Georgian Army, Ukrainian Marines conduct urban ops training for Noble Partner 18

Photo By Staff Sgt. Thomas Calvert | A Georgian Army trainer helps a Ukrainian Marine clear a weapons malfunction during urban operations training August 3 during Exercise Noble Partner at Vaziana Training Area, Georgia. Exercise Noble Partner 18 is a cooperative-led multinational training exercise held by the Georgian armed forces and US Army Europe that aims to enhance force readiness and interoperability between the participating nations.  

VAZIANI TRAINING AREA, GEORGIA

08.03.2018

Story by Sgt. Thomas Calvert 

24th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

Georgian soldiers from the 12th Light Infantry Battalion, 1st Infantry Brigade conducted an urban operations exercise with Ukrainian Marines at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia on August 3 as part of Exercise Noble Partner 18.

Noble Partner 2018 is a Georgian Armed Forces and U.S. Army Europe cooperatively-led exercise in its fourth iteration. The exercise is intended to support and enhance the readiness and interoperability of Georgia, the U.S. and participating nations during a multinational training operation.

The main focus of the urban operations training was to share ideas and promote partnership among the allied nations, said Georgian Army Cpt. Borisi Chutlashvili, 12th Light Infantry Battalion, 1st Infantry Brigade

"Today we shared our experience and showed each other how to do it in two different ways: in the Ukrainian way and the Georgian way," Chutlashvili said. "It's very interesting because these guys have very good experience with the urban training. We saw some new things for us and it will be nice for the future, and training the Georgian soldiers also."

The Ukrainian Marines took part in movements on the objectives and conducted after action reviews with their squad leaders and Georgian counterparts. It was many of the Marines' first experience in an international training event, said Ukrainian Marine Seaman Dmytro Volynets, a machine gunner with 1st Company, 1st Separate Battalion Marines out of Mykolayv, Ukraine.

"I'm sure we will have a great experience with cooperation of Ukrainian, Georgian, and American squads with [different] weapons and tactics," Volynets said.

The movements consisted of attack and defense, with several iterations of each and every Ukrainian squad getting a chance to train.

“We have just started to train, and we will go on,” Volynets said. “We have to train many times so we can be clear until we are 100 percent.”

Volynets stressed that the repetitive training was important for their effectiveness and survivability on the battlefield, and Chutlashvili agreed.

“I would like all my soldiers to have a [better] chance to stay alive on the battlefield, and this training will help us to improve our experience in the future with multination troops,” Chutlashvili said.

After working shoulder-to-shoulder with partner nations in many areas around the world, the sharing of ideas and training is of utmost importance in today’s complex landscape, Chutlashvili said.

"We have training with the UK, the US Army, the Ukrainians, and it's very important for us because sharing information and sharing experience is the ticket for the future," Chutlashvili said. "Ukrainians showed us today some small things which was unknown to us that they are using everyday on the battlefield, and I think that we will pass down all of the information to our troops.”

• Date Taken: 08.03.2018
• Date Posted: 08.03.2018 23:16
• Story ID: 287203
• Location: VAZIANI TRAINING AREA, GE