Del. Cline visits 116th IBCT Soldiers at XCTC - June 19, 2014

Del. Benjamin L. Cline, R-Rockbridge, meets with Col. John M. Epperly, commander of the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and visits with Soldiers from the Lexington-based Company B, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team June 19, 2014, at Fort Pickett. Epperly provided an overview brief of the 116th's eXportable Combat Training Center rotation and Cline talked with Soldiers from Company B as they prepared for an upcoming mission.

The 10-day eXportable Combat Training Capability rotation 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.