With the temperatures dipping into the 20s and wind chills making it feel even colder, Sailors onboard several Navy vessels pulled lines, set sail and moved one step closer to deployment, Jan. 8. Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 4 kicked off the Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) with the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG).
COMPTUEX, the cornerstone event for CSG-4, is an evaluation that tests the mission-readiness of deployable assets as it relates to their ability to react to training scenarios and perform as an integrated unit.
Training scenarios include simulated surface, air, undersea, strike and electronic attacks.
“Carrier Strike Group 4 is evaluating how the battle group defends itself, how it projects power and how well it executes pre-planned responses to multiple types of scenarios,” said Master Chief Cryptologic Technician (Technical) Todd Womack, CSG-4’s Senior Enlisted Advisor from Cottonwood, Ala.
TRCSG consists of CSG-12, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), USS Normandy (CG 60), USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98) and USS Farragut (DDG 99). Independent deployers USS McFaul (DDG 74) and USS Laboon (DDG 58) will also participate in the TRCSG COMPTUEX, which will serve as their deployment certification.
Conducting COMPTUEX is a major undertaking. CSG-4 plans for months and employs a number of military and civilian personnel at sea, in the air and on land to prepare units to forward deploy in support and defense of national interests.
“We have 132 people onboard TR alone with, on average, six personnel on each of the escort ships. We have about 60 more Sailors and civilians on the beach supporting this evolution, not only as trainers and assessors, but as pilots for the simulated Opposition Forces (OPFOR) aircraft and Mobile Sea Range (MSR) vessels,” said Womack. “As you can see, an evolution of this magnitude takes a lot of people and resources to make happen to ensure that the Battle Group is ready for whatever task they could possibly have assigned to them when on deployment.”
COMPTUEX supports the Navy’s mission of training to improve capabilities of servicemembers who are warfighters preparing to be ready to operate forward when the nation calls.
Commanded by Rear Adm. Richard Butler, CSG-4 is a team of experienced Sailors, Marines, government civilians and reservists, who mentor, train and assess Atlantic Fleet combat forces to forward deploy. CSG-4’s experts shape the readiness of Atlantic Fleet CSGs, Expeditionary Strike Groups (ESG), Amphibious Readiness Groups (ARG) and Independent Deploying ships.
Formerly known as Commander Strike Force Training Atlantic (CSFTL), CSG-4, along with subordinate commands, Tactical Training Group Atlantic (TTGL) and Expeditionary Warfare Training Group Atlantic (EWTGL), prepare every Atlantic-based CSG, ARG and Independent Deployer for sustained, forward-deployed, high tempo operations.
Press Release