Competition brings community to Soldiers at Latvian base

Photo By Staff Sgt. Angela Parady | American Soldiers help Latvians operate the M4 rifle, a weapon that most Latvians are not familiar with, as they worked their way through the final test in a series of events called the Attack Tab Competition. The competition is one of the first multinational events that the U.S. soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division has organized to help develop trust and communications between the different armies. These soldiers are part of the U.S. Army Europe-led Operation Atlantic Resolve land force assurance training taking place across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to enhance multinational interoperability, strengthen relationships among allied militaries, contribute to regional stability and demonstrate U.S. commitment to NATO. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Angela Parady)  

ADAZI, LATVIA

10.27.2014

Story by Sgt. Angela Parady 

U.S. Army Europe and Africa     

ADAZI, Latvia - On a cold October morning, American, Latvian and Norwegian soldiers came together at Adazi Training Area in Latvia to test their physical fitness. So cold they could see their breath, they each set out to do their best in a series of events, of which, if successful, would earn them an “Attack Tab.”

The Attack Tab is a competition designed by 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division to promote the warrior spirit and ethos, build relationships, and develop trust.

Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, are in Latvia, as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The multinational exercise is designed to develop the collective security of the NATO allies, enhance NATO military plans and defense capabilities as well as assert a commitment to the collective security of NATO and dedication to the enduring peace and stability in the region.

Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, were invited to train in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and other Eastern European countries with their European partners to foster interoperability while building trust and reassurance among the partner nations.

This competition was a fun and challenging way for the soldiers to get to know each other better, build camaraderie, and get some physical fitness training at the same time.

Sgt. 1st Class Richie Pozo, a mechanized infantry platoon sergeant and the coordinator of Saturday’s event said the primary focus of the event was to build up the esprit de corps, not just of 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, but with their allied partners.

“Ten years from now, you may not still have this tab, but you will look back and say, wow, that was a pretty awesome day,” said Pozo. “I got to compete with some other nations, and we built a team.”

The competition was built around the basis of the Army ranger physical fitness test. The soldiers had two minutes to complete as many pushups with their body armor on, two minutes for situps, while holding their body armor, 100-meter burpee broad jump, a 2-mile run in uniform and a 3-mile ruck run to the range where they had to fight their way to their firing points and engage targets with an M4 rifle.

2nd Lt. Igors Siciks, company commander for Company B, 1st Infantry Battalion, Latvian Armed Forces, competed alongside 22 other men from his company.

“Today is a free day for the Latvian soldiers, so many of them went home,” he said. “ Some of the soldiers, they stayed here so that they could take part in this competition and look at how well they can do.”

With plans to take on more tactical training in the weeks ahead, this was an opportunity for Siciks and his soldiers to get to know the men and women they are sharing a training base with.

“I think 100 percent this will be very good for friendships and to build this partnership,” he said. “We are working with new people, it is a new experience, and we can talk. We can learn from each other.”

Lance Cpl. Petter Hansen, a grenadier for the Norwegian Armed Forces, agreed that the competition, although exhausting, it was fun, and provided an opportunity to get to know the other soldiers at Adazi.

“We need to work together more,” he said. “So that our people can talk better, work together and do the same things. This was great. It builds contacts. We get to know each other, speak to each other, and meet each other. We don’t have that much time to do that on our own time because we work so much, and then we come home, maybe a little bit of physical fitness training, and then we sleep. So just being able to speak to people, getting to know them, that’s a big thing about working together.”

With the training exercise increasing the interoperability of these NATO allies, getting to know and trust one another will continue to be a focus of both the commanders and the soldiers themselves.

“It is very important for us to get our systems in synch, get our chiefs and our foot soldiers working together. It is a lot of fun too. It is hard because our languages collide a little bit, but it is what we have to do. Getting those things in synch, working together like that, it is very important.”

Pozo, who grew up in New York City, was pleased with how the event went overall, accomplishing not only the task of building a challenging and rewarding physical competition, but also helping to create an environment that would foster the growth of relationships and trust among the different countries.

“The military is almost like a brotherhood,” he said. “While we haven’t had much time or opportunity to train together yet, I think this was a good first step for the near future to build this relationship, this brotherhood between our nations and our armies.”

The Latvians and the Norwegians showed their physical prowess as they came into the events and crushed some of the scores in the battalion.

“They really showed us that, hey the Norwegians, they do a lot of PT. I was really impressed.”

While Pozo hopes to do another event similar to this one, hopefully his soldiers from Texas get accustomed to the bitter cold, harsh winter here in Latvia. He is also looking forward to some of the other training 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, has planned.

“This shows that we are their partner and their ally. We are going to do some more training in the upcoming months that I am really looking forward to it.”

• Date Taken: 10.27.2014
• Date Posted: 10.28.2014 05:41
• Story ID: 146272
• Location: ADAZI, LV