The 10th Mountain Division (LI) staff conducts its Warfighter exercise on June 10 at Fort Drum, New York. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Matthew Pargett.)
10th Mountain Division conducts Warfighter exercise
Staff Sgt. Seth Barham and Sgt. Phillip Tross
27th Public Affairs Detachment
FORT DRUM, N.Y. (June 10, 2019) – Paraphrasing Aristotle, Will Durant once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Excellence is exactly what Soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division Headquarters are striving for during their two-week mission command Warfighter exercise on Fort Drum, New York. The exercise, which kicked off June 4 at Division Hill, is used to test and validate the staff functions for the division.
The division staff is conducting operations on a simulated battlefield using digital and real-world role-playing scenarios in order to test, validate and improve their systems to prepare them for future missions and deployments.
As with any exercise or fight on the battlefield, there are times of uncertainty, chaos, and lack of comfort. This exercise is where the staff is working out those kinks.
“In any fight, be it the current one we’re in now or any future wars that we get into, we need to continue to practice and rehearse not being comfortable,” said Capt. Travis Shaw, commander, Headquarters Support Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 10th Mountain Division (LI). “We have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Although the Warfighter exercise serves as a culminating event for staff functions, it also helps bring individual sections together as a team.
“Synchronization and team building are key,” said Capt. Lauren Cooper, an observer controller / trainer with the 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade from Fort Benning, Georgia, whose unit is helping support the exercise. “If you can bring the team together, you’ll be fine. Challenge your concept of normal.”
The division is looking to finish the Warfighter exercise strong and make excellence a habit instead of just an act.