Functional Command and Readiness Division Team Up to Support Overall Readiness
Soldiers with the 357th Engineer Company and 844th Engineer Battalion inspect a vehicle during maintenance checks as part of the Enhanced Readiness Maintenance Event (EMRE) on Wednesday in Asheville, North Carolina. The EMRE is a first-of-its-kind event initiated by Maj. Gen. Jami Shawley in an effort to facilitate teamwork between functional commands and their supporting readiness divisions. The participating commands are the 412th Theater Engineer Command and the 81st Readiness Division. If this event is successful, more readiness divisions plans to conduct similar exercises. During the EMRE, an all-inclusive and thorough maintenance check will be performed on vehicles, weapons, and other critical equipment that can effect mission readiness. "We hope to get an accurate picture of where we are and what we need to do to move forward," said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Vols, the motor sergeant at the 357th Engineer Company, a unit in the footprint of the 412th TEC when asked what he hopes will come from this exercise. "Having subject matter experts on individual systems and sub-systems really helps us dig in and get an accurate picture of what's going on," he added. "I love that we're doing this. Without this program and all the support coming here, getting an accurate picture would never have happened," Vols expressed.