Bemowo Piskie, POLAND-U.S. Soldiers from Alpha Company, 8th Brigade Engineer Battalion (BEB), 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT),1st Cavalry Division (CAV), and Polish Military Fire Service, Land Forces Training Center Orzysz, Military Unit No. 2098 in Bemowo Piskie demonstrated to one another the proper procedures of mechanical breaching on May 28, 2026, at Bemowo Piskie Training Area (BPTA), Poland.
The engineers were able to get their hands on tools they don’t use daily.
“It was good for them to see the way that the Polish firefighters use the tools,” said Capt. Zachary McBride, commander, Alpha Company, 8th BEB, 2nd ABCT, 1st CAV.
Firefighters have a different role in breaching doors, but they use the same tools as the engineers.
“They use the same equipment as us, like they use handsaws that we use, they use halligan tools, crowbars, and all that same stuff we use,” said Sgt. Deven Batiste, dismount team leader, Alpha Company, 8th BEB, 2nd ABCT, 1st CAV.
McBride said they were taught the same methods and tools.
“But they also do some things differently,” said McBride.
Which he says his soldiers may be able to use one day.
Prior to the door-breaching demonstration, the engineers gave a capabilities brief to the armor battalion, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Division (1-8 CAV), which they are attached to while at BPTA.
McBride extended the invitation to them to watch the demonstration.
Sgt. Ramiro Lopez, dismount leader, Alpha Company, 8th BEB, 2nd ABCT, 1st CAV, said of the training, “It was important to show the mechanical capabilities of an engineer not only to our counterparts with 1-8 but to our Polish counterparts, in how we use equipment to breach into doors.”
The engineers also demonstrated that breaches in different types of doors would be either inward- or outward-swinging.
“Residential doors, they're more wooden, and they generally swing inward. While with commercial doors, they're reinforced, so they usually swing outwards towards you,” said Baptiste.
The engineers were able to practice different techniques for each door type after Sgt. Baptiste demonstrated how a door breach is conducted.
After training on door breaching, the Polish Firefighters showed the Soldiers their fire equipment and answered questions about the role of a firefighter.
Whether it be saving lives from a fire or Soldiers needing to enter or clear a building, they learned that the tools and techniques used by both were almost identical and imperative to their missions, Polish and American alike.