Warriors in Peace Operations - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

kept track of the classified information that came to the
Headquarters.
Unlike the lone S-2, the S-3 section had several soldiers,
for good reason. Like the one that supported the brigade
prior to the deployment, my S-3 section had its hands full
managing the full range of operational and training
missions for the nondeployed units and supporting the rear
detachments.
One of the first challenges was the numerous taskings
for personnel and equipment that we received from corps.
Each required an assessment of the impact on the unit and
often ended up in a lively debate between one of my
lieutenants or captains and a major or lieutenant colonel on
the corps staff. The conversations were always professional,
and, believe it or not, we won almost as many as we lost.
Something that none of us appreciated at the beginning
was the frequency of taskings to provide tactical communications
support to all of the corps and USAREUR exercises
involving non-OJE units. Fortunately, I had great soldiers
who worked overtime running those requirements into the
ground and developing solid operations orders. To their
credit, every exercise had a well-developed communications
network that more than met the requirements.
The most intensive requirement imposed on the S-3 was
to develop and conduct EXEVALs for the two battalions.
This required all members of the headquarters staff to chip
in to build challenging scenarios, tasks, conditions, and
standards for each event, and an extensive operations
order. This was a huge event as the EXEVAL within the
corps is an annual culminating event for our units, much
like the one the combat units undergo at the Combined
Maneuver Training Center. We got the corps to provide the
opposing force (OPFOR) and a chemical decontamination
unit to support the evaluation. The rest of the work was laid
upon the shoulders of my staff led by the S-3, and they came
through with flying colors. They conducted the warning
order brief, the operations order brief, trained up the
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