Photo By 1st Sgt. James Wagner | Polish army platoon leaders review their training schedule at Drawsko Pomorskie Land...... read more read more
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DRAWSKO POMORSKIE, Poland - A month of intense training between two units – one from the U.S., the other from Poland – culminates this week in a live-fire exercise that demonstrates the close operational ties they have achieved in a relatively short time.
Since early February, Dragoons assigned to K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 2d Cavalry Regiment, along with infantrymen assigned to Poland’s 3rd Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Mechanized Brigade, have been conducting multinational platoon level training as they fully integrate their operations in a combat environment. Their true test comes this week as they combine small arms and mortar fire into the training curriculum.
This training is the latest iteration in U.S. and Polish land force exercises since the middle of last year, when Operation Atlantic Resolve kicked off. OAR is a NATO exercise led by the U.S. to test the Alliance’s interoperability with Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian military forces while demonstrating their commitment to a safe and prosperous Europe.
Polish Army Maj. Piotr Puchala, an executive officer assigned to 1st Infantry Battalion, 12th Mechanized Brigade, stated that while some of his soldiers have served with the U.S. in Afghanistan during the 2008 and 2011 campaigns, the joint training has still been very beneficial to the newer soldiers in the brigade. Puchala also mentioned that the live-fire training this week will be the most realistic type of training both sides can hope to experience during peacetime.
“This is very important for us to cooperate at that level, the live-fire is the most difficult to set up with safety precautions and using live ammunition,” said Puchala. “However, we need to conduct all our operations in the same scheme as we fight.”
For three days, individual platoons from each country will integrate their operations to achieve a number of different objectives that are likely to happen in wartime, such as mounting an effective offense, maintaining a defense or launching a counterattack.
“We need to conduct more exercises the way we do this one,” said Puchala. “Operation Atlantic Resolve is very important for us as well. We need to increase this type of training.”
Throughout the exercise, live small arms and mortar fire will keep everyone involved at peak readiness and demand the utmost in safety and vigilance while providing a realistic edge to otherwise standard training.
“With training like today, where we’re doing dry runs, it’s not so big a deal,” said U.S. Army Pfc. Shane Baer, a combat medic assigned to 2 CR. “But the rest of the week we’ll have live-fire going on and that’s when we keep our ears open.”
Each day of the exercise brings, both day and night, training missions made up of four phases each. In one scenario, a Polish forward observation base is attacked by an enemy force. They work to maintain their position while a Polish Quick Reaction Force, along with a Dragoon platoon, are called up to make contact with the enemy. All Soldiers then mount a hasty defense as enemy reinforcements arrive.
An added edge to the training is that each countries force’s need to have a certain amount of trust in each other in order for the exercise to be a success. It is the ability to conduct this type of joint multinational training while achieving interoperability that has been the key ingredient to the success that OAR has achieved thus far with NATO Allies gaining confidence in their international partnerships.
| Date Taken: | 03.03.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.03.2015 07:42 |
| Story ID: | 155763 |
| Location: | DRAWSKO POMORSKIE, PL |
| Web Views: | 544 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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