Photo By Sgt. Hannah Hawkins | Oregon Army National Guard Sgt. Chase Kaleta of 3-116 Cavalry unit, Charlie Company...... read more read more
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GAZIPUR, Bangladesh – Moving sluggishly through the hot, steamy haze, a commuter train passes by a diverse group of soldiers working alongside the tracks. It’s packed with travelers, and even in late winter, many riders choose to sit on top of the train to find a place of respite from the crammed muggy conditions inside. The soldiers are a mixed group of Bangladesh Army service members and U.S. troops training together, and like the train passengers, trying to mitigate the heat and humidity here in late February.
As Exercise Tiger Lightning 2023 began at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Support Operations Training (BIPSOT) center on Feb. 26, 2023, members of the Oregon Army National Guard 3-116 Cavalry Unit, Charlie Company out of Woodburn, Oregon, as well as members of the 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade (5th SFAB) out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, and several members from Civil Affairs, as well as Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams, conducted various tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) during the two-week exercise that concluded on March 12.
“Tiger Lighting is a bilateral exercise where we focus on partnership and interoperability and strengthen the partnership that we have with Bangladesh,” said Oregon Army National Guard Lt. Col. Demian San Miguel, assigned to the State Partnership Program and the lead planner for Tiger Lightning 2023. “For the past couple of years, we have been doing exchanges with Bangladesh, focusing on peacekeeping operations for their units deploying to Mali, Central Africa Republic, and Congo. So these exercises allow the U.S. forces to learn more about what the Bangladeshis do in Africa related to peacekeeping operations.”
Exercise Tiger Lightning was first conducted in 2017 with a pause to do the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past two years, the exercise has been held in Bangladesh again.
The exercise was particularly aimed at developing mutual understanding and mission connectivity between the forces in a peacekeeping environment.
“The main purpose and intent are to build on capacity,” said Maj. Gen. A.S.M. Ridwanur Rahman, BIPSOT Commandant. “Last year we conducted the exercise that was more of a tabletop exercise with a few tactical exercises but this time we tried to really go at platoon levels and into the specific drills.
“Looking at the drills of both countries, we found there are a lot of things that we can really incorporate into our systems. So from that perspective, it is great learning for us as a training institution and for the peacekeepers who will be deployed in the future,” said Maj. Gen. Rahman.
This exercise allowed all parties to share in best practices, from the U.S.’s engagements in the Middle East and Bangladesh’s peacekeeping TTPs from Africa allowed both countries to see “there are a lot of things that we can really incorporate in our systems,” said Maj. Gen. Rahman, “for us as a training intuition and for the peacekeepers who will be deploying in the future.”
“Tiger Lightning 2023 focused on a platoon-level exchange where we saw how Bangladesh would do it, we demonstrated how the U.S. does it, then we combined the platoons to encourage that interoperability and see how they work together,” said San Miguel. “That only strengthened our partnership, not only at the strategic and operational level but really at the tactical level with our Soldiers interacting with their Soldiers and developing that friendship and partnership.”
In total, 150 Soldiers from the Bangladesh Army and 75 U.S. Army members trained together during the two-week exercise. The first week focused on counter-improvised explosive devices (C-IED), mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, and a combat lifesaver (CLS) course.
“This year for the first time, the MRAP vehicles that we have received from the U.S. Army for the peacekeeping missions, we have tested and tried those on the ground so this is a good avenue,” said Maj. Gen. Rahman.
The second week began with an academic discussion on peacekeeping missions and EOD knowledge between Bangladesh and the U.S. militaries, with the remaining majority of the week holding field exercise training (FTX). The FTX consisted of Checkpoint establishment, C-IED, counter-ambush, and cordon and search operations.
The culminating exercise showcased cordon and search operations in multiple iterations allowing Charlie Company, 3-116 Cavalry to observe, for training purposes, the Bangladesh Army’s way of assaulting a staged village. The two militaries switched roles so the Bangladesh Army could see Charlie Company’s TTPs when assaulting the village. This allowed for much discussion during after-action reviews where both countries talked about best practices and what was noticed about each other's ways of executing the mission.
“It’s nice to see that when the platoons are combined and they are doing a specific task afterward there is an after-action review and we get good comments from the U.S. and good comments from Bangladesh and they are able to interact together and share those TTPs and experiences,” said San Miguel.
“We have a lot of things to learn from the U.S. Army and at the same time the U.S. participants have much to learn about the current peacekeeping environments,” said Maj. Gen. Rahman. Both countries were able to take away greater understanding during this year’s exercise and hope to continue the partnership into the future. The Oregon National Guard has been an SPP nation with Bangladesh for over ten years.
“The U.S. and Bangladesh Army have a very rich history of bilateral cooperation,” said Maj. Gen. Rahman.
“One of the most powerful things I have witnessed here was the casual interaction between the U.S. Soldiers and the Bangladesh Soldiers even when there was no task going on and just some downtime, it was nice to see some of our Soldiers interact with them, laugh, joke, share patches,” said San Miguel. “That right there is the foundation of our friendship with Bangladesh.”
| Date Taken: | 03.24.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.24.2023 13:16 |
| Story ID: | 441149 |
| Location: | GAZIPUR, BD |
| Web Views: | 449 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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