Photo By 1st Lt. Brandon Rex | Soldiers with Company C, 1st Battalion, 137th Aviation Regiment, interacting with...... read more read more
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INDIANAPOLIS - Aviators with Indiana’s 38th Combat Aviation Brigade took part in Tobruq Legacy 16, a multinational exercise in Slovakia focused on interoperability and joint operational procedures among the eight participating countries.
The 35 soldiers with Company C, 1st Battalion 137th regiment, known as the assault helicopter company, brought four UH-60 helicopters to the two-week NATO led exercise in September.
“Our mission here was to support Slovak Shield and Tobruq Legacy, a first for the Indiana National Guard.” said 1st Sgt. Derick Kuhns, senior noncommissioned officer for the unit out of Shelbyville, Indiana.
Kuhns said that the unit used a wide range of their job specialties to support the exercise.
The contingency representing the unit was comprised of pilots, aircraft mechanics, technical inspectors, logistics personnel, a flight medic, an operation specialist and an air traffic control operator.
Tobruq Legacy 16 consisted of two main training objectives, first, interoperability testing between eight NATO defense allies, utilizing different air defense systems and second, training against live aircraft and simulations in order to test the ability to process engagements and conduct NATO reporting procedures in preparation of follow on exercises.
Approximately 1,200 troops representing the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Combined Air Operations Centre Uedem, Germany participated in the exercise. That number also included more than 200 U.S. Army soldiers from both active duty units and National Guard.
Maj John Peterson with the 10th Army Air & Missile Defense Command said that having both Guardsmen and active duty personnel in this exercise not only supports one of the U.S. Army Europe commander’s priorities of using the total Army force, but it allows to fill gaps where the active duty component might not have certain capabilities in theater.
“Here in Europe is crucial that we are utilizing the full capabilities of the U.S. Army inventory,” said Peterson who served as the main planner officer for U.S. air defense portion of the exercise.
The Indiana soldiers and aircraft supported the exercise by conducting aerial medical and casualty evacuation training, along with assault training inter-operability.
“We did our own exercise called Medix” said Lt. Col. Ivana Gutzelmig, Slovakia Air Force chief of medical service. She said, the objective of Medix was to train on troop response to incidents, medical response to incidents, MASCAL Training, medical evacuation especially with air assets and command and control in medical field.
The host nation’s Air force medical personnel utilized the 38th CAB’s Black Hawks to transport patients to a hospital after a simulated mass casualty scenario. This is the first time this type of hands-on training has been done between the two partner nations.
Gutzelmig explained that the medical unit practiced loading litters in and out, practiced loading ambulatory patients into the Black Hawks and also got to experience how it feels inside a helicopter of that size. Additionally, they practiced training with a multinational ambulance crew and multinational cooperation in medical teams, a first for the Slovak forces.
“We trained with approximately 50 to 60 NATO medics.” said CPT Evan Edwards, Company C, 1-137th commander. “We flew around and picked up their patients in real time. It was an outstanding training opportunity.”
The Indiana, Slovak partnership is part of a National Guard Bureau and U.S. Europe initiative that links states and territories with military members of other countries around the world for the purpose of supporting the security cooperation objectives of the geographic Combatant Commands.
Tobruk Legacy demonstrates the ability to integrate the National Guard into Army Europe operations and directly contributes to the collective defense by providing assurance through presence while sustaining the defensive deterrent capability with NATO allies and partners.
The Indiana unit will also participate in the Slovak Shield exercise following the culmination of Trobuq Legacy 16.
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| Date Taken: | 10.08.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 10.11.2016 11:29 |
| Story ID: | 211714 |
| Location: | IN, US |
| Web Views: | 149 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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