June 14, 2019 Vol. 12, No. 11 Published for Fort McCoy, Wis. — Proudly Serving America’s Army Since 1909 Fort McCoy supports Northern Lightning exercise BY CAPT. JOE TROVATO F-16, EA-18, A-10, and KC-135, Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs participated in the exercise. Public Affairs Col. David May, the commander of Volk Field CRTC, said Northern The annual Northern Lightning Lightning continues to grow each exercise took place at Wisconsin’s year because of the high quality of Volk Field Combat Readiness the exercise as well as the first-class Training Center (CRTC) from training area and facilities that Volk May 6-17. During the course of Field offers. the exercise, several Fort McCoy “We are thrilled to host the first training and range areas were of our two Northern Lightning utilized for live-fire training. exercises this year,” May said before Northern Lightning is one of the exercise. “Putting on an exercise seven Air National Guard joint- of this magnitude takes an incredible accredited exercises held at a amount of planning, hard work, CRTC. It is a tactical level, joint- and dedication on the part of our training exercise replicating today’s Airmen, and their efforts over the Photo by Scott Farley air battle space with current and past months make this a realistic A munition hits its mark in the impact area May 14 at Fort McCoy after being dropped from an Air Force future weapons platforms. A and rewarding training experience aircraft. The action was part of the annual Northern Lightning exercise that takes place at Wisconsin’s variety of aircraft, including the (See LIGHTNING, Page 3) Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center. SMA: Boards to rank NCOs solely on merit BY GARY SHEFTICK Talent-based sequence Army News Service The fundamentals of how NCO records are evalu- ated by the boards will not change, he said. The big WASHINGTON — More deserving Soldiers will change will be how those deemed fully qualified are be promoted sooner and fewer school seats should sequenced. go vacant under the Army’s new Enlisted Centralized “Previously, the board members would vote; they Promotion Board process, said Sgt. Maj. of the Army would rack and stack individuals based on DA Pam Daniel Dailey. 600-25; and then they would be re-sequenced based Dailey took part in a Facebook Live session May on time in service, time in grade. That process will 29 with Sgt. Maj. Mark Clark of the G-1 Directorate not happen anymore," Dailey said. "It will be a true of Military Personnel Management. They discussed talent-based list." changes to the Army’s noncommissioned officer When the board decides a Soldier is the most tal- (NCO) boards scheduled to be implemented over the ented and all prerequisites have been met, that Soldier next three years. will be No. 1 on the list. “It used to be called a promotion board; in the fu- “That number, for the first time in the history of ture it will be called an evaluation board,” Dailey said. our centralized promotion board system, will show Photo by Scott Farley Future boards will evaluate Soldiers for schooling and you how you rated against your peers,” Dailey said. It JLTV training assignments as well as promotion. won't be based simply on seniority. A Soldier drives a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) through a driving Under the new process, if an NCO cannot go to “We want to change our system from largely a course on North Post on May 2 at Fort McCoy. JLTVs are a new vehicle school for any reason, then the next in line will im- time-based system to a talent-based system,” he said. introduced to the Army inventory, and operator training began on the mediately be offered the seat, he said. (See BOARDS, Page 2) vehicle in May on post. See more photos on Page 5. Inside 348th Engineers Memorial STEM Installation mobilize Day students volunteers This at McCoy observed visit post recognized Edition: Page 4 Pages 6-7 Page 9 Page 11 LEARN MORE ABOUT FORT MCCOY ONLINE AT HOME.ARMY.MIL/MCCOY, ON FACEBOOK BY SEARCHING “FTMCCOY,” AND ON TWITTER BY SEARCHING “USAGMCCOY.” 2 THE REAL MCCOY, FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2019 HOME.ARMY.MIL/MCCOY NEWS Network upgrades start June 24 at Fort McCoy The Network Enterprise Center (NEC) will upgrade Fort McCoy’s network starting June 24. Network Modernization–CONUS (NetMod-C) will standardize the network by replacing network switches installed throughout Fort McCoy facilities. From June 24 to July 16, NETMOD-C will create a standardized, sustainable enterprise network that will facilitate a faster, more reliable path to unified communications and the soon-to-come Joint Regional Security Stack. Upon completion, the network will collapse ARNet and LandWarNet into a single physical Army network, reducing the number of entry/exit points to enhance security. They will still remain separate logistically. NEC Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Information Management services will be affected both during survey and deployment due to resource prioritization. There will be scheduled network service interruptions during the upgrade. Most buildings will experience a network outages up to one hour, but some may last up to four hours. The NEC will do everything possible to minimize outage durations in coordination with unit representatives. The NEC will need access to facilities to perform the network upgrades. Access is currently being coordinated. Direct any comments, concerns, or questions to the NEC or your organization’s IT representative. Customers should be prepared for potential delays in computer repairs or troubleshooting tickets through the duration of the project. Photo by Scott T. Sturkol After migration is complete, call the Fort McCoy Dining facility construction continues NetMod hotline at 608-388-3514/3515 if you have Contractors continue working on a new 1,428-person annual training/mobilization dining facility June 3 in post-migration issues, such as connectivity, printers, the 1800 block at Fort McCoy. The project, coordinated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is being con- etc. structed by contractor L.S. Black Constructors of St. Paul, Minn., and is supposed to be completed in late The hotline is only for NetMod-related issues. 2019. A similar dining facility also in under construction in the 2400 block as well. (Article prepared by the Network Enterprise Center.) BOARDS______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________from Page 1 “I can assure you that it is the right direction More flexibility fied to man our forces so that we could be the will be replaced with an evaluation board that to take our NCO corps,” he said. Under the old process, boards drew a line most lethal Army in the world.” will take place in August, Clark said. across the sequenced list based on an estimate During May, the master sergeant board that Promotion lists of how many NCOs in that military occupa- Implementation was conducted will not sequence those quali- Following future boards, a sequenced pro- tional specialty would be needed at that rank. Education about the new board process fied by time, but instead by merit. In Novem- motion list will not be published, Clark said. Only those on top of the line would be pro- will begin this year with sergeants major and ber 2020, a new sergeant first class evaluation A list of all fully qualified NCOs will instead moted. be followed by training for the trainers. Com- board will be held. be published in alphabetical order. “Sometimes we got it right. Sometimes we prehensive education in the new system will be In February 2021, staff sergeants will be “So there won't be a committed list where didn’t,” Dailey said. provided over the next three years to all Sol- evaluated by the new board for promotion to you have to wait 12 to 18 months to be pro- The new process will allow more NCOs to diers, Dailey said. sergeant first class and for assignments. moted,” he said. be promoted mid-year if more are needed, he Current sequence numbers from recent The old centralized promotion process NCOs will first be evaluated 18 months out explained. boards will remain in effect for now, Dailey served the Army well for 50 years, Dailey said. from when eligible, Dailey said. “This is an evolving, adapting, and changing said. The new process will be adopted over “That doesn’t mean we can’t improve upon it,” “The perception is going to be that we will Army,” he said. time to keep from hurting any NCOs, he said. he added. The new process should allow quali- promote Soldiers too fast,” Dailey said. “That’s “Most importantly, this process will im- The process will be implemented first for fied NCOs to attend school and be promoted not true.” prove Army readiness,” Clark said. “We will the most senior ranks. Beginning this year, the with less delay, he said. An NCO must still meet all the qualifica- now be able to promote Soldiers, assign them, nominative sergeant major board and com- “It rewards those who are working hard to tions before being promoted, he stressed. and train them based on being the best-quali- mand selection boards were canceled. They do what the Army needs them to do,” he said. HOME.ARMY.MIL/MCCOY THE REAL MCCOY, FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2019 3 NEWS LIGHTNING__________________from Page 1 for all participants both in the National Guard and the active component. Our airspace, facilities, and ranges are second to none, and Volk Field is one of the premier counter-land training locations in the nation. Pilots will get to operate in a contested environment with adversary aircraft, electronic jamming, and simulated ground-based threats.” Units that participated in the 2019 exercise included the 115th Fighter Wing from Madison, Wis.; 103rd Air Control Squadron from Orange, Conn.; 163th Fighter Squadron from Fort Wayne, Ind.; 124th Fighter Wing from Boise, Idaho; 174th Attack Wing from Fort Drum, N.Y.; 179th Fighter Squadron from Duluth, Minn.; 175th Fighter Squadron from Sioux Falls, S.D.; 147th Air Support Operations Squadron from Illinois; and 209th Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron from Norfolk, Va.