FORT DIX, NJ. — U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers from different units including the 198th Army Band and the 301st Quartermaster Company conducted situational training exercise lanes that included a variety of scenarios which utilized their tactical field training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on July 22, 2023.

The lanes used obstacles in the form of casualties, physical blockers and radio emergencies to force the Soldiers to accomplish their mission while under stress and in unfamiliar territory.

“My squad ironed out a lot of the kinks earlier this week during the trainings,” said Spc. William Dubois an Army musician with the 198th Army Band. “We had some already established operating procedures for what we were gonna do when we encountered certain obstacles and things of that nature. So, I feel like we put a lot of that into practice today, definitely some improves but a hell of a lot of sustains.”

The training leading up to this event gave the Soldiers a chance to practice and improve their ability to perform out in the field, giving them the results they wanted when this event rolled around.

“When you’re moving in a tactical environment, obviously you got to follow whatever guidelines you have for, like noise discipline, light discipline but communication is of the utmost importance,” said Dubois. “If you’re missing a key piece of information, people can definitely get hurt and it can be a very big hindrance to your mission”

In one of the scenarios, they weren’t able to verbally communicate during the exercise. Lacking the ability to communicate verbally forced the Soldiers to communicate using hand signals and other skills they had learned to forge a way forward and accomplish their mission.

“Working with people who I’m already pretty close with and in an environment where we’re not so familiar with, just enhancing those different communication skills,” Said Dubois. “Doing things kind of out of your comfort zone, in different environments, it always helps to communicate in a different manner to enhance your regular communication skills.”