support Team assemble a rescue tripod over a dark utility hole to rescue workers trapped hundreds of feet below.

These are just a few of the hundreds of disaster scenarios that played out over the week-long Idaho National Guard disaster response exercise, Idaho Response-19, that took place March 7 to 13 in Boise, Idaho.

More than 350 Guardsmen took part in the exercise. Nearly 80 were Idaho Army National Guard Soldiers and Idaho Air National Guard Airmen, including the 101st Civil Support Team, Joint Staff assigned to Idaho’s Joint Operations Center, white cell planners, observers and personnel orchestrating Joint Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, and Integration, or JRSOI, for inbound organizations. Nearly 250 participants came from surrounding states including Guardsmen from the Washington’s 10th HRF, Montana National Guard’s 83rd CST, and Utah National Guard’s 85th CST. Representatives from U.S. Northern Command and the National Guard Bureau joined the Joint Taskforce Idaho staff.

The purpose of the Idaho Response-19 exercise was to test the Idaho National Guard’s ability to interact with regional partners and support civil authorities and agencies during a no-notice, catastrophic disaster. The scenario was designed to overwhelm an otherwise prepared state.

“When we started planning in early 2017, we envisioned an exercise of such magnitude that it would drive objectives we’ve never performed in a domestic response before,” said Col. Doug Smith, exercise director. “It would include seeking National Guard capabilities outside of the state like the 10th Homeland Response Force and civil support teams, require us to JRSOI incoming resources and stand up a dual-status commander to receive Title 10 forces.”

“I didn’t want to make too many factors notional, so we could really go through the motions as we would in a real response. The joint staff came in piecemeal as they would in a real incident—because they would be victims too,” said Smith. “The staff struggled at first but exceeded my expectations as they tracked both simulated and notional activities.”

The exercise was engineered to challenge the participants in a variety of ways. Day one started with a high volume of incidents overwhelming local first responders and testing participants’ communication skills and established processes. Day two brought fewer but more complex scenarios, which required more specialized response capabilities and taxed decision-making and prioritization skills. As the exercise progressed, the highly complex situations required focused working groups and multi-agency collaboration. The exercise culminated with a significant infusion of notional federal resources, which brought the exercise to a timely end.

“Some of the biggest lessons learned included our coordination with the Idaho Office of Emergency Management and how to support them as well as the process that the joint staff developed to effectively respond to situations as they rolled in,” said Col. Ryan Robinson, exercise chief of joint staff.

Robinson explained that the 18 months of preparation for the exercise included quarterly joint staff training, practical exercises, sending observers to Vigilant Guard exercises in other states and a visit to U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Smith noted that the Idaho National Guard plans to hold another similar exercise in 2022 that will align with the Washington and Oregon Vigilant Guard Exercises, NORTHCOM’s Ardent Sentry and FEMA’s Cascadia Rising, which are based on a scenario following an earthquake and tsunami in the highly probable Cascadia Subduction Zone. Dubbed “The Big One,” this widespread incident is predicted to unleash a 9.0+ magnitude earthquake and a 100 foot-tall tsunami affecting the bulk of the Pacific coast shoreline and western states.

Smith went on to explain that key to maintaining our preparedness is by keeping leadership and the joint staff engaged while continuing to refine the planning and training. “The joint staff needs to stay engaged, which can be challenging as an additional duty, but we’re on a good path.”

The exercise followed the Idaho Office of Emergency’s Management’s three-day exercise, Operation Shared Response, which focused on the same scenario the week before. That exercise included local, state and federal responders. Both exercises ensure that the Idaho Military Division remains capable to respond during a real-world emergency or disaster.

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Story by Capt. Robert Taylor
Idaho Army National Guard

Capt. Haily Barley sees a lot of similarities between her job as a police officer for the Middleton Police Department and her service to the Idaho Army National Guard.

“I’m pushed to my limits, both physically and mentally, at both jobs,” she said. “But the best part is the people. You’ll never meet more amazing people dedicated to helping or serving.”

Barley should know about the type of people who do both. Out of the eight officers in the Middleton Police Department, three are members of the Idaho Army National Guard.

“I’m pretty proud to have those guys on our police department,” said Alan Takeuchi, chief of the Middleton Police Department. “Not only are they serving their community in their civilian jobs, we also have guys serving their country. We couldn’t ask for better officers at our police department.”

Barley, one of the department’s two school resource officers, is a signal officer with the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s 116th Brigade Engineer Battalion. Capt. Mike Barley, is the 2-116th Combined Arms Battalion’s personnel officer and serves the department as a team lead and field training officer. The two were married in 2010 and hired by the department together in 2016.

Sgt. First Class Nathan Hilkey has similar jobs in both organizations. He’s a police officer and is assigned to the Installation Support Unit’s military police section.

“A lot of what Guard Soldiers possess are the same qualities we look for in police officers,” Takeuchi said. “I think the two go hand-in-hand with each other.”

Specifically, Takeuchi values the experience, confidence and leadership skills his Soldiers bring to his police force. He knows those qualities aren’t developed in police officers overnight.

The department was established in 2014 with a part-time police chief and three officers. Today its staff consist of eight fulltime officers, one clerk and a part-time clerk. Takeuchi expects the department to continue to grow with the town’s population. As it does, his Soldiers’ leaderships skills will be useful as the department grows to include captain and lieutenant positions.

In the meantime, Mike Barley said he enjoys being able to do a little bit of everything in the department without formal divisions and sections. He initially decided to become a police officer in 2011 because he needed a job before attending medical school. He said he liked being a cop so much he decided to forego becoming a doctor, even after being accepted into medical school.

Hilkey was one of the officers Mike Barley trained in the department. Hilkey grew up in Middleton and returned home to take a job with the department two years ago.

“I came back here to try to keep the city the way I remember it,” he said.

He grew up wanting to be a police officer because almost everyone in his family was a police officer. He’s been a 31B military police Solider for the past 18 years and has deployed four times with Army National Guard units from multiple states.

Takeuchi said the only challenge of having almost a third of his department in the Idaho Army National Guard is scheduling overtime. He said officers don’t mind covering to help each other out, but the overtime required to make it work can add up quickly for the small department.
Takeuchi admits that a long-term deployment for one or more of his officers would present additional challenges. However, none of the three Soldiers have been deployed long-term while working for the department.

“We’d hate to lose someone for that long, but we understand that they are needed for a higher purpose,” he said. “We would hold their spot no matter what.”

Haily Barley credits her great grandmother for instilling the values of hard work, sacrifice and service into her. She knew when she was younger she wanted to be both a police officer and in the military. She feels fortunate she’s able to do both.

“I chose a hard and sometimes thankless life style, but every day I can serve and protect, it’s worth it,” she said.
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