Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Chlosta | From left to right, Slovenian Armed Forces’ Staff Sgt. Ziga Virant, 2nd Lt. Saso...... read more read more
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LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Soldiers from the 773rd Civil Support Team, 7th Civil Support Command, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, participated in a three-day European Command sponsored information exchange and training event with the Slovenian Armed Forces’ 1st Brigade, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Company and U.S. Army Colorado National Guard CST Soldiers Sept. 17-19.
“Today we came together with the Slovenian CBRN forces,” said Staff Sgt. Matthew Grande, a survey team chief assigned to the 773rd CST, 7th CSC, 21st TSC and Lowell, Massachusetts native. “We got a chance to get an overview of their mission and their capabilities; we gave them a brief of our capabilities.”
Slovenia became an independent nation in 1991 after secession from the former Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1992, the country formed its first CBRN Company.
After the morning briefings, the SAF CBRN Company Soldiers conducted a dynamic static display and guided tour. The Soldiers demonstrated their equipment, vehicles and detection, identification and survey capabilities as the 773rd CST Army Reserve Soldiers and U.S. Army National Guard CST Soldiers observed.
The SAF’s CBRN Company’s current missions are to provide CBRN defense support to SAF units and coalition forces in full spectrum operations. They accomplish this by conducting CBRN survey and reconnaissance, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical decontamination of personnel, equipment, facilities and terrain. They also are tasked with assisting in the event of a natural disaster in Slovenia or abroad, if requested.
“Their mission is a little different from ours,” Grande said. “They’re more of a tactical reconnaissance and decontamination element. So, we got to see how they operate with their mounted RECON vehicles. With us, we’re a dismounted RECON, more supporting the civilian side and far less tactical.”
According to Grande, interoperability is one of the biggest challenges CBRN units face when coming together on an international scale.
“Everyone has different standards, different ways of doing their RECON and DECON, different measurements that their instruments read in,” he said. “Getting to one standard will always be difficult.”
The information exchange and partnered training helps with a common operating picture, putting the SAF CBRN Company ahead of many of their CBRN peers in Europe, according to Grande.
“A lot of the other countries that we’ve been working with are still developing their CBRN capabilities,” he said. “So, coming here to Slovenia, they’re already very well developed … We thought maybe we’d be teaching them some stuff, but they ended up teaching us some stuff.”
On day two, the 773rd CST conducted a survey capabilities demonstration, while the SAF CBRN Company demonstrated their equipment, survey procedures and sampling procedures.
“I think it is very good for us to see other nations do the same job we do and to learn from them and share experiences,” said Staff Sgt. Ziga Virant, 1st Squad Leader, Decontamination Platoon, CBRN Company, 1st Brigade, Slovenia Armed Forces and a Bled, Slovenia native.
As the event wound down the CBRN Soldiers from both the U.S. and Slovenia expressed their positive sentiments about the event and possibly training and working with each other again.
“I would certainly do more of these events with Slovenia, maybe next time or in the future, see if there’s a way to combine what they do with what we do,” Grande said.
Slovenia became a member of the European Union and NATO in 2004.
“The CBRN work … is very, very alive, it is changing every day,” said Staff Sgt. Jaka Stojanovic, 2nd squad leader, Reconnaissance Platoon, CBRN Company, 1st Brigade, and a native of Ljubljana, Slovenia. “So the knowledge that we are sharing to one another it’s very important. The CBRN mission is not to be underestimated -- protecting people and the contaminated area.”
At the end of the event, the two countries came away with a shared experience to build on for possible future training events and possible deployments together.
“The more stuff you see, the better we will become,” Virant said. “It is always a pleasure to work with the U.S.”
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.19.2014 08:54 |
| Story ID: | 142687 |
| Location: | LJUBLJANA, SI |
| Web Views: | 194 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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