In the summer of 2017, the Kansas National Guard’s 635th Regional Support Group (RSG) became the first National Guard unit to take on the mission of filling about half of the key staff and support positions at U.S. Army Central (USARCENT) Forward Command Post. The positions filled were at forward elements, mainly in Kuwait, that act as the eyes on the ground for USARCENT and control the U.S. Army’s ground forces in the Middle East.
After successfully pioneering the mission, the 635th RSG concluded its tour by handing the reins over to a fellow Guard unit, the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s 151st Regional Support Group, in a change of responsibility ceremony Feb. 28 at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.
“It was impressive to watch as we all wondered how the RSG was going to fit into the USARCENT headquarters,” said COL John Strange, the deputy chief of staff for USARCENT (Forward). “Rounding out the U.S. Army theater headquarters was not a Regional Support Group mission, but it seems only a Regional Support Group can do it.”
Traditionally, an RSG is a headquarters unit comprised of less than 100 Soldiers that focuses on base camp management. This is to allow the combatant commander to focus on combat operations. For the USARCENT mission, however, National Guard units have roles that go far beyond the scope of base operations, filling staff positions in everything from range operations to engineering.
“They are going to gain a vast amount of knowledge of not just how the Army or the National Guard works, but of how the military as a whole functions,” said CSM Curtis Palmer, the senior enlisted advisor for USARCENT (Forward). “It gives Soldiers a lot of opportunities to excel outside their comfort zone. They are going to learn a lot more than what they went to training for.”
SPC Meghan O’Connell, who was trained as a financial management specialist, is one of the 151st RSG Soldiers who will find herself far out of her traditional role while serving in the Executive Services Branch. This will take her from managing Soldiers’ pay to planning visits and escorting dignitaries such as general officers and politicians around the Middle East.
“This mission gives the other branches we work with a chance to see what is unique about the National Guard,” SPC O’Connell said.
The final task for the groundbreaking mission for the 635th was a two-week transition in which members mentored their counterparts from the 151st on how to be successful over the following nine months.
“We are trying to build on what the 635th did,” said SPC O’Connell, who praised her counterpart unit for making the transition as seamless as possible. Based on the 635th RSG’s experience, she said there should be a lot of opportunities for career growth.
CSM Palmer agreed that the opportunities to gain experience would be as abundant as the challenges.
“I’ve already seen Soldiers rise to the occasion,” CSM Palmer said. “If one person doesn’t know something, another Soldier is right there to share their knowledge and help them. It always makes me proud to lead Soldiers and see them grow, and they will naturally grow into this mission.”.
BY SFC Whitney Hughes,MASSACHUSETTS NATIONAL GUARD
