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NEWS | Jan. 14, 2021

3-312th Training Support Battalion mobilizes to Fort Hood

By Sgt. Erick Yates Division West, First Army

An Army Reserve training support battalion from Fort Meade, Maryland, is the next unit in line to begin supporting training and mobilization operations for First Army Division West.

Taking over operations from the 3-289th TSBN out of Beaumont Texas, the 3-312th TSBN officially assumed training and mobilization operations support for First Army on Dec. 18.

“There were a lot of logistical requirements needed to achieve the overall unit readiness for mobilization,” said 1st Sgt. Michael Figueroa, the Headquarters & Headquarters company first sergeant for the 3-312th.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Figueroa noted that a lot of preparation was done virtually, which meant extra time had to be built in the preparation plan to meet requirements.

“Getting prepared for any long term movement is always a challenge, especially as a reserve Soldier. Coordination of civilian careers and family can be difficult to say the least. Additionally, as a unit, we have to meet several requirements, that under regular circumstances, are challenging, but during COVID-19, there was a little more to consider,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Lopez.

“Some of the challenging aspects to be navigated in preparing for the mobilization included the complex synchronization between a 48 percent influx of newly assigned Soldiers and managing COVID restriction guidelines from our command and state leaders” said Maj. James Palomo, the 3-312th executive officer.

Given those parameters, creative planning for dynamic and useful training had to be done for three annual training events in 120 days – taking into account Soldiers located in 11 states, who would need to attend, Palomo further explained.

“Considering those circumstances, we pushed through and arrived with a great team ready to take on the mission,” added Lopez.

Lopez credits the personnel from the 3-289th for being on point and providing the incoming team with everything needed to be successful and hit the ground running.

At First Army, the mission there is to conduct training radius oversight mobilization of designated forces, which can be Active Duty, Guard, Reserve, DA civilians/contractors. The mission ensures units are trained up to whichever regional combatant commander’s standards are for the relevant mobilization to include encompassing the whole spectrum of forces.