KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – Civilian and military personnel from the Gulf Cooperation Council nations of Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. conducted tactical counterterrorism drills as part of exercise Eagle Resolve, March 28, near Kuwait International Airport.
Special operations forces conducted search and rescue training, active shooter room clearing exercises, and responded to a mock vehicle explosion.
One objective of the exercise is for the U.S. and participating nations to share tactics, techniques and procedures. Since 1999, Eagle Resolve has become the leading engagement between the U.S. and GCC nations to collectively address the regional challenges associated with asymmetric warfare in a low-risk setting.
“This is my life. This is what we do. We have good men and they know what they are doing. They defend their country like the U.S. defends its country,” said Sgt. Jasem Al-Azzan, an infantry sergeant and urban warfare trainer with Kuwait’s 94th Mechanized Brigade.
Al-Azzan is part of a platoon of trained urban warfare Soldiers and has done several training exercises with the U.S. at Camp Buehring and with other regional armies. His section was responsible for establishing and maintaining red and green safety zones to protect the civilian populace and first responders.
“We do this every one to two years with the Qatari’s and our friends, the Saudi Army,” said Al-Azzan. “As a result of this training, everyone in Kuwait will be safe.”
As part of the search and rescue tactic drills, two teams assaulted through a doorway after throwing smoke grenades to mask their approach. The assault teams then assembled for a quick entry and searched the warehouses using military room clearing and sweeping techniques. They were opposed by enemy shooters role-played by U.S. Soldiers from Bravo Company, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.
When asked about the challenge of operating as part of a fast-moving, multi-lingual team, one special operations Marine veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan said, “Tactics are tactics. Guys with guns are guys with guns. It’s the same everywhere you go.”
The assault teams were followed by a Kuwait Ministry of Interior search and rescue team equipped with a rescue liter and several chainsaws to extract potential victims from the wreckage of a simulated building collapse. Kuwaiti commando’s provided security for the rescue teams.
“It’s better than training by ourselves,” said a member of Kuwait’s 25th Commando Brigade who specializes in counter-terrorism and hostage recovery. “We can observe different experiences. We’ve trained before with American Marines in Bahrain…I think this exercise succeeded.”
His U.S. counterparts agreed.
“We’re developing relationships,” said a Marine special operator. “It’s like making an investment that is going to pay back interest across the whole [special operations force].”
| Date Taken: | 03.31.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2017 17:36 |
| Story ID: | 228827 |
| Location: | KW |
| Web Views: | 360 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, US and GCC special operators tactical drills: terrorist hotel attacks, active shooters, by Frank O'Brien, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
