RUKLA, Lithuania – Soldiers from the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the Lithuanian Mechanized Infantry Brigade “Iron Wolf” conducted a military-to-military interaction to discuss their respective nations’ tactical operations centers capabilities, processes, and procedures Jan. 26, 2015.
During the event, Soldiers described the tactics, techniques and procedures unique to their military and unit. The event allowed them to compare the way their staff sections operate a TOC and to share lessons learned with each other. As the event progressed, the Soldiers found that they had more in common than they did differences.
“Working with all of our Baltic allies, it has become readily apparent that there isn’t much of a difference between the competency and capability of our staff counterparts,” said Capt. Richard Minkwitz, 3rd Squadron’s military intelligence officer.
After an initial discussion, 3rd Squadron invited the Iron Wolf Soldiers to a tour of their current TOC, operating in Rukla. During the tour, members of the 3rd Squadron highlighted the mobility of the TOC setup, “we want to have the ability to move and jump TOC quickly to avoid collection and indirect fire,” said Minkwitz.
Minkwitz attributed the TOC’s versatility to the Soldiers that kept it running, “by empowering our junior Soldiers and NCOs and having confidence in them to do jobs that would be held by officers in other militaries, it frees up much of the staff to work on other problem sets.”
Although the discussions about TTPs was a key part of the discussion, it wasn’t the most significant part of the event, “the most important thing that happened today was that we met each other face to face,” said Lt. Col. Viktoras Bagdonas, Dragoon Battalion’s commander.
Bagdonas continued, “knowing each other personally and knowing how each other operates and does business will ease our work in future exercises.”
Operation Atlantic Resolve provides U.S. and allied forces the opportunity to work and train together and improves their ability to operate as a combined force; that capability is essential to the security and strength of Europe.