Spartan Soldiers Unite for Training with Kuwaiti Land Force Engineers

(UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)

11.11.2020

Story by Sgt. Andrew Valenza 

Task Force Spartan

Since March 2020, Task Force Spartan Soldiers have been working closely with Soldiers of the Kuwaiti Land Force Engineers in joint training events to increase interoperability between the two forces.

Task Force Spartan and 42nd Infantry Division Engineer Officer in Charge Lt. Col. Michael Rodriguez says the joint events are about two things; displaying Spartan's abilities and sharing knowledge between the two countries.

"The goal of us training with the Kuwaiti's has always been to reinvigorate the joint training between the Kuwaitis and the U.S. from the engineer perspective," said Rodriguez. "We figured that it would be good to showcase what we do and what we can do. One of the other goals was to help out with their Land Force Institute Engineer School, and in that, get into their training cycle, and teach them a little bit about how America does it."

The training events are broken down into three main phases that include planning, training workshops and graduation.

"We've had a very good commitment from the Kuwaiti's, said Rodriguez. "What that has enabled us to do is gain that comfort factor between the two countries and then understand where they are and where we can provide some synergies. From there, we develop into a training plan."

The first installment of training focused on noncommissioned officers from both nations explicitly working on the fortification of fighting positions.

"Today we're training on fighting positions with the Kuwaiti military, using British doctrine integrating it with U.S. Forces," said Lt. Col. Raymond Benisek, the operations officer for the 16th Theater Engineer Brigade.

Throughout the training, U.S. and Kuwaiti Soldiers worked side-by-side to digging small trenches, filling sandbags, building up fortifications and clearing razor wire.

According to Benisek, the 16th brought their techniques to the table to strengthen cohesion between the two forces.

"We're also bringing some U.S. techniques and procedures into the overall program that they have here, to help enhance the ability for us to work side by side in any type of contingency operations moving forward," said Benisek.

Benisek sees opportunities like this as a way of building upon pre-existing relationships between both countries.

"There’s been development in the past, and we want to continue to improve on that,” said Benisek. “We’re trying to learn the baseline and then improve as we go forward.”

Once the workshop is completed, both U.S. and Kuwaiti Soldiers are given a graduation ceremony, where leaders from both forces recognize participants' achievements.

“The importance of it is that it shows [the Soldiers] have gone through some official training,” said Rodriguez. “They have seen that both entities can work, and it gives them a bit of recognition for their willingness to participate. It’s been a great event and we want to make sure that they have that culmination event.”

With the 42nd leaving theater, Rodriguez is still optimistic about the continued efforts of the 16th TEB, under new leadership by the incoming 36th Infantry Division.

“I’ve been talking to my counterpart about this event and future events,” said Rodriguez. “The beauty of it is, the TEB is offset from [the 42nd’s redeployment] from Task Force Spartan. They’ll be the continuity effort, or the main effort, as they are the ones involved with the Kuwaiti’s directly.”

Col. Muhammed Alsedrah, from the Kuwaiti Land Force Engineers Institute, was proud of the partnership between U.S. and Kuwaiti Forces and is looking forward to what the future brings to the partnership.

“We look forward to applying this together, and to continue our partnership, and would be honored with more opportunities,” said Alsedrah.

• Date Taken: 11.11.2020
• Date Posted: 11.17.2020 05:05
• Story ID: 382813
• Location: (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)