By Sgt. Taylor Lakey-Tamacori, 100th Missile Defense Brigade (GMD)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Col. Michael Hatfield, 100th Missile Defense Brigade commander, integrated a staff element into Exercise Resilient Shield to train those Soldiers not involved in the primary missile defense mission of the brigade.

“For Resilient Shield 22, we leveraged a parallel exercise where we’re supporting Pacific fleet during their certification, but at the same time, the 100th Missile Defense Brigade, the 49th Missile Defense Battalion, and all our subordinate elements across echelon received an external evaluation from Space and Missile Defense Command G37, where they evaluated our mission essential tasks,” said Hatfield.

Each staff section is responsible for various day-to-day operations. While the missile defense side of the training tests the service members’ ability to communicate and properly operate the systems, staff sections must be able to react to emergencies within their area of operations.

Those in the brigade involved with the training scenario, or trusted agents, coordinated with the SMDC G37 exercise branch to develop staff-focused scenarios throughout the Resilient Shield exercise. Each section tested its capabilities and identified weak points.

The 100th Missile Defense Brigade established the brigade operations center in Colorado Springs, while the 49th Missile Defense Battalion established a tactical operations center at Fort Greely, Alaska. The battalion executed its own external evaluation nested under the brigade evaluation with multi-echelon communication and information flow.

“We wanted to maximize the resources as we were already invested in supporting the exercise,” said Hatfield. “So as our warfighters are already in this mission and they’re already supporting this complex environment, we resource the evaluators to look at the brigade across echelon and evaluate our critical tasks.”

During the week of Feb. 20, nine of the 10 operational ground-based midcourse defense crews conducted homeland defense in support of the Joint Warfighter Training Exercise.

The brigade was graded on a TPU scale — trained, needs practice or unsatisfactory — and received a ‘T’ score.

“I want to say thank you to the Soldiers, civilians and family members of the 100th Missile Defense Brigade who support our 24/7/365 operational mission. It’s these Soldiers who demonstrate daily not only their readiness but their ability to support our sister services in sustaining readiness across all of our formations,” said Hatfield. “I also want to thank the SMDC G37 for a tough and fair assessment.”