MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU, Romania – Marines and sailors gathered at Mihail Kogalniceanu Military Base to celebrate the closing ceremony of Black Sea Rotational Force 13 August 8, 2013.
“We [BSRF-13] have conducted over 100 engagements in 20 different countries throughout the Black Sea, Caucasus, Baltic and Levant regions,” said Lt. Col Steven Wolf, the commanding officer for BSRF-13. “This includes seven major exercises, 43 military to military events, 10 civil affairs projects and two trauma medicine symposiums.”
BSRF-13 is a Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force with crisis response capabilities. It is based out of the Black Sea region to enhance interoperability, promote regional stability and build camaraderie amongst partnered nations.
“This deployment has been a highlight of many careers,” said Wolf. “We have learned a great deal from our time here in Romania, both personally and professionally.”
Along with being a crisis response team, BSRF-13 has worked with several partner nations such as: Latvia, Republic of Georgia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Israel, Serbia, Azerbaijan and Romania in order to help strengthen the military working relationships.
“The basic words for [BSRF-13] were ‘cooperation and working together’,” said Col. Doru Apafaian, the Romanian BSRF-13 exercise director. “In my opinion, everything has worked out outstandingly. Our American friends had the opportunity to understand our military procedures and more than that — our culture and our way of thinking.”
During the closing ceremony, U.S. Marines and Romanian soldiers operated as one unit and conducted a demonstration, for more than 45 distinguished visitors, showing the partnership that the Marine Corps and Romania has been building for the last six months.
The exhibition included a maneuver element where Marines and Romanian soldiers patrolled together, an opposing force that ambushed the joint patrol, and an air extraction drill where the two forces simulated embarking a casualty into a helicopter.
The training has been non-stop for the Marines with BSRF-13 and the Romanian army has been with them for most of the time. But that is not stopping the Romanian army for further training.
“This exercise began in April and it was the largest multinational exercise conducted in Romania in 2013,” said Apafaian. “I am very confident that the experience and knowledge acquired during the last six months of heavy but rewarding training by the entire personnel will be a key factor in the continuing of our cooperation and partnership for the next iteration of the Black Sea Rotational Force that will start in less than a month.”
Marines and sailors with BSRF-13 will spend their remaining time in Romania prepping for the journey back to the states. They will simultaneously prepare for the next group of Marines who will continue the crisis response capability for the Black Sea, Baltic, and Caucuses region.
| Date Taken: |
08.08.2013 |
| Date Posted: |
08.21.2013 02:26 |
| Story ID: |
112306 |
| Location: |
MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU, RO |
| Web Views: |
323 |
| Downloads: |
2 |
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This work, BSRF-13 Comes to an End, by Cpl Michael Dye, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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