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CONSTANTA, Romania – In the early morning hours of a cold February morning a train, loaded down with M1A2 Abrams Tanks and M88 recovery vehicles stood waiting on a railroad track near Mihail Kogalniceanu, Romania. The vehicles belonged to the recently arrived Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
“It has been almost 30 years since the United States has moved this much equipment into Europe, and we have never moved them this far east,” said Lt. Col. Jason Sabat, commander, 1st Bn. 8th Inf. Regt., as he watched his Soldiers off-load the vehicles Feb. 14, 2017.
The equipment was shipped to Germany from Fort Carson in mid-November via rail and cargo ship. On Jan. 6, it was loaded onto trains and then convoyed to Poland where it was offloaded and within days, being fired during training exercises with the Polish Army.
After a few weeks in Poland, the equipment was re-loaded onto rail cars and shipped to Romania.
“Part of our mission here is to learn how to move our equipment around Europe,” said Maj. Scott Stephens, executive officer, 1st Bn., 8th Inf. Regt.
The move into Romania is one of several pushes by 3rd Brigade, 4th Inf. Div. to move onward from Poland to seven other countries in central and Eastern Europe as part of a persistent U.S. armored presence in the region. Over the last week, other combined-arms units in the brigade moved into Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
The movement of 1st Bn., 8th Inf. Regt. to Romania is a prime example of how the 3rd Brigade is exhibiting its ability to move freely from one NATO country to another. Once the battalion receives all of its equipment, it will move one of its companies to Bulgaria to train with the Bulgarian military.
“Our Soldiers are the best,” said Sabat. “We are excited to train with our allies here. It is all about cooperation. It is important that we know each other’s capabilities,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 02.14.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 02.15.2017 12:17 |
| Story ID: | 223607 |
| Location: | CONSTANTA, RO |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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