GRAFENWOEHR, Germany -- Soldiers with the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, participate in a live-fire exercise as part of exercise Combined Resolve XII, at the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, August 8, 2019.
“Today we participated in a platoon live-fire exercise as part of a troop squadron and brigade [level] live-fire exercise in preparation for Combined Resolve in Hohenfels, Germany.” said Lt. Mark Lister, white platoon leader with 1-4 Cav., 1st ABCT, 1st ID. “We demonstrated our ability to conduct live-fire operations before we go into the box and conduct force on force operations.”
As part of the first phase of Combined Resolve XII which began on August 1st, 1-4 CAV has conducted blank and dry fire events to build repetition and the ability to adjust fire, in order to conduct a safe live-fire exercise.
“We got to shoot a lot of rounds so it was an awesome opportunity,” said Lister. “We should be ready to go to the box with all of this training that we’ve done and make sure that we established some good troop and platoon TTPs [tactics techniques and procedures] and get after it in Hohenfels.
The second phase of Combined Resolve XII is a force on force exercise where Soldiers and leaders will conduct large-scale maneuver operations to validate their ability to fight and win against a peer or near-peer threat as an allied force. This phase takes place at Hohenfels Training Area from Aug. 11-27, 2019.
“I just like that raw power that raw feeling that you get shooting the gun, it’s really fun,” said Staff Sgt. Stephen Davis, bradley commander with 1-4 Cav., 1st ABCT, 1st ID. “We shot really well, no malfunctions, everything went exactly as we planned.”
Exercise Combined Resolve is a U.S. Army Europe exercise series held twice a year in southeastern Germany involving U.S. Army, allied and partner nation military forces. Combined Resolve XII will include more than 5,000 participants from 21 nations: Armenia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.