A Golden Date
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.
“In a Decisive Action Training Environment, it is truly based upon the commander’s training objectives,” MAJ Weber explained. “What [skills] does that commander want [the Soldiers] to gain during our exercise? If they want to see more proficiency at x, y and z, we put that in the environment and shape it so they can accomplish those training objectives.”
Golden Coyote 2018 focused on stabilization operations, overseas contingency operations and homeland defense. It also included several real-life projects that doubled as training and community assistance missions.
Golden Coyote participants conducted timber hauls, repaired and upgraded roads and buildings, and identified hazardous wilderness areas that needed to be made safe for public use.
“It was nice to get out of our State, go somewhere we hadn’t been before, get new experiences and see how we work as a company,” said SGT Philip Funk of Kansas’ 731st Composite Truck Company. “We had training for reacting to IEDs [improvised explosive devices], we had haul missions and we had people who were brought in to be an oppositional force against us. It gave us real-life training on what to do when non-friendly people encountered us.”
Working closely with federal agencies like the Black Hills National Forest and Custer State Park, participants were given the chance to support the local community while gaining useful training.
“[Federal agencies] provide the opportunity; we provide the labor and equipment,” said MAJ Weber. “In the end, we both gained.”
A timber haul operation in the Black Hills National Forest gave participating transportation units hands-on training loading and hauling more than 200 loads of timber to be delivered throughout South Dakota.
“Those federal entities will go into the forest, make sure it’s healthy and start timber stacks in big piles that eventually need to be hauled off,” MAJ Weber said. “The transportation units love coming because it is great loading training. We go into the National Forest and it’s good training for the drivers because it’s not just going down the interstate – sometimes you are on back roads. Then, they have to do the loading part of it and make sure it’s secure.”
As part of the timber haul, Golden Coyote exercise planners partnered with several Native American tribes in South Dakota and organized for the delivery of the timber to the tribes’ various reservations. Native Americans use the timber not only for firewood, but also for teepee building and use during sacred ceremonies.
“It was awesome getting to go down there and use our trucks and haul wood to the reservations,” noted SGT Antonio Turner of Kansas’ 731st Composite Truck Company. “It helped [the Native Americans] because we’re able to deliver the wood. Whatever they needed it for, they were able to have it provided through our training. It benefited us as Soldiers, not only from the training aspect, but also from the aspect that we got to help out someone else.”
SGT Turner went on to note that the haul added even further value in that it provided a first-time training opportunity with what was new equipment for the unit.
“Our trucks are new to us, so that was the first time I got to actually see what they can do. I learned a lot about our trucks and their capabilities. I really needed that training,” he said.
For some Soldiers, the entire operation was a first-time experience.
“It was the first time a lot of our newer Soldiers had a chance to actually be out on the roadway outside of our area in the State of Kansas,” said SGT Funk. “It was the first long haul they had ever been on. It gave them a taste of what they are actually going to experience in a deployed situation.”
Based on their commander’s training objectives, some units were put under duress during the haul to simulate realistic difficulties that could arise when deployed.
“We [sometimes] have protesters out there – all OPFOR [opposition force] role players – and the Soldiers must react to that,” MAJ Weber said. “They must respond to the actual environment they could be in if they went to another country to provide the same type of haul mission.”
In addition to testing the Soldiers’ driving and loading skills, exercise planners also incorporated scenarios that tested the transportation units’ combat skills.
“They would simulate our FOBs [forward operating bases] getting hit and we would have to use our trucks and pull security on the FOBs,” SGT Turner explained. “We got to practice communication with the radios and working as a team to make sure everything got done. It was great training.”
One of Golden Coyote’s engineering missions included a construction project at the Black Hills Playhouse, a nonprofit community theatre. Soldiers helped build a new deck, staircase and doorway for the theater – improving both the theatre and the National Guard’s relationship with the community.
“This is just an all-around great training environment for us to work in,” said SGT Jay Carroll of South Dakota’s 155th Engineer Company. “Not only as carpenters, but as Soldiers as well. It’s nice to work out here and form camaraderie between the public and the unit as we improve the building.”
Engineering units also assisted in building a road at Wind Cave National Park. By helping to expand and reinforce the road, the Soldiers helped provide the community with easier access to the park.
When developing the training activities for Golden Coyote, MAJ Weber ensured challenges were created throughout the exercise to emphasize the reality of obstacles faced in the real world.
“I think we do a really good job of making it as realistic as possible,” MAJ Weber said. “It’s not just get up in the morning, go to engineer projects and go to bed at night. The bad guys don’t care if you are sleeping at night, so we make sure Soldiers stay on their feet, stay sharp and have some situational awareness.”
To create that awareness, as with the hauling missions, the planners strategically injected OPFOR and other obstacles into the engineering missions.
“The engineer company might have to do worksite security because there might still be some bad guys that don’t want you working there on that road,” explained MAJ Weber. “We might send protesters out there or a farmer who says, ‘I want you to work on my road!’ Soldiers have to understand how to respond to that. How they share that information and react to the situations they are put in all tie into the scenario.”
Having the opportunity to work side by side in large groups helped to illuminate the strong collaboration between the participating Soldiers.
“This mission has improved our unit cohesiveness,” said SPC Isaac Grassel of South Dakota’s 842nd Engineer Company. “Normally, our platoons have to work on smaller projects throughout the year. This project has given us the opportunity to work together on a much larger scale.”
“I learned that our people as a whole work very well together,” said SGT Funk. “No matter what was thrown at them, they overcame it very easily. It gave me more trust in our people.”
After the closing events, the 2018 Golden Coyote exercise garnered praise for its accurate training environment and its dedication to the development of its participants.
“For being a small exercise, and even a small State for that matter, I think it’s a great thing for our organization to hang our hat on,” MAJ Weber said. “We have built some great relationships with all the other components and allied countries that have come to participate.”
“Soldiers love it,” he continued. “I hardly ever hear anything negative. We’ve had some commanders that wish we could have had more of this or more of that. That’s where we adjust and do things a little differently the next year. It’s a great exercise.”
By Staff Writer Tatyana White-Jenkins
