Operation Letzlingen Freedom Shock begins in Germany"

Photo By Sgt. Uriah Walker | A soldier from Company A, 3-69 AR, 1ABCT, 3ID guides a Bradley Fighting Vehicle onto a flat car, April 20, 2015, at the Grafenwoehr, Germany railhead. The movement is part of a deployment readiness exercise to the German Army Combat Training Center in Letzlingen, Germany, for joint armored training. (Photo by Sgt. Uriah Walker, 1ABCT Public Affairs) 150420-A-AP855-046  

GRAFENWOEHR, GERMANY

04.20.2015

Story by Sgt. Uriah Walker 

3rd Infantry Division

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - U.S. and German Soldiers teamed up to kick off a bilateral training exercise Thursday, April 16, 2015, in Germany as part of Atlantic Resolve.

Operation Letzlingen Freedom Shock, which is sechuled.", which is scheduled to run through April 28, includes troops from 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and the German 2nd Mechanized Battalion in order to increase training interoperability readiness between German and U.S. armored forces.

Leaders from 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, said the operation demonstrates the U.S. Army’s freedom of movement throughout Eastern Europe by showcasing our ability to project our forces any time and place and simultaneously gain interoperability with host nation forces.

“We don’t know where the next major incident is going to happen,” explained Capt. Eric Flynn, commander, Company A, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment. “We need to be able to test the systems and processes to make sure that when it does come, we’re not learning for the first time. We actually have tested the systems and we understand what we need to do to push that combat power where we need to be.”

Heavy equipment movement for this deployment readiness exercise was primarily facilitated by rail. Soldiers from 3-69 AR moved vehicles from their staging area on Camp Aachen to the railhead on Tower Barracks in Grafenwoehr, Germany. The final destination for this exercise is the German Army Combat Training Center in Letzlingen, Germany.

Orleans, Indiana, native Pfc. Zane Lewis, Company A, 3-69 AR, prepared for this movement by ensuring his vehicle was ready for the rail.

“Every single thing has to be strapped down, no matter how small it is,” he said.

For Bradley Fighting Vehicle driver Pfc. Brandon Bernier, Company A, 3-69 AR, originally from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, this was his first experience driving his vehicle onto a rail car.

“I have faith in our ground guides,” he said. “I believe they’ll steer me straight and I’ll follow what they do.”

Flynn added that deployment readiness exercises are a lost art over the last decade, explaining that everyone kind of knew the deployment cycle – it became second nature.

“With the shift in missions, this has become a requirement,” he said. “It’s something that we have to get back on to so that we can push combat power to where it’s needed throughout the world. It reassures our NATO allies of our capabilities.”

• Date Taken: 04.20.2015
• Date Posted: 04.21.2015 05:24
• Story ID: 160671
• Location: GRAFENWOEHR, DE
• Hometown: ORLEANS, IN, US
• Hometown: WHITE BEAR LAKE, MN, US