Latest news with #RyanReed
American Press
10 hours ago
- General
- American Press
Under pressure: More than 4,000 Iowa National Guard soldiers train at Fort Polk
From junior enlisted soldiers to senior Iowa Army National Guard leaders, all participants endured mental, physical and emotional exhaustion during their training at Fort Polk. (Special to the American Press) By Sgt. Ryan Reed | Special to the News Leader FORT POLK — More than 4,000 soldiers from the Iowa Army National Guard trained throughout June at Fort Polk, undergoing one of the Army's most demanding combat training events in preparation for an upcoming overseas deployment. Known since the Vietnam War era as 'Tigerland,' Fort Polk and the Joint Readiness Training Center have become synonymous with forging combat-ready soldiers through intense, realistic training. For Iowa's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry division, this rotation marks a pivotal moment: their first full brigade deployment since 2010. At the Joint Readiness Training Center, or JRTC, soldiers are evaluated under pressure. Their minds are stressed, their physical limits are tested and their endurance is pushed to the edge. From junior enlisted soldiers to senior Iowa Army National Guard leaders, all participants endure mental, physical and emotional exhaustion. The JRTC is one of four Army combat training centers. The others are the Joint Multinational Readiness Cente in Hohenfels, Germany; the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. The JRTC, however, is known for being the most grueling. The simulated combat environment, complete with force-on-force scenarios and constant stressors, provides soldiers with some of the most realistic training they will encounter in their careers. 'There are a lot of methods that we use to test soldiers while they're in the training area. One is simply the stress and pressure of combat,' said Brig. Gen. Derek Adams, the senior trainer for rotation 25-08. 'We try to simulate that as best we can.' As the senior trainer, Adams works closely with observer-coach/trainers and the JRTC leadership to design, execute and evaluate the training rotation. He coordinates with the operations group, which oversees the exercise, monitors unit performance across all war-fighting functions and delivers objective feedback through after-action reviews to improve readiness at every level. 'JRTC emphasizes DOD's priorities of lethality, war fighting and readiness by training the entire brigade combat team, from the individual Soldiers to the brigade combat team level,' Adams said. 'It's a large, complex organization, and this training reflects that.' This type of training marks a broader shift in Army doctrine. The Army is transitioning from the counterinsurgency operations of the past two decades to large-scale combat operations, or LSCO. Large-scale combat operations prepare soldiers for potential conflicts with near-peer adversaries by emphasizing large-scale maneuvers, complex logistics and sustained combat power. 'LSCO changes sustainment operations sheerly in the magnitude of what occurs,' said Col. Tony Smithhart, commander of the 734th Regional Support Group. 'You're talking about large numbers of soldiers, large numbers of equipment.' The Regional Support Group is structured to provide logistical support to up to 20,000 soldiers in a deployed environment. As the Regional Support Command for the JRTC, the RSG was tasked with coordinating all sustainment efforts. This included feeding more than 5,800 soldiers, managing medical treatment and staging and preparing more than 2,500 pieces of equipment for operation. Planning for the JRTC began more than a year before the first boots hit the ground. 'I made my first trip to Fort Polk about 18 months ago to determine the actual area we'd operate in,' Smithhart said. 'Since then, my team at the 734th Regional Support Group has returned about six times to coordinate with Fort Polk staff, validate our node concepts and rehearse operations to support reception, staging, onward integration and base camp management.' The JRTC has earned its reputation. The environment is humid and rainy, the terrain is unforgiving and the scenarios evolve constantly. All of these factors come together to form a stressful and taxing exercise, but one that will toughen Soldiers. 'The scale of this operation is critical to the development of our soldiers,' Smithhart said. 'It's been called a generational training opportunity, and I believe that's accurate.'
CBS News
05-02-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Are Detroit Shock coming back? What to know about U.S. trademark.
(CBS DETROIT) - Twelve years after the sale of Detroit's WNBA franchise, Ryan Reed sought to bring them back. "I love the Shock," said Reed, who founded a second interaction of the Women's Basketball League Inc. with the goal of providing a developmental opportunity for basketball players between collegiate and WNBA opportunities. "You know, I've been using the Shock as the LLC since 2021, 2022. I thought there was no chance they were coming back when I started doing it." "Some people think I'm doing it for money purposes, I'm like no," Reed added. "My league is to pay homage to women's basketball." The original "WBL" had 14 teams in its three seasons of existence as the first professional women's basketball league in the United States. After disbanding in 1981, the American Basketball League and Women's National Basketball Association emerged 15 years later. "If you look at the WBL, that was the league back in 1978. So we got the blessing from those women who played in that league, and they work with us. So I said, 'I love the Shock. I'm going to bring back my favorite team of basketball,'" Reed said. The league's website advertises six teams: the Cleveland Rockers, Chicago Flames, Toronto North Stars, Grand Rapids Soul, Indiana Thunder and Detroit Shock. Reed's WBL filed for the CLEVELAND ROCKERS trademark on Sept. 28, 2023. The WNBA also filed an application for that name on Feb. 3, 2025, three days after Tom Gores' super crew of investors announced their official bid to bring the WNBA back to Detroit. On Feb. 4, Reed's modernized Detroit Shock logo advanced to the Trademark Official Gazette stage of the application process. "You have, in that 30-day window, to file a notice of opposition," said Zakari Kurtz, principal attorney and founder of Sneaker Legal, who is not the representative counsel of either party in this matter. "I'm 99% sure the WNBA is going to file a notice of opposition during that 30-day window, and one of the main reasons that tells me they're going to do that is because of their new application." On Jan. 30, WNBA Properties, Inc. filed a trademark application for DETROIT SHOCK. Reed tells CBS Detroit that he and his representation were told by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Monday that the WNBA's application was likely denied because he beat the league to it. His application for the wordmark from 2023 was officially registered as of Tuesday. "It's so many different ways they could go, but I talked to the USPTO yesterday. They said that application will be denied, that the WNBA put in," Reed said. "It could go any way. They could reach out and settle, try to get the name; it's so many different ways it could go. They could try to fight me and take it. You just never know." However, trademark attorney Antoine H.M. Wade said that claims that the USPTO informed him or Reed that it would deny the WNBA's recent application were false. "The USPTO does not correspond in that manner. Also, the client was well informed of the risks and backlash he could receive as a result of filing for DETROIT SHOCK due to the WNBA's past use of the trademark," Wade said in an emailed statement to CBS News Detroit.
