In addition to the Pacific, soldiers from I Corps and the 7th Infantry Division also are committed around the world. Soldiers from the 7th Infantry headquarters just returned from Afghanistan, while others are serving in Iraq.

“We have to be ready for whatever the nation asks us to do,” Lanza said. “We have forces all over the world, support every combatant command, not just Pacific Command.”

Fresh off having a headquarters element in Afghanistan, the 7th Infantry Division headquarters is now fully focused on the training and readiness of the eight brigades for which it is responsible, said Maj. Gen. Thomas James, the commander of the 7th Infantry.

“What we’re here for is to build and sustain readiness to be regionally engaged in the Pacific and globally responsive,” he said.

The division has training oversight and authority for eight brigades, including the two Stryker brigade combat teams at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, and the Washington Guard’s 81st Stryker BCT through the Army’s Associated Units pilot program, which pairs active-duty units with those in the Guard and Reserve.

The division also is responsible for the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, the 17th Field Artillery Brigade, the 555th Engineer Brigade, and more, James said.

A Mobile Gun System Stryker from the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division passes a Type-74 tank from the 33rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force during Rising Thunder at Yakima Training Center, Wash., Aug. 11.

Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Steven Schneider/Army

The 7th Infantry headquarters and its eight brigades are “as busy as ever,” James said.

“It’s a misnomer that we’ve reduced in Iraq and Afghanistan so the Army’s doing less,” he said.

Because of that optempo, the division must “take every resource we have and maximize as much training out of it as we can,” James said.

The 7th Infantry will continue to support I Corps as it conducts exercises across the Pacific, including in Yama Sakura and Ulchi Freedom Guardian, James said. The division also supports Pacific Pathways and bilateral exercises such as Rising Thunder and Orient Shield.

These exercises not only allow soldiers to train, but they also get a chance to form relationships and friendships with their counterparts around the world, James said.

“They form these relationships that quite often will last a lifetime,” he said.

Lanza said demand for troops likely will not go down in 2017.

“The requirements are not going down,” he said. “I think the real world requirements for the military will continue to grow. When you talk about the need for the Army, there’s certainly a role for us over there [in the Pacific].”

Despite the high optempo, Lanza said he’s proud of his team and the work his soldiers have done.

“It shows what good, adaptive leaders are able to do,” he said.

It also expanded his soldiers’ views on international partners, as his soldiers worked with troops from France, Gabon, Chad, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.

Thomas, 23, and his soldiers spent a month in Gabon, and for most of that time, his soldiers were working in squads, each paired with a different partner army.

This taught him how to operate in a more decentralized manner, as he bounded from one squad to another to make sure the training and partnering were going well, Thomas said.

“Even though we have different equipment, different ways of doing things, even though there’s a language barrier, we can still work together in an international setting to achieve a common mission,” he said. “My squad leaders were really bringing their experience to the mission.”

His soldiers also sharpened their own skills as they trained to conduct a live-fire exercise with the Gabonese army, Thomas said.

“Our team leaders and squad leaders were able to get in the trenches with the Gabonese,” he said. “That’s where I think the Army needs to focus, that junior leader level. If our teams are as strong as they can be, then the squads and platoons and companies will be successful, and it builds up from there.”

Marfongelli agreed.

“You can tell the difference between soldiers who’ve deployed and ones who have not in terms of maturity and basic skills,” he said. “Before we deployed, there was a significant line between those who had and those who hadn’t. While deployed, our junior leaders got that broadening experience to work in a joint agency, multinational environment and put them out of their comfort zone.”

To build on those relationships, Twitty is preparing to dedicate more OCTs to units across the reserve component. This includes 54 OCTs who typically support rotations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, and the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

“Come 1 January, we’re going to stop OCing our active component forces,” Twitty said. “I’m going to take those 54, and we’re going to put them into other units where we don’t have the coverage that I’d like.”

Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 194th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, move to engage the enemy in a M1A1 Abrams tank during Decisive Action Rotation 16-07 at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif. First Army is working to reduce how much time National Guard units spend at mobilization stations.

Photo Credit: Spc. Daniel Parrott/Army

Twitty also plans to pull back OCTs assigned to units that are participating in the Army’s Associated Units pilot program, which pairs active Army units with those in the reserve component.

Under the pilot, the gaining headquarters unit, for example the 3rd Infantry Division, which is partnered with the Georgia Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team, is responsible for their subordinate Associated Unit’s training, Twitty said.

“What I’m going to do there, the OCs that we would normally have aligned with them, I’m pulling those back, take those forces, and I’m going to put them on others, particularly in the reserve component,” he said. “I think where we have not gotten it right … is in the Army Reserve side. I’m putting more effort in the Reserve with those forces now where we have Associated Units because I can take a little bit of risk there.”

The Army Reserve has a large footprint across the country, and “we’ve partnered with them, but we have not partnered to my liking,” Twitty said.

“I need to put more there, because they have a lot of capabilities that are non-existent in the active Army that I need to put more focus on,” he said.

Partnerships between First Army trainers and their Guard or Reserve units are long-term commitments, Twitty said.

“Every single thing you do in terms of training, we’re there to assist you along the way,” he said. “We’re constantly engaged with you to ensure you’re meeting your readiness needs. I have nine brigades, and each of my nine brigades, they’re partnered with units.”

His trainers regularly visit with their partnered units and work with them to develop training plans, Twitty said.

“It’s a relationship that assists a National Guard or Army Reserve unit meet their training objectives, focused on individual training first and then collective training,” he said.

Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Glenn (left), a First Army observer coach/trainer, observes the movement of soldiers from the Iowa Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, during an exportable combat training capability exercise at Fort McCoy, Wis. First Army has nearly 200 observer coach/trainers supporting the three-week exercise.

Photo Credit: Master Sgt. Gail Braymen/Army

First Army also is working to help its Guard and Reserve partners conduct individual training at their home stations, Twitty said.

“When units showed up for post-mob prior to deploying, we took them through individual training,” he said. “We’re no longer going to do that.”

Post-mobilization training should be focused on collective training, Twitty said, adding that this is another way to reduce the amount of time units spend at their mobilization stations.

On average, it takes about 100 days to get a brigade combat team through their post-mobilization training, Twitty said.

“One hundred days is a non-starter in my view,” he said. “Seventy-five days to get a brigade combat team out the door is a non-starter. With the amount of active-duty BCTs that we have in our Army today, we have to have our National Guard BCTs ready to deploy.”

First Army continues to work with the Army Guard to “come up with the right number,” Twitty said.

“I don’t know what that’s going to be, but we’re coming together to talk about it,” he said.

The goal, under a four-year model, is to have two Guard brigades ready to go if needed, Twitty said.

“Two brigades is a lot, that’s almost 10,000 soldiers in addition to the Army’s capability that we can deploy when needed,” he said.

As the First Army OCTs continue to work with Guard and Reserve, the units are most often asking for subject matter experts, Twitty said.

“For the past 15 years, they have been fighting a counter-insurgency fight as well,” he said. “They know very little about decisive action training. We’ve had to train our OCs on decisive action, so our OCs can train them on decisive action.”

The units also are seeking training on their core warfighting skills, such as gunnery, Twitty said.

The challenge going forward will be balancing the soldiers’ military and civilian lives, he said.

“There’s no doubt that we can train our National Guard brigades to be ready and deploy, but these soldiers didn’t sign up to be full-time soldiers, so we’ve got to make sure that as we take a hard look at this, we also balance their jobs and their families,” Twitty said.