Division West streamlines aviator mobe process

Staff Sgt. Tony M. Lindback, Div. West Public Affairs
Thursday, July 29, 2010

Birds of a feather from the Army National Guard’s aviation community flocked together July 20-22 at North Fort Hood for an Aviation Joint Assessment, an event previously held in Georgia.

The change in location was facilitated by completion of the Longhorn Airstrip expansion, which contributed to Fort Hood becoming the premier mobilization training platform for most reserve component aviation assets.

To better serve aviation units that will mobilize and demobilize here, First Army Division West hosted the assessment exercise which included representatives from the National Guard Bureau, First Army, First Army Division West and units of the Army National Guard. The main purpose of the assessment is to identify the strengths, weaknesses and needs of each unit before its mobilization date, or M-day. Bringing the AJA to Fort Hood gives unit leaders a chance to become familiar with the ranges and to obtain first-hand knowledge of the amenities available for training exercises.

“The AJA is something that has come about due to constant (after action reviews),” Maj. Steven Traweek, a Division West logistics support officer, said.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to improve. Three or four years ago we didn’t have the AJA – at least not as regularly as we have now. So, a lot of units would show up to the mobe site not really understanding how the process works.

“The AJA really gives us the opportunity to meet the units,” he added. “It’s done 365 days out now. A year in advance, now, the unit gets to meet who is going to mobe them and how this is going to work.”

Giving units an idea of what is to come helps pinpoint their needs before mobilizing. Leadership and key personnel present their unit’s status on personnel, training and equipment at different stations during the assessment.

“An aviation joint assessment is a lot like a (Soldier readiness process) at the unit level,” said Staff Sgt. Clay Lankford with the National Guard Bureau.

“Soldiers have to go from station to station during an SRP to determine their individual level of readiness – this is basically the same process on the unit level,” he added.

Personnel, equipment and training are major points of interest for each unit during the AJA. Finding shortcomings in any category gives the unit, the NGB and First Army opportunities to determine action that should be taken to address deficiencies through cross-leveling of Soldiers, transferring equipment or coordinating necessary training.

The National Guard structure benefits from having cooperative efforts like the AJA and resources like the NGB that can reach across state lines.

“There are really 54 National Guards – 54 different chains of command. That’s one for every state and territory,” Lankford said. “The AJA gives a kind of order to that by getting units to talk to us, and each other, because some units will be crossing state lines for deployments.”

Lankford said crossing state lines means units will have to reach outside their state’s borders to obtain equipment or personnel they need for mobilization. The NGB aids in locating and making those assets available.

To address the units’ other major training needs, representatives of First Army and First Army Division West were on hand. Capt. Richard Palagonia, an officer with the First Army’s operations/plans office, works with Guard aviation units on a regular basis and reviewed the aviators’ training plans at the AJA.

“It has been pretty tough for me as an active-duty guy taking on the responsibility of (National Guard) lead,” Palagonia said. “It was tough at first dealing with the different states, but once you get to know the main people and figure out who they are, it’s pretty easy.”

“Since we have the unit, their subject matter experts and our subject matter experts here, we can look at the unit and say ‘Here are some areas you need to work on,’” Traweek said. “If they’re short on people, equipment or training, we then look to see what we can leverage from ourselves, First Army, FORSCOM and the NGB to fix them so they’re 100 percent ready to train and to perform their tasks when they arrive at the mobilization center.

“One of the other key points,” he added, “is to discuss what the unit is expected to do in pre-mobe training. Something that’s happening now is units are expected to do more training leading up to their mobilization date.”

Armed with the readiness assessments of their units obtained through the AJA, the soon-to-mobilize units can return to their home stations, address their personnel and equipment issues, schedule needed training, and have a greater understanding of the facilities they will have at their disposal.