Operation Bayonet Thrust brings Sky Soldiers home

Photo By Master Sgt. Opal Vaughn | U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to the Company D, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade convoy through Estonia, Oct. 21, 2015, as part of Operation Bayonet Thrust.  

LATVIA

10.23.2015

Courtesy Story

173rd Airborne Brigade

RIGA, Latvia –After months being deployed to the Baltics in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, U.S. Army paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade are convoying home to Italy, from Estonia, Oct. 21, 2015.

The trip, named Operation Bayonet Thrust, will take the paratroopers from Company D, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, across nine countries, including, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Croatia, Slovenia, and then Italy

“I've enjoyed my time here in the Baltics, working with our Estonian allies but I'm ready to go home ” said U.S. Army paratrooper Staff Sgt. Jeffrey G. Popovich, a squad leader with Co. D. "We're driving more than 1,500 miles home and this will really give us a chance to exercise our transportation and maintenance skills, all the while interacting with soldiers and citizens from the allied countries we pass through."

Operation Atlantic Resolve is a demonstration of continued U.S. commitment to the collective security of NATO and to enduring peace and stability in the region.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy, is the U.S. Army contingency response force in Europe and is capable of deploying ready forces to conduct the full range of military operations across the U.S. European, Africa and Central Commands' areas of operations within 18 hours.

• Date Taken: 10.23.2015
• Date Posted: 10.23.2015 01:31
• Story ID: 179712
• Location: LV