Historic firsts highlight NS16

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1 Final Edition 19 Aug 2016 Historic firsts highlight NS16 By Tech. Sgt. Dan Heaton Northern Strike Public Affairs STORM OF THE CENTURY For the first time in the 100-plus year history of Camp Grayling, an amphibious landing took place at Lake Margrethe. The landings by 25th Marine Regiment Marines marked a highlight of NS 16. (Michigan National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Scott Thompson) It is hard to find a buzzword that does not apply to the massive military exercise that took place in northern Michigan throughout most of August. Live fire. Close air support. There were general officers talking about the Baltic nations; Marines storming bridges; and some 22,000 meals-ready-to-eat provided. From the squad level, all the way up through the brigade, then you add in the air piece Northern Strike 16 was as complex an operation as can be put together without going to (one of the two combat training centers in the U.S., said Maj. Gen. Gregory J. Vadnais, the adjutant general of Michigan. Northern Strike brought together more than 5,000 soldiers, Marines and Airmen as well as exactly 56 sailors to operate in the combined 13,000-square-mile military training space in northern Michigan. The exercise, the sixth annual such iteration of Northern Strike, has evolved to become the most complex Reserve-component led training exercise in the United States. As testimony to its important, this year two of the five members of the military joint chiefs of staff Gen. Robert B. Neller, the commandant of the Marine Corps, and Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel, an Air Force officer who serves as the chief of the National Guard Bureau attended part of the exercise, along with the third 4-star general, the commander of the Army s Forces Command, Gen. Robert B. Abrams. The Continued on second page following

2 Northern Strike By the Numbers 2: Number of remote FOBS operating during the course of the exercise 3: Number of four-star general who attended part of Northern Strike 6: Number of state adjutant generals who attended part of Northern Strike (Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas and Wisconsin) 8: Training lanes for ground forces 21: Number of Marines (plus 3 crew) aboard an AAVP7/A1 assault amphibious vehicle used during landings on Lake Margrethe 50: Range number of the Grayling Air Gunnery Range. Incidentally, this is also the number of 30mm rounds an A- 10 Thunderbolt II fires in the first second of firing. The weapon then accelerates to rounds per second 180: Rotary wing sorties 190: Fixed wing sorties 22,000: Number of MREs consumed by soldiers at Camp Grayling, not counting MREs consumed by Ma- 245,000 Approximate number of gallons of ground and aviation fuel used. Above, Sgt. Daniel Osgood refuels a CH-47 Chinook helicopter at the Grayling Army Air Field. (Michigan National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Nicholas Oposnow) 210,000: Approximate number of dining facility plus MRE meals consumed 1.1 million: Approximate number of ammunition rounds expended 464 Number of photos posted by Public Affairs soldiers and airmen to military web sites regarding Northern Strike 16. Left: Airmen from the 821st Contingency Response Squadron watch as a CH -47 Chinook lifts a vehicle that they loaded onto a sling for the lift. (Michigan National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Leisa Grant)

3 Lt. Gen. Raimonds Graube, chief of defense of the Republic of Latvia, talks with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. (National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jim Greenhill) Historic firsts highlight Northern Strike 2016 Continued from first page Secretary of the Army, Eric K. Fanning, also toured the exercise. One of the take-aways for the senior leaders at the exercise was the unique capabilities that Michigan s Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center and Alpena Combat Readiness Training provide. Camp Grayling offers some 147,000 acres of land, spread over parts of three counties and filled with dozens of firing ranges. Alpena 70 miles as Fanning the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter flies from Grayling offers the largest single piece of air space for military training use east of the Mississippi. The true benefit of here is that the land ranges and the air space overlap, explained Major John Rubin, a Michigan Air National Guard A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft pilot who served as the director of the air portion of the exercise. The soldier or Marine on the ground, the pilot in the air, they are directly linked up in a live fire, joint service scenario. Northern Strike was, in other words, an opportunity for the four dozen or more different units from some 20 different states and four foreign nations to train the way they are going to fight in a combat scenario. While the U.S. military is likely to still be engaged with counter-insurgency missions for many years to come, this exercise allows us to gain a high-degree of readiness if we need to roll out and fight a war against a near-peer adversary, Vadnais said. Northern Strike was created in 2010 as a small, Air Continued on next page

4 A C-130 Hercules flies past as a squadron of Tennessee Air National Guard security forces airmen conduct a training exercise. (Michigan National Guard photo by Master Sgt. David Kujawa) Highlights from Northern Strike 16 Continued from previous page National Guard-only exercise, that incorporated fewer than 100 airmen. Over the years, the event has grown exponentially to become the multiservice exercise it is today. In addition to American forces, Joint Terminal Attack Controllers airmen who work with ground forces to direct air strikes from Latvia, Poland and Lithuania and some Canadian aircraft supported the exercise. Michigan, which has been partnered with Latvia for more than 20 years in the State Partnership for Peace program, has long worked on joint training exercises with the Latvians in both the U.S. and in Latvia. Earlier this year, hundreds of Michigan National Guard soldiers and Airmen traveled to Latvia Vadnais for the annual Saber Strike. The Michigan-Latvian partnership has taken on a new importance in light of recent concerns about aggressive actions taken by Russia against some of its neighboring nations. Vadnais noted that the terrain of northern Michigan is very similar to the terrain of the Baltic Sea nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, all of which were former republics of the Soviet Union. The Latvian presence at the exercise also included Lt. Gen. Raimonds Graube, the Latvian Chief of Defense of Armed Forces. Continued on next page Firsts at NS 16 * When a Marine Corps AAVP7/ A1 Assault Amphibious vehicle pulled up to the shore of Lake Margrethe and 21 Marines from Charlie Company of the 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, Marine Division, began to secure the beach just after 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, a new chapter was opened in the long-history of the Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center. The landing, which was quickly followed by another 11 AAVP7s, marked the first time an amphibious assault had taken place at the camp, which has been used for military training since Over the course of the next week, the Marines not only conducted repeated amphibious landings at the beach, but parachuted into the lake from CH-47 Chinook helicopters and C-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft and then made their way to shore. In addition to the Marines, 126 Infantry Regiment, a Michigan National Guard unit, joined the Marines for part of the amphibious training and also made several landings on Lake Margrethe. Video and photos, captured by both Marine Michigan Army National Guard public affairs specialists, documented the landings and is available on the Michigan National Guard web site, * The 4th Platoon of the 1431st Engineering Company (Sapper) from Calumet of the Michigan National Guard became one of the first units to utilize Range 21 at Camp Grayling. The range opened for operation during Northern Strike 16. The range, built in eight months at a cost of $750,000, is used for small-scale demolition training.

5 Marines complete a tandem jump during Northern Strike. (Michigan National Guard photo by Sgt. Brandon Ames) Highlights from Northern Strike 2016 Continued from previous page Each year, Northern Strike has added new elements. Chief among those in 2016 was the presence of the 25 th Marine Regiment, a USMC-Reserve command based in Massachusetts, which conducted a series of amphibious landings in Lake Margrethe at Camp Grayling s main cantonment. It marked the first time such landings have ever taken place in the 103- year history of the camp. We learned some hard lessons during the exercise, Vadnais said. We struggled with a number of communications issues, but this is the place to work those issues out not when you are deployed to the combat environment. In fact, the general said, the communications challenge may have led to one of the centerpiece moments of the entire exercise. There we had an Air Force communications unit from Illinois, working to allow Marines from the East Coast and soldiers from Michigan to be able to communicate through their different systems, he said. To work through those challenges is invaluable. Northern Strike 2016 took place Aug. 1-20, It is similarly scheduled for the first several weeks of 2017, again based at Camp Grayling and the Alpena CRTC. What s Next? With Northern Strike 2016 just winding down, exactly how Northern Strike 2017 will look is still to be determined. But Major Gen. Gregory J. Vadnais, the adjutant general of the Michigan National Guard, said there are several things he d like to see in future iterations of the exercise: A littoral component. We would welcome the U.S. Navy or the Canadian Navy to be a part of a future Northern Strike in the Upper Great Lakes, the general said. Believe me, I am working on that. A higher headquarter presence. Northern Strike 16 featured a Brigade Combat Team-plus headquarters. We really would like to see a division headquarters come in here and stand-up for the two weeks, the general said. An Army Reserve presence, possibly a component of the Army Reserve Sustainment Command. A SHORAD, shortrange air defense system that could be used to add complexity to attack aircraft and helicopters participating in the unit.

6 Marines Destroy Their Targets by Tech Sgt. Jason Boyd Marines with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment practice for live fire ranges at the Marines with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment get their mission Camp Grayling Air Gunnery Range during briefing at the Camp Grayling Air Gunnery Range during Exercise Northern Exercise Northern Strike 16. (Michigan Strike 16. (Michigan National Guard by Tech Sgt Jason Boyd/ Released) National Guard photo by Jason Boyd/ Released) Marines with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment and Joint Terminal Attack Controllers with the 148th Air Support Operations Squadron survey the strike area in preparation for attack sequences at Camp Grayling Air Gunnery Range during exercise northern strike 16'. (Michigan National Guard by Tech Sgt Jason Boyd/ Released)

7 STATE PARTNERSHIPS STRENGTHEN IN MICHIGAN By Technical Sgt. Jason Boyd GRAYLING, Mich. Joint Terminal Attack Controllers with the 148th Air Support Operations Squadron and the Lithuanian Special Operations Force linked up for the 3rd time to gain more experience and hone their skills during Exercise Northern Strike. The Lithuanians often perform JTAC training at the Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center because it provides them the opportunity to work with their JTAC counterparts with the 148th ASOS under their State Partnership Program. As part of the National Guard s State Partnership Program, Pennsylvania has partnered with the country of Lithuania since Through this international affairs program, the Pennsylvania National Guard has an opportunity to host Lithuanian personnel and to participate with other NATO countries. This includes supporting the International Security Forces in Afghanistan. This year s training provided the additional benefit of allowing the Lithuanians to train with U.S. Marines, as well as American soldiers, said a senior master sergeant with the Lithuanian Special Operations Force. The Marine are basically their own entity, whereas they control everything from within, such as aircraft and artillery. It s nice to be able to communicate with them and get a feel for the inner workings of their organization, said the Lithuanian airman, whose name is withheld for security reasons. Coming to Northern Strike has also been beneficial for more than just bringing together the Lithuanians and their American counterparts. It also helps them get the amount of required training necessary to remain a JTAC. There are 12 to 14 different controls that you have to complete about every six months. Said Tech.Sgt. Dan Nicholson, Joint Terminal Attack Controller, 148th Air Support Operations Squadron, Pennsylvania National Guard. Northern Strike allows us to work together and meet the necessary requirements to get our controls and certifications. Working with different units and different nations helps to broaden the knowledge base of all the participants. We try to train with as many different countries as we possibly can, said the Lithuanian airman. It allows each country to gain more knowledge about the different weapons platforms, pilots, aircraft, and even accents, which is a great asset to everyone involved. One of the biggest benefits is the expertise that we are able to gain from one another each time we get together. We are always learning something new and we try to pass all of this knowledge on when we can. We all work together and coming to the United States makes it easier to get a lot of the necessary training we need, said the senior master sergeant. But one of the best things about coming here is that while we are here to train we also make new friends and that is important as well. Joint Terminal Attack Controllers with the 148th Air Support Operations Squadron, Pennsylvania Air National Guard and the Lithuanian Special Operations Force linked up for the 3rd time to further their NATO experiences and perform their JTAC required training for bi-annual qualification. (Photos by Tech Sgt. Jason Boyd Michigan National Guard/Released)