National Guard Soldiers learn combat focused lifesaving procedures during GOLDEN COYOTE 2018. Instructors from the District of Columbia Army National Guard Medical Detachment are training over 100 service members from three different units. Released by the SD National Guard Public Affairs Office.
The South Dakota Army National Guard hosted the 34th iteration of Golden Coyote, a long-running National Guard exercise held in South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest and Custer State Park.
Inaugurated in 1984, the exercise began as a small training exercise solely for the South Dakota Army National Guard. Over the years, it has grown into an annual event garnering thousands of participants from multiple States and countries.
“It initially started to ensure that our State units had an opportunity to fulfill their annual training requirements,” explained Golden Coyote exercise planner MAJ Lew Weber of the Joint Force Headquarters G3, South Dakota Army National Guard. “It has grown into a multi-state, multi-national, multi-component exercise. We definitely have the foundation of Golden Coyote set. Now it’s just [about] tailoring it each year to the units that are going to participate.”
Held this past June with close to 2,200 participants, Golden Coyote 2018 included involvement by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force with service members hailing from 13 States, one territory and five countries.
The Golden Coyote exercises are opportunities for service members to train in combat support and combat service support missions using the Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE) format. DATE is an intense and true-to-life training environment created to mimic actual threats occurring across the operational environment. Each year’s exercise scenario, or DATE, is created with great consideration given to the needs of the particular units participating in that year’s event.
