Senator Ruff visits 429th BSB Soldiers at XCTC - June 19, 2014

State Senator Frank M. Ruff, R-Clarksville visits Virginia National Guard Soldiers assigned to the Danville-based 429th Brigade Support Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team conducting consolidated battle drills during annual training June 19, 2014, at Fort Pickett, Va. The battle drill training was part of the 10-day eXportable Combat Training Capability rotation.

XCTC is designed to train and validate platoons on tasks that support offensive and defensive operations under daylight and hours of limited visibility. Units will concentrate on training selected mission essential tasks in a realistic field environment to refocus junior leaders on tactical field craft. The Army National Guard’s XCTC program provides an experience similar to a Combat Training Center to Guard Soldiers at a home station training center, minimizing cost and time away from home and jobs. XCTC is an instrumented field training exercise designed to certify unit proficiency in coordination with First Army.