Visiting Resolute Castle as its future thunders around it

Photo By Capt. Colin Cutler | An M1A1 Abrams fires on targets as part of Getica Saber 17. The Resolute Castle 2017 projects directly support such exercises by building Joint National Training Center infrastructure necessary for training armor crews. Both fall under Operation Atlantic Resolve, an effort to reassure NATO partners of U.S. commitment to the alliance and deter regional threats.  

CINCU, ROMANIA

07.15.2017

Story by Capt. Colin Cutler 

926th Engineer Brigade

This week the green hills of Joint National Training Center, Cincu, Romania, echoed with the rumble of tanks, the roar of jets, and the thunder of artillery as the Saber Guardian and Getica Saber exercises demonstrated the operational capabilities of the NATO alliance. General officers and political officials from multiple nations arrived for the exercises; on 14 July, they visited the Resolute Castle worksites to observe work of Army engineers on infrastructure at JNTC that will make future exercises even more effective.

“Behind me you can see what I think will be soon known in the Romanian Army and throughout the Black Sea Region as the best mounted gunnery range in this part of Europe,” said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe. He referred to the non-standard live-fire range at the JNTC. This range will allow a tank platoon to conduct shoot and move live-fire exercises on 5 lanes.

The live-fire range is a massive project that involves building 11 kilometers of tank trails, grading 3 football fields’ worth of space for targetry, and removing the equivalent of half a cubic football field from a hilltop to allow line of sight from battle positions to the moving targets. The completion of this tank range will directly enable the training of the same armor crews who participate in exercises such as Saber Guardian and Getica Saber.

Along with other civil and military leaders from the U.S. and Romania, Hodges toured and received briefs on other project sites, including an ammo-loading dock, light demolition range with breaching capabilities, and a sniper range. Hans Klemm, U.S. Ambassador to Romania, said these projects are in large part funded by the European Reassurance Initiative, a broader attempt to reassure NATO partners of U.S. commitment to the treaty organization, build interoperability between the Soldiers of the nations, and deter regional threats.

On the 15th of July, Lt. Gen Todd Semonite, the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, visited the sites as well. He emphasized the need to build Soldier skills in real-life environments—“guys come out here and build something they’ve never built before.”

• Date Taken: 07.15.2017
• Date Posted: 07.18.2017 03:05
• Story ID: 241523
• Location: CINCU, RO
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