Exercise Combined Resolve XV Concludes

Photo By Joyce Costello | US Soldiers assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division rest after the final battle during Combined Resolve XV, March 1, 2021 at the Hohenfels Training Area. Combined Resolve XV allows allies and partners to connect – personally, professionally, technically, and tactically – to create stronger, more capable forces during times of crisis. (U.S. Army photo by Joyce Costello)  

BY, GERMANY

03.01.2021

Story by Sgt. Renee Seruntine 

Joint Multinational Readiness Center

HOHENFELS, Germany - Service members from 10 nations concluded force on force training for Combined Resolve XV at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) on March 1, 2021. Among them were troops from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United States. It was a joint exercise that Soldiers of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, from Fort Hood, Texas participated in along with NATO allies and partners, as a way to train and demonstrate their abilities to fight and win against an equally capable force in the European theater.

"We stand resolute with our partners as a trained and ready force- a team of teams ready when called upon. Combined Resolve allowed this commitment to be on full display across the theater," said Lt. Col. Nicholas Dvonch, 1ABCT, 1CD, Acting Commander. "IRONHORSE's ability to integrate with any partnered force demonstrations that we are always stronger together."

Combined Resolve XV is a Headquarters Department of the Army directed Multinational exercise designed to build 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division’s readiness and enhance interoperability with allied forces to fight and win against any adversary.

“This training is so important because there’s no other place in Europe where we can replicate and have such a realistic competitive training environment with the support of the five pillars offered by a combat training center to train U.S. forces and our allies and partners to increase our readiness,” explained said Lt. Col. Thomas Burns, JMRC Exercise and Mission Command chief.

The training was a massive undertaking in scale and scope. The Soldiers set up their areas of operation throughout a 40,000 acre battlefield within the mountainous and hilly terrain of the southern region of Germany. They remained in the battlefield during the entire 10 day training exercise. Initially they were on the defense, and then transitioned into an offensive posture.

“Here at JMRC, we’re lucky enough to be augmented certain NATO allied countries, militaries or even member countries from the partnership of peace initiative within NATO,” said U.S. Army Capt. Peter Fortier, Blackfoot Company commander, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. “It increases interoperability, it increases rapport, and just relationship building... a lot of these smaller militaries, we keep seeing familiar faces, and a rapport has already been built with our OPFOR and their unit.”

Combined Resolve XV allows allies and partners to connect – personally, professionally, technically, and tactically – to create stronger, more capable forces during times of crisis.

“Our experience working with the U.S. is huge because one of the main tasks in [Bosnia] is to train so we can have interoperability with other nations, so here we have a great opportunity to work with them,” said Lt. Muamer Zrnanovic, B Co. platoon leader, Light Infantry Platoon, Mechanized Training Battalion, Armed Forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina. “For us, it’s very important because I came from a unit that’s a mechanized training battalion, in an exercise in our country we are an OPFOR unit also and here we get to do the same things, but on a bigger scale. We can see other countries doing things that we do in our country.”

Combining forces on such a large scale displays our interoperability, and encourages regional stability, thereby improving relationships between the allied and partnered militaries.

"Training alongside our international partners on such a grand scale, is something we could not have done at Fort Hood," said Lt. Col. John Ordonio, commander, 91st Brigade Engineer Battalion. "Learning from one another, seeing how we operate as a whole and maneuver effectively together is something only gained here in an environment like this."

Other units that took part in Combined Resolve XV include the current Atlantic Resolve aviation rotation, the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade; as well as units permanently stationed in Germany including the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command; 15th Engineer Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, 21st TSC; and U.S. Special Operations Command Europe forces.

• Date Taken: 03.01.2021
• Date Posted: 03.08.2021 06:31
• Story ID: 390328
• Location: BY, DE