U.S. Army Reserve soldiers recently participated in a short-notice training exercise as part of its role as a Ready Force X unit.
"Our mission is to support fuel operations for about 10,000 soldiers," 1st Lt. Maria Olmos-Abraca, executive officer of the 900th Quartermaster Company, headquartered in El Paso, said in a July 23 Army press release. "It's a lot on my soldiers, but I know they can do it because I've seen them do it before."
Soldiers from the 900th deployed to Fort Hunter Liggett, California, to take part in the combat support training exercise.
It's been nearly two years since the Army Reserve chief, Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, announced his plan to create Ready Force X, a special group of Reserve component units tasked with being ready to deploy on shorter notice than traditional Reserve units.
Now, more than 600 units have been designated as part of the effort to ensure that active and National Guard units are supported on short-notice contingency operations with field hospitals, refueling services and other sustainment resources provided by the Reserve. Of those 600 units, 181 have been designated to provide support in the first 30 days of a conflict.
"We are going to generate for the American people what they expect us to generate," Luckey said in a statement posted on Army Reserve Command's Ready Force X website.
"If you think you've got months or years to get ready in a very time-tested lethal environment, you're in the wrong ball club," he said.
Olmos-Abraca is honored that her unit has been designated for RFX, she said.
"What it means to me is that the Army believes we are ready to get deployed, to do our mission, to support all the other units that are on that deployment," she said in the release. "These soldiers are trained to do their mission."
This level of readiness goes beyond the training soldiers receive in their job specialties and speaks to being ready for anything, Sgt. Scott Partridge, the 900th Quartermaster Company's forward stationary supply point non-commissioned officer in charge, said in the release.
"Combat readiness means you have trained, you are prepared," he said, adding that "inside yourself you are ready to put your knuckles down and do what it takes to get the mission done."
As part of RFX, Luckey is pushing the Reserves take training to the next level.
"One example is a new training operation we initiated last spring called Cold Steel. It was essentially a crew-served weapons gunnery exercise at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, that began in early March and extended for a little over two months," he said in a May 2 press release from Army Reserve Command.
"It was the largest crew-served weapons gunnery exercise in the history of the Army Reserve," he added.
Ready Force X units are also training more with active and National Guard units.
"Whether it is at the National Training Center, Joint Readiness Training Center, or other places, we are making more of the enabling formations integral parts of that training experience," Luckey said in the release.
-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
