German Army soldiers with the 391st Mechanized Infantry Battalion provided fire support during a combined Georgian special operations forces exercise at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia, Aug. 5, 2018.
Germany joined 12 other nations to participate in Noble Partner 18, an exercise designed to improve participating nations’ ability to conduct multinational mission command and control, integration, execution, and synchronization.
"This is very important because we get knowledge about the training development plans of other nations and [this] is a very good experience to work with multinational and in foreign terrain," said Capt. Mathias Sturmer, company commander with the 391st MIB.
More than 100 German Soldiers participated in the exercise. The mechanized infantryman infiltrated the training site with 13 Marder infantry fighting vehicles. They then dismounted and used small unit tactics to secure a landing zone while the tank crews established support-by-fire positions around the perimeter.
U.S. Army Bradley fighting vehicles were also present in the training area and provided support to the German forces.
"Working with the American comrades, I noticed very little difference," said Staff Sgt. Thomas Zeitz, tank commander with the 391st MIB. "The way they attack is very similar to us. We attacked a building from a flank and asked an American team to give suppressing fire, and they knew what we wanted because they had the same idea."
This exercise is part of the 391st MIB's preparation to participate in an upcoming Enhanced Forward Presence rotation in Lithuania.
"It gives me pride to be here, and it's also fun," said Zeitz.