RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota Army National Guard’s 39th annual Golden Coyote Training Exercise officially kicks off in the Black Hills of South Dakota June 3-16.
The Golden Coyote Training Exercise will provide military units with relevant training opportunities including overseas contingency operations and homeland defense missions that are focused on platoon and company-level training. The SDNG is expecting around 1700 service members to participate in the event.
“This is a great exercise and environment to conduct training. Units can use their equipment and it provides Soldiers with valuable hands-on training in a replicated deployed environment,” said Col. James Linn, SDARNG exercise troop commander, “the exercise is designed to improve the overall readiness of Soldiers and their units in preparation for future deployments and state active duty missions.”
Created in 1984 with the cooperation of the National Forest Service and Custer State Park, this year’s exercise will allow service members to conduct combat-support and service-support missions in a realistic training environment while also providing valuable services to the public.
There are 14 military units from 9 states from the National Guard, Army Reserve and Navy Reserve participating in this year’s exercise. Units will conduct military operations throughout the Black Hills as they conduct unit training missions, employ their equipment, and complete humanitarian and engineer projects.
Servicemembers will be in the vicinity of Roubaix Lake, Custer State Park Airport, Orman Dam, and West Camp Rapid during the exercise. They will be conducting several engineering projects in the Custer State Park area and the timber haul missions.
The exercise will bring additional vehicle traffic and personnel and the public is urged to exercise additional caution while traveling around Rapid City and the surrounding area.
