28th Infantry Division soldiers part of historic NATO exercise

Photo By Master Sgt. Doug Roles | NATO LANDCOM commander U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John Nicholson (center) greets soldiers participating in the Trident Lance exercise.  

HARRISBURG, PA, UNITED STATES

12.14.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Doug Roles 

28th Infantry Division

By Staff Sgt. Doug Roles
28 ID Public Affairs

Soldiers with Pennsylvania’s 28th Infantry Division played a role in the just-completed NATO training exercise that saw the multi-national organization’s Allied Land Command reach full operational capacity. Twenty National Guard soldiers returned to Pennsylvania Saturday, Dec. 13 from participating in the Grafenwohr, Germany-based Trident Lance exercise, NATO’s largest training exercise since the end of the Cold War.

The two-week exercise tested how well a fully operational NATO land forces command could respond to an international crisis, using a fictitious invasion scenario of NATO member Estonia, which borders Russia at NATO’s northeastern corner. The multi-national exercise gave Keystone soldiers an opportunity they otherwise might never have realized in their military careers.

“It gave our soldiers an opportunity to integrate into a very high level command. We were integrated into their land component command headquarters,” said Lt. Col. Richard Tylicki, a division personnel recovery officer. “This headquarters is controlling all the land forces in Europe.”

The exercise involved roughly 3,700 soldiers in Turkey, Greece and seven other European locations. The exercise, which included computer-based and traditional training events, included everything from missile strikes to cyber attacks. Lessons learned from Trident Lance will be applied as NATO LANDCOM stands up its future rapid-reaction force.

Tylicki, a Binghamton, N.Y. resident who drills with the division’s headquarters in Harrisburg, said the training showed the Guardsman that many of the challenges of operating a land component command headquarters (think logistics and communications across multiple sections) are the same at the NATO level as they are two echelons below at division.

“This is something most of our soldiers would never see otherwise,” Tylicki said. “It’s a nice feather in the cap of the 28th Infantry Division and a good retention and recruiting tool, for soldiers across the state to know that they could have an opportunity to train overseas.”

Military leaders said in a Stars & Stripes report that NATO two years ago decided to reinvest in training and exercises to regain readiness after two decades of operations. Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Phillip Breedlove said the Trident Lance exercise had been in the planning stages for years but said growing tensions in Eastern Europe have made it more important.

The reality of those tensions makes the training a serious event for division soldiers, many of whom are combat veterans from the global war on terror.

Sgt. Collin Meadows of Warren, a fire direction control sergeant with the division’s headquarters battalion, worked in the targeting cell in Germany, doing simulated battle damage assessment and other, administrative tasks. The Afghanistan war vet said the recent training adds to lessons he’s learned in NATO training in France earlier this year and in Lithuania two years ago.

“I learned more about how NATO incorporates countries into their planning process,” Meadows said. “It was an interesting experience and one I won’t forget any time soon.”

• Date Taken: 12.14.2014
• Date Posted: 12.14.2014 16:00
• Story ID: 150283
• Location: HARRISBURG, PA, US