NEW ORLEANS -- In 1992, presidential candidate Bill Clinton proposed his "Rebuild America" campaign. As president, he pushed the Department of Defense to search for innovative programs that served American communities in need and provided realistic military training benefits. He suggested three primary areas unique to the resources and capabilities of DoD: health care, infrastructure support, and youth training programs.
Twenty years ago, the civil-military seed was planted. Since then, the Innovative Readiness Training idea has become a nation-wide reality bringing a new dynamic to a traditional training world.
IRT provides real world training opportunities for service members and units to prepare them for their wartime missions while supporting the needs of America's underserved communities.
“Hands down, this is the best type of training on the engineering side,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer David Miller, U.S. Navy senior enlisted advisor for IRT Joint Task Force Summit West Virginia. “It is real hands-on training that provides opportunities not available in a traditional annual training environment.”
IRT Summit is an engineering training event during which Marines, sailors and soldiers developed an egress road and various vertical buildings in support of the town of Mount Hope, W. Va.
“This has been an outstanding experience for me. As the senior enlisted it has been extremely rewarding to see our service members work as a single unit,” said Miller. “From the operations side, it has been very challenging but satisfying.”
Mount Hope is just one of the many IRT operations nationwide. Another such IRT is Mertarvik, Alaska. The Marine Corps Reserve, Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Navy Reserve assisted the village of Newtok, Alaska in building shelters and a pioneer road for their relocation to the new village site in Mertarvik.
“This is unlike any other training a Reservist may attend during a drill weekend or during annual training, where they are located at their Home Training Center, another military installation or an approved off-base training site,” said Maj. Chad Hailey, 6th Engineer Support Battalion operations officer in Mertarvik. “The quality of training is a reward itself.”
According to Hailey, there are not many AT exercises of this caliber that are available to Reservists.
“The fact is, this is a real world exercise where the work they produce actually matters,” said Hailey. “Yes, there is value in the simple, traditional training that is often conducted. But at the end of the day, that hole they dug gets filled back in, or the structure they built gets torn down. Here, the roads they lay and the structures they build need to be perfect, as they will be left in place for the community…. The quality of their work will have a lasting impact for years to come.”
A couple more examples of IRT operations countrywide are: Delta Medical, an IRT to provide medical, dental and optometry services to the towns of Blytheville, Ariz., Mayfield, Ky., Hayti, Mo., and Dyersburg, Tenn.; and Footprint, an engineering and infrastructure training project in Gallup, N.M., in support of the Southwest Indian Foundation.
In addition to benefits in training, there are other rewards from IRTs that apply directly to the home state being serviced, according to Hailey.
“The work we have done in the last few years has paved the way for the village and contractors to further the development of the new community,” he said.
Hailey explained that the IRT program builds upon a supported community’s economic growth and financial stimulation. The capability allows the underserved people to save and redirect funds inward.
These benefits were highlighted specifically in West Virginia in support of Mount Hope, according to Thomas E. Wagner, project manager from a firm involved in Mount Hope’s local development and one of the main employers for personnel during the West Virginia IRT.
“As a project manager, the biggest benefit of this training is the cost savings, but also the essence of urgency that comes with the military,” said Wagner. “Oftentimes, they will have short time to get things finished. But, as military they are used to that, and they make it happen. It is just better to have that military presence on a worksite.”
“There is also a much more diverse, readily accessible and great collaboration of skills for developing a great product for the users in the future,” he said.
Cpl. Eric Emler, a motor transportation operator with 6th ESB, agreed and said that IRT should be the future of AT.
“This training is so much better than any AT I have ever done,” said Emler. “We get to actually put our jobs to use and get some hands-on practice in the field rather than sitting at a desk all day.”
Miller agreed and said that although logistical support can be a challenge, the push for IRT training has come from its proven track record. He said it’s real hands-on training that provides opportunities not available in a traditional AT environment.
“I would recommend an IRT project over a traditional AT any time,” he said
As the country changes with the rest of the world, the military changes with the country. In different times, there are different necessities that need to be met, thus, the face and purpose of training changes.
With the drawdown from the Middle East and the onset of a “peace-time” military, service members’ training and capabilities are being utilized more and more within the nation to benefit the home front while maintaining mission and operational readiness.
IRT brings innovation to traditional training and allows for deeper-rooted mission preparation through meaningful training, while simultaneously supporting the underserved communities and people in America.