NATO counterparts conduct MOUT training

Photo By Sgt. Audrey Hayes | Sgt. Jesus Sanchez, a native of Pharr, Texas, and an infantry squad leader with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, discusses how to clear a building with a Polish soldier during military operations in urban terrain training. The training was in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a demonstration of our continued commitment to the collective security of NATO and dedication to the enduring peace and stability in the region, in light of the Russian intervention in Ukraine specifically. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Audrey Ann Hayes, 214th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment).  

ZLOCIENIEC, POLAND

11.20.2014

Story by Spc. Audrey Hayes    

214th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

ZLOCIENIEC, Poland -- Polish and American Soldiers from Company A., 2nd. Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, shared knowledge on how to clear buildings, at a range near Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, Nov. 19, 2014.

Military operations in urban terrain training took place in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a multinational combined arms exercise involving the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and host nations, takes place across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to enhance multinational interoperability, to strengthen relationships among allied militaries, to contribute to regional stability and to demonstrate U.S. commitment to NATO.

First. Lt. Kevin Koehn, from Ocala, Fla. and a platoon leader with Company A., also known as Attack Company, said, “We started the training with dry runs in glass houses to teach the basics and individual tactics.”

The glass house phase of training is where Soldiers practice room-clearing techniques using markings on the ground to represent walls and doors.

While the Polish soldiers drilled in the glass houses, troops from Attack Company were setting up booby traps with explosive simulators in a partially demolished warehouse, said Sgt. Casey Sgt. Chris Casey, from North Baltimore, Ohio and a squad leader with Attack Company.

The Polish soldiers moved into the warehouse as two-team squads to apply the maneuver tactics.

Koehn said the Soldiers did well. “They didn’t pause and freeze up in the hallway, they were getting behind cover, they were moving quickly into each room, clearing it out and moving into the next room.”

This specific training helps NATO allies to function as one team, said Casey.

Second Lt. Marceli blazejczyk, a platoon leader with the Polish army’s 1st. Battalion, 7th Coastal Brigade said, “It’s important to train with allies because if there’s a possibility to go Iraq or Afghanistan on a mission together, a Polish soldier would know what to do if he was with an American Soldier.”

• Date Taken: 11.20.2014
• Date Posted: 11.21.2014 14:53
• Story ID: 148519
• Location: ZLOCIENIEC, PL
• Hometown: FORT CAVAZOS, TX, US
• Hometown: NORTH BALTIMORE, OH, US
• Hometown: OCALA, FL, US