Rapid Trident Closing Ceremony

CENTRAL CITY, UKRAINE

09.17.2010

Courtesy Story

40th Infantry Division

CENTRAL CITY, Ukraine — On Sept. 17, 2010, multi-national soldiers participating in Operation Rapid Trident hosted their end of exercise closing ceremonies.

It will be a mark of the ending of another successful Rapid Trident mission.

The Rapid Trident training mission, which is held annually, is a valuable training tool for North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Partnership for Peace countries.

Working under the princeples of peace, various nations participate each year in the Rapid Trident mission in an effort to learn how to more effectively work together with their differing tactics and technologies.

The exercise really got started when the U.S. contingent arrived. Co-hosted by the Ukrainian Army and the California Army National Guard, the Rapid Trident training mission has been an important training mission to teach inter-operability between armies and an excellent way to promote cultural diversity and teach tolerance.

During the mission soldiers from the United States, Ukraine, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Germany, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom had to breach both language and technological barriers in order to effectively execute a Command Post Exercise (CPX), and a Field Training Exercise (FTX).

“It will be a great experience to work with U.S. troops so we can be close to their standards,” said Republic of Macedonia Maj. Robert Tasevski, when, at the begining of training he was asked what he expected to learn from the mission.

Through the course of the training and as time passed a definite change could be seen within all the multi-national soldiers. When the exercise began one could see scenes reminiscent of a high school lunch room with clearly defined cliques and barriers. But as the mission progressed, and the different soldiers started to get to know each other, you could see those barriers fall. Tables in the chow hall quickly became a scattering of nations as soldiers no longer sat respectively with their own countries.

Friendships were quickly formed as the soldiers involved saw they were not so different.

“[The whole purpose] is to forge new relationships with international soldiers while gaining experience,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael A. Rodriguez from Sacramento, Calif.

During the training the soldiers were given two opportunities to temper the steel of their newly forged friendships.

Near the end of the mission soldiers were allowed to take a break from their important training to participate in a friendship dinner where the food was fine. The following day the same soldiers departed for Lviv, Ukraine to get a dose of the local culture and a chance to enjoy themselves while out on the town.

With the exercise coming to an end, a frequent sight was the exchanging of unit patches and email addresses, as the newfound friends made sure they would be able to stay in contact and not have to wait for another Rapid Trident to see each other.

“I had a great time,” said U.S. Army Pvt. Cinthia Rodarte from Los Angeles. “It was really helpful training and a great experience to make friends with a foreign soldier. I definitely would like to come back.”

• Date Taken: 09.17.2010
• Date Posted: 09.17.2010 08:20
• Story ID: 56466
• Location: CENTRAL CITY, UA