The men and women of the Army Reserve are ready to spring into action to defend and assist citizens whenever necessary, and Pennsylvania’s volunteers are an incredibly invaluable part of that force.

“Pennsylvania is so important, since we have the fourth-largest Army Reserve in the country,” George H. Duell Jr., Army Reserve Ambassador for Pennsylvania, said. “We have the best-educated force with the Reserves, and we’re the most cost-effective.”

The Army Reserve makes up about 20 percent of the total military force of the United States, but they operate on only about 6 percent of the total budget, providing services domestically and abroad, during wartime and peace.

In order to be ready for action at any given moment, top-quality training is an absolute necessity. Reservists spend a weekend each month, along with two full weeks a year, training at a base in order to keep their skills up to par.

And that’s what makes the unique and advanced services at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst so important to our nation’s safety.

The base emphasizes the most effective and efficient training methodology available to any soldiers, preparing them for anything and everything they could encounter in the real world with high-tech and real-world simulations.

“Primarily, it’s a training facility for our Reserve components,” Duell said. “It’s an opportunity for our Reserve folks to keep their readiness levels at the peak. They come down here to use the latest, most sophisticated equipment and training. As a result, their skill levels constantly increase. That’s what we’re all about, being ready and prepared.”

The shooting range

The digital shooting range, the Engagement Skills Trainer 2000, is a prime example of the modern military, perfectly melding a sense of realism into a cost-effective training program. Whereas a traditional shooting range is limited in its capacity to provide an idea about combat scenarios, Joint Base MDL’s setup provides countless options.

Sure, you could go through the standard shooting range simulation, where targets pop up in a grassy field, but you could also place yourself in an urban environment with terrorists running through the streets. The possibilities are practically endless, allowing reservists to hone their skills to match any circumstances, and Army personnel are noticing the difference the system makes.

“When a soldier comes in here and trains, they have the same sights, the same feel, the same weight, everything other than the noise of a real weapon,” Director of logistics for the 99th Regional Support Command Gene Scholler said. “We noticed when we bring our soldiers in here first to go through basic qualification to get familiar with the weapons, when they go to the range from here, they go through a lot quicker. It gets our soldiers on the range and off the range quicker.”

And while the shooting is digital, the feel of an actual semi/fully automatic M4 adds a sense of realism to the mechanism. These weapons have been modified to work with the digital projection system, so when you release your safety, position your barrel and fire, the shot on the screen will mimic exactly what would happen in the field. And thanks to the fact that the digital range doesn’t use bullets, it saves the military a hefty sum as well.

Even the room in which the EST is housed is set up to reflect conditions in the field, providing truly immersive training.

“What we did in here is we added some brick, some ammunition boxes, some camo netting, and we actually put in real sand bags with glass bead product in it,” Scholler said. “When the soldiers come in here, we want to give them the most realistic training possible, so we really went above and beyond.”

Scholler said that the already advanced setup will soon become even more realistic and engaging in the near future, allowing for an even more immersive training option.

“This is our EST 2000,” he said. “We’re right in the middle of conversion to the EST 3000, which is a little bit more mobile, a little more realistic than the current system and software that we have.”

Outdoor simulations

No matter how realistic the range is, it can’t exactly convey the feeling of being on a mission. Actually moving through the terrain with your equipment on your back is something you need to experience yourself in order to be prepared.

Once again, Joint Base MDL steps up to the plate with detailed tactical training.

“Today, we have a simulation that is going to provide our soldiers with a little basic concept of basic leadership tenets and survival on the battlefield,” Master Sgt. Mark Kostoulakos said. “Today is going to be an ambush, where they react to contact. What they’ve learned from classroom MP instruction is going to culminate, and we’re going to assess their leadership ability in a combat environment.”

The live-action exercise is the capstone of 36 hours of intensive training, where students are evaluated on their reactions.

“We reinforce the need for them to take what they learned here, the basic tenets of leadership, and take them to their home unit and apply it for future missions,” Kostoulakos said.

As a troop moves through a seemingly peaceful wooded area of the base’s property, soldiers keep track of movements. They practice monitoring and securing an area. When a small group of soldiers designated as terrorists comes up the pathway to find the soldiers hiding in the brush, they hold fire until they are fired upon.

The firefight is rapid. Shots fire off quickly. Actors drop to the ground. Smoke eclipses most of the view. Once it clears, the battle area is littered with bodies.

And that’s when things get amped up.

The officer in charge continually motivates his subordinates, reminding them that have a limited time to strap the fallen bodies to field stretchers and move them to the helicopter drop zone. While this may be a demo, the execution of the soldiers’ training is deadly serious. Mistakes made now could spell disaster in a real-life scenario, so even the slightest delays and mistakes are corrected and reinforced.

“It’s top notch,” Kostoulakos said. “We teach professionalism, we teach discipline. We have a lot of combat veterans that are instructors, who bring their knowledge and experience and share it with the younger generations of soldiers. One of the things that we try to do is pull the inner character of the leader that we are developing. We stress them out to elicit a response. If their response is good, we enhance it. If it’s substandard, we fix it. When they leave here, they’re prepared to face those challenges on the battlefield.”

Valuable training

As a training ground for reservists, Joint Base MDL is an incredibly valuable resource, where soldiers can take pick up skills that will benefit them in and outside of wartime.

“We have so many skills they pick up from schooling, and one plus is that not only are they prepared for wartime, but they bring those skills back to the community,” Duell said. “For example, if they’re a local police officer, and they’ve learned riot control here, if they’re in a community where there’s a civil disturbance, they’re better trained and ready to do their job.”

While Joint Base MDL’s high-tech facilities are an important asset, Duell emphasizes that at the heart of it, the Reserve members themselves are the key to a successful military force and a safe nation.

“I am amazed at the young men and women, they are outstanding,” he said. “Each generation seems to produce better people. I would say because we are an all-volunteer force, nobody’s there unless they want to be there, because of that motivation, that drive, that desire is there. They’re excellent, and we’re so proud of them.”