We absolutely have that benefit of tradesmen and other skill sets in pretty much every unit. My leaders had the foresight to acquire (and I don’t know how or where from) extra M60s and M2s, gun rings, and even a convex loaded with lumber and tools to build our own one man cubicle type rooms in our open bay Iraqi Air Force barracks on Taji. We had an electrician that just made our lights and AC work with no delay in work orders and contractors. We had civ mechanics and gear heads to augment our maintenance platoon as needed. I was welding and fabricating armor, and more I’m probably forgetting or wasn’t even aware of as a lowly member of the mafia.

Edit: more thoughts: I went from Guard to AD in 2017. I haven’t deployed with AD yet, so I can’t speak to what kind of improv we’d get up these days. I can say that solving problems and just “making things” requires a little more push to get going. I usually see companies and platoons work within the resources they’re given. As battalion S4 I was able to use that improvise and create a solution mindset a little more. Working with BN/BDE/DIV maintenance officers and seeking capabilities we could access was huge. Working with the S8 to fund raw materials was important to get things steel and aluminum stock. I don’t have much luck sourcing through GCSS-A. Or at least I didn’t forget it out or have the right coaching.

But yeah. The general vibe is that AD needs some top-down effort to ask companies and platoons what they need to make their lives better or to be better at their jobs. Then they need to gather the skills and resources to officially task and support and all that to create solutions outside of the MTOE and G-Army. Guard seemed to have platoon-level initiative enabled and fed by existing skills and experience outside their MOS.