Page 18 - The Dispatch August 2019

TEXAS MILITARY DEPARTMENT

While the testing phase continues, 176th
Soldiers like Sgt. Bryan Oseguera are sup-
portive of the program.

“My family likes me only being gone for one
week at a time,” said Oseguera. “It is better
because planning for a one week of training
is easier and I don’t have to miss a whole lot
of work at one time.”

The change for employers’ expectations was
an aspect that Cerniauskas told his Soldiers
to proactively address at their workplace.

“One piece of guidance we emphasize is
to communicate to employers, schools, in-
structors and family early, identify conflicts
early, proactively work solutions that ac-
commodate each side and keep the chain
of command informed of problems,” said
Cerniauskas “I have not personally heard
from civilian employers and would happi-
ly engage them on any concerns regarding
this training model. It would add to the
data on the positives and negatives of this
approach.”

This data-driven approach is how Cerniaus-
kas is evaluating the success of the program.
As he looks for a method that achieves the
highest readiness level for the organization,
he is grateful for the opportunity to try
something new.

“I appreciate being able to try out a new ap-
proach. It may reinforce how the traditional
model is better overall or it may show us
how to do things better. Either way, we’re
learning.”

Mendoza is also embracing the experien-
tial view of the program, explaining that
Soldiers need to be adaptable to shifts in
training and look for both the positive and
negative to provide leadership with feed-
back. He also acknowledged that this sys-
tem might work best for engineers but not
other units.

“It is too early to determine if this will be
successful or not. We will have to try it a
few times,” said Mendoza. “I like the fact
that we are trying something different, and
this concept may work for some units but
not for others.” -D 211th Engineer Company Soldiers pour concrete in front of the Camp Bowie Armory.
(courtesy photo 176th Engineer Facebook)

18 TheDISPATCH August 2019