NY Army National Guard Vets Say: Get Ready, Get Set for JRTC

[The Patriot]

Heat. Humidity. Plants. Animals. OPFOR and ops tempo...those are the key things that New York Army National Guard combat veterans remember about their time at the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana over a decade ago.Lt. Col. Michael Murphy, Command Sgt. Maj. Tom Ciampolillo, Sgt. 1st Class Justin Westfall and Sgt. Robert Edmonds were members of the New York Army National Guard's 27th Brigade when it trained at JRTC in 2001. The unit, now designated the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), is heading there again for war-fighting exercises in July.The veterans praised JRTC's training value, but dispensed warnings and advice."Everything down there is either going to sting you, prick you or give you a rash," said Ciampolillo, the 27th IBCT command sergeant major and resident of Glenville, N.Y. "It's the deep south, it's totally different."

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