JOINT EXPEDITIONARY BASE LITTLE CREEK-FT. STORY, Va.  –   Readiness is the goal, with Warrior Task Training being paramount to giving Soldiers a better chance of making it home from the battlefield. The Army Reserve is rising to meet the challenge by training proficient, vigorous, ready, and lethal forces.

During the Warrior Task Training, Soldiers went from station to station, learning each task led by Observer Controller/Trainers. Each OC/T instructed their assigned task directly from the training manuals. Lanes included tasks such as reacting to chemical and nuclear threats, radio operations, treating casualties, reacting to indirect fire, and land navigation. After the lanes were completed, training culminated with battle drills that demonstrated how these skills related to each other.

The intent is for those Non-Commissioned Officers to take what they learned here and the methods in which they learned them back to their units. There, they will disperse that knowledge to their Soldiers so that they are better prepared for these types of situations, which ultimately could occur in combat.

"There's an old saying that goes, the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war ", said Master Sgt. Ronnie McNeill, from the 2-323rd OC/T, Lumberton, N.C.

The Soldiers receiving the training make up Ready Force X units, which are vital in deploying on short notice to meet Army Reserve capabilities to face global threats. They'll have to be mentally and physically prepared for any type of dynamic operational environment because they could encounter a host of diverse situations in combat.

"The way we defend and the way we fight has changed", said Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hunter, 1st Ops BDE CSM and Exercise Director TAF.

"Look at what we've done in the past and the type of conflicts that we've been in, and compare it to how we look at the type of conflicts we are potentially going into. As senior NCO's and leaders, we've talked about bringing back the basics because combat and times are always evolving. We are coming out of conflicts where we were hit with IED's and fought insurgents; now we're talking about chemicals, nuclear, enemies launching missiles, etc. We have to be mentally and physically prepared for any type of dynamic operation because we could confront a multitude of different things in future battles", said CSM Hunter.

More than 11,000 service members from nearly 200 units across the country are participating in CSTX 78-18-03 from March 1 through March 29, 2018.