First Army welcomed its brigade command team members and representatives of Reserve Component units to its headquarters to highlight key training opportunities for Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve units.

Those opportunities, and the support First Army can offer throughout the deployment process, were highlighted during a Training Support and Synchronization Working Group (TSSWG), held at First Army headquarters on Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, from Feb. 26-29.

The working group's main tasks were determining which training exercises best fit with the respective Reserve Component units and ensuring those units are where they need to be in the deployment cycle. Attendees also aimed to synchronize training support resources needed to build and maintain readiness for the next several years.

Further, the Working Group was designed to give the more than 100 attendees a better understanding of how available training exercises can hone collective and individual warfighting skills. Attendees included officers, senior enlisted Soldiers, and senior civilian personnel from the Army Reserve, Army National Guard, and First Army.

Maj. Gen. Mark Landes, First Army commanding general, talked about the Working Group’s importance while addressing the attendees.

“This is my favorite First Army meeting. It is the one that is most pertinent to what First Army does, which is making sure that training a year out is pinned in,” he said. “The ASRC is the most important planning meeting that the Army does, and this TSSWG is our training for the ASRC. You can fix most every problem that you think you’re going to have at an ASRC, but once an ASARC is complete, everything gets harder to fix.”

Landes also advised attendees to get to know one another.

“Do not leave the TSSWG without your concerns and questions answered, or if they’re not answered, they’re documented,” he said. “Circulate around and get to know people you don’t know. Relationships matter.”

First Army Command Sgt. Maj. Chrisotpher Prosser likewise encouraged attendees to get to know each other and what their respective units can offer each other.

“We’ve got to know what these issues are,” he said. “The sidebars that happen on the breaks are probably just as important as what’s going on in this room. Please take that opportunity to create those relationships.”

The working group made for time well spent, according an 84th Training Command exercise training officer: “I’m learning more about Pershing Strike and what kind of an opportunity that might present to continue that partnership. We have some coordination efforts to support First Army and in turn, First Army supports our CSTX and Warfighters.”

That focus on increasing readiness and continuing to forge fruitful partnerships helped to make for a successful week.