Multinational Soldiers light up ranges at EFES 16

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Hughes | German, Polish and U.S. Soldiers fire each other's weapons during a mutlinational weapons exchange during Exercise EFES 16 in Mentes, Turkey. The exercise is a Turkish-led multi-national exercise that includes 5,000 service members from 9 different countries.  

TURKEY

05.24.2016

Story by Staff Sgt. Whitney Hughes 

114th Public Affairs Detachment

As the Captain stood on a dusty hillside in Doganbey Turkey intently explaining the intricacies and physics involved in his Soldiers' equipment he was interrupted by a more concise explanation, a thunderous boom that rained rock and earth from the sky. A grin instantly spread from ear to ear as he turned to see his Soldiers cheering with their phones in the air capturing the spirit of the Combat Engineer: demolition.

"Demolition is what we do as combat engineers and we have to stay on top of our game," said U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Jose Munoz, the  A Company, 54th Engineer Battalion, 173rd Brigade Combat Team (Airborne).    

As the mutlinational exercise continues in Izmir, Turkey the paratroopers of A Company, 54th Engineer Battalion, 173rd Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), have been challenged to draw on not only their own expertise in demolition operations and their own weapon systems, but also to learn new skills sets like learning German and Polish weapon systems by participating in multi-national demolition and weapons familiarization ranges May 22 and 23.

"It is very important to that we learn from the our multinational allies. We have to understand our allies because if we fight we are going to fight alongside them," said Munoz.

During the Turkish-hosted demolition range where they used explosive ordinance to practice how to breach concertina wire during an attack. The Combat Engineers' role in this in this situation is to reach the obstacle and use the explosive to clear it so that an infantry squad can push through the obstacle and continue to advance to their objective, said U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Wescott.

At the range they used several different types of explosives, bangalores, shapes, and craters. Bangalores are the primary devices they use to breach obstacles. Shapes are a 40-pound explosive that bores a hole in the earth to soften the ground for a crater device, which then creates a hole in the earth to make obstacles for enemy vehicles. 

"Every time you go in the field and use them (explosives) you get more experience so you can teach other Soldiers, or our NATO allies," said U.S. Army Pfc. Leonardo Vasquez, who graduated from initial training just a year ago. "I like working with them because they always have different experience to offer."

The next day Vasquez and the other paratroopers were able capitalize on the multi-national environment and even more hands-on experience.They participated in a multi-national exchange of instruction of weapon systems and marksmanship with the German and Polish militaries. Then they were able to "light up" the Turkish hillside with machine guns, rifles, and pistols from all three nations. 

"All of my buddies from basic are pretty jealous when i say I'm working with these different countries, because in their units they don't get to do that," said Vasquez.

• Date Taken: 05.24.2016
• Date Posted: 05.24.2016 14:29
• Story ID: 198910
• Location: TR