Road to NTC: 81st Mobile Brigade begins multiyear training progression
“Preparing for NTC is much bigger than a single exercise; it is a multiyear training progression that challenges every soldier and every unit in the brigade to deliver their best,” said Col. William Cooper, commander of the 81st Mobile Brigade Combat Team. “Each training event builds on the last, helping us develop the disciplined, cohesive teams we need to arrive at Fort Irwin ready to train at echelon in the box.”
The National Training Center rotation at Fort Irwin, California, will serve as the brigade’s culminating training event for fiscal year 2027 and a major validation of its transformation from a Stryker brigade into a Mobile Brigade Combat Team. Between now and the rotation, soldiers across the brigade will complete a deliberate training progression designed to prepare individuals, crews, staffs and units to operate together under demanding conditions.
“Our transformation to a Mobile Brigade Combat Team involves more than fielding new equipment or reorganizing unit structure,” Cooper said. “It requires us to rethink how we move, maneuver, communicate, and sustain the Army’s newest combat formation. NTC offers the Mobile Brigade a priceless opportunity to synchronize its capabilities at scale under the most demanding conditions.”
National Training Center rotations test brigade combat teams in a demanding, realistic environment against a dedicated opposing force. Units must maneuver, communicate and sustain operations across long distances while responding to rapidly changing conditions. Preparing for that challenge requires National Guard soldiers from communities and armories across the state to progress from individual qualifications and staff exercises to increasingly complex collective training. For the 81st Mobile Brigade Combat Team, that progression begins this month by strengthening the headquarters responsible for coordinating brigade operations.
The 81st MBCT will begin fiscal year 2027 with weapons qualification, soldier readiness activities, equipment training and staff development. Those events establish the individual and organizational foundation required before the brigade begins larger collective exercises.
Brigade headquarters staff began that work in September 2026 during a staff exercise at Yakima Training Center. The exercise focused on establishing the brigade’s mobile command post, strengthening the military decision-making process and improving the staff’s ability to track current operations while planning future missions. Additional staff and command-post training will continue throughout the fall and winter. These exercises will allow the brigade and its subordinate units to refine reporting procedures, test communications and improve how information moves between battalions and the brigade headquarters.
“The foundation for success at NTC is laid long before the brigade reaches Fort Irwin,” Cooper said. “It starts with soldiers mastering their individual responsibilities and staffs developing the competencies needed to support timely commander decisions. As the training grows in complexity, we will adapt, apply lessons learned, and build confidence across the formation.”
Training progression will build toward Raven Forge in April 2027, which will bring units together for brigade-level training designed to test the systems, relationships and procedures developed during the preceding months. During Raven Forge, the brigade will practice operating as a mobile formation while integrating maneuver, reconnaissance, fires, communications and sustainment. Staffs and subordinate units will work across greater distances and under more demanding conditions than during earlier training events. The exercise will also provide leaders with an opportunity to evaluate progress and identify areas requiring additional attention before NTC. Following Raven Forge, the brigade will enter its final preparation period where they will recover and maintain equipment, complete loadout requirements and conduct pre-combat checks and inspections. Units will also prepare vehicles, containers and other equipment for movement to Fort Irwin.
Once at Fort Irwin, the brigade will complete reception, staging, onward movement and integration before beginning force-on-force and live-fire training. Observer coach-trainers will evaluate the brigade and provide feedback as units adapt throughout the rotation.
The rotation will test the 81st’s ability to conduct combined-arms maneuver, operate distributed command posts and sustain units across extended distances. During the Florida Army National Guard’s 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team rotation in 2025, nearly 5,000 soldiers and supporting units from 16 other states participated in the month-long exercise. Like the 53rd, the 81st will be challenged to apply the fundamentals developed during the preceding year while operating with limited time, incomplete information and persistent pressure.
“Success is not measured by the challenges we face, but rather those we overcome. I am confident the 81st Mobile Brigade Combat Team will rise to the occasion, exceed expectations, and get better every day,” said Cooper.
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