(gentle upbeat music) - Staff Ride is when we take a unit to a battlefield and then we take the battle and we talk every aspect of the battle from start to finish.

And we physically walk the ground and talk at different parts of the, of during the battle or on the ground.

And we go through the entire battle trying to analyze the decisions that were made so we can learn what great decisions were made, and what ones weren't so great and how could we improve that.

- Somebody very smart and educated said, "Topography is king."

To actually touch the ground and to envision it, this vast array of armored vehicles, infantry, engineers, that's why we're there.

We're not just trying to replicate (indistinct), our training area, what D-Day was like, you can't get that unless you're physically there.

- I don't think one can step foot on any portion of Normandy without wondering what would I have done if I were in their shoes?

I mean, I don't necessarily have an answer.

Thinking about certain things from the aspect of that branch that I want to go into and the studies I've done in that, what could have been changed from either side to have made that more successful for them?

It's really interesting to, I guess, be on site, look around and go, "What would I have done in this situation?"

- We have our classroom training, where one of the principles we're talked about in class is the acceptance of risk as a commander.

And that's something that every commander has to do whether it be from a platoon leader to a General at the very top.

And so, while I've only had the classroom experience with it, those men on those boats headed towards the beaches, every single one of them knew what they were fighting for, knew why they were fighting, they understood that not everybody's gonna come home.

And it's really only in many deployments today when we have that unbelievable grace that everybody's coming home.

While we can only replicate a small portion of that in the classroom environment, I have a immense appreciation for what every single one of those men did, Sir.

- To expose my cadets and all the participants to a good breadth of everything that was about not only D-Day but the events leading up, and shortly there following.

So, we did have an aggressive timeline.

We have a mission to educate, train, inspire and commission, you know, leaders of character, and I wanted to hit each of those aspects.

- We just came out of the global war on terrorism, which is counterinsurgency operations.

We're now training for near-peer, whether that be Korea, Iran, China, Russia.

Normandy is the last time that we conducted large scale combat operations in a multi-domain joint environment.

So to kind of put them in that location is exactly what I would want to see in my lieutenants coming to my battery.

- I had a good understanding of what enlisting and signing up for the service really entailed.

I mean, it just really put into perspective the cost of that initial invasion and overall the cost of World War II itself, and really put that into perspective for me.

Like, I'd like to think that I'm ready to give a sacrifice like that if the time comes, but we'll never really know until we get into that situation ourselves, but, I mean, seeing the sacrifices that they made inspires me.

- I was there to learn the history of what our military accomplished during D-Day in that country.

I was there to learn how to make better decisions when I will eventually become a leader.

I was there to learn the positives of what they decided to do and also what we could change.

And I also was there to learn how we could incorporate what we have nowadays, like equipment-wise, to then accomplish the same mission.

- The Chippewa Battalions motto is, "Knowledge for defense."

And I think this Staff Ride is a perfect match to that motto.

We went, you know, not only to Normandy to learn to be better defenders of our nation, but it was the work and the effort that they put in even prior to getting on that plane and moving over there.

And so, to gain that knowledge and learn to help make them better leaders, to help in the defense of our nation.

That was one of the reasons that kind of sparked me to want to even do this.

- And it was probably a lot more of a valuable experience for us, for not only our rest of our lives, but our careers, than I could probably even put into words.

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