Kalinaw News: Army tests its reserve forces in Regions 1 and 3

Posted to Kalinaw News (Dec 8, 2021): Army tests its reserve forces in Regions 1 and 3

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija — Army reserve forces in Central and Northern Luzon participated in a 7-event military challenge on Dec. 5 designed to upgrade its capability as a fighting force.

A total of 15 infantry squads from Regions 1 and 3 participated in the 3rd Squad Challenge for Army Reserve Forces in the 7th Infantry Division (SCARF 7) held simultaneously in two different venues, at Camp Abat in Manaoag, Pangasinan and at Camp Aquino in Tarlac City.

“SCARF 7 is a complementary program of 7ID in developing our Army reserve forces,” said Brig. Gen. Andrew D. Costelo, the newly appointed commander of 7ID. “This is our way of developing the interoperability of the regular and reserve ground forces in our area.”

The seven events of SCARF 7 include a series of tests on the individual’s basic Army leadership attributes of character, presence, and intellect; a squad capability test on disaster response operations; immediate action drills on different battlefield scenarios; a problem solving on radio communication; building terrain models as part of the modified map reading test; mastery on the disassembly and assembly of weapons; and a combat shooting event using the issued rifle and pistol firearms of an infantry soldier.

“The main idea of SCARF 7 is to make sure that the capability of the smallest unit in our regular forces is equal to the capability of their counterpart in the reserve forces,” said Col. Benjamin L. Hao, the Assistant Division Commander on Reservist and Retiree Affairs of 7ID.

In 2019, 7ID introduced SCARF 7 designed to assess the basic capabilities of the Army reservists, particularly at the infantry squad level. As a result, 13 Army reserve units from Regions 1 and 3 successfully finished the challenge.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, 7ID conducted SCARF 7 separately but simultaneously in 13 provinces of Regions 1 and 3. Its objective was to develop the standard squad capabilities of the Army reserve forces aligned with the 7ID standards.

This year, SCARF 7 was aimed to upgrade the squad capabilities of the Army reservists. Aside from improving all events, two regular infantry squads from 7ID were included as part of the competing units.

7ID also used SCARF 7 to engage different stakeholders in the development of the Army reserve forces by informing all provincial governors to support their respective reserve units in the challenge. Per regulation, every province in the country must have at least a battalion-size reserve force.

“Our ground reserve forces in Central and Northern Luzon are getting stronger every year,” said Col Hao. “All squads passed the standard battlefield tests of SCARF 7.”

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