Spc. Levi Weigel, a combat engineer with the 119th Engineer Company (Sapper), West Virginia National Guard, helps create defensive obstacles during the Culminating Training Event for Exercise Immediate Response 24 on May 14, 2024, at the Libava military training area, Czech Republic.
“The things I like most about the training here is it's really immersive,” the Ripley, West Virginia native said. “Everything we're doing, we're doing to standard. It gives me the opportunity to become a better Soldier. The realism of it all just makes it that much more valuable to us.”
"It's absolutely fantastic to get to work with our NATO allies," he said. “It's very satisfying to see the things that they're able to do or we're able to do and work together to ultimately accomplish a unified goal. Something that I've learned personally is that we're all soldiers. At the end of the day, we might speak different languages, but we're all soldiers the way that we act. You can transcend these differences, these boundaries, knowing that our jobs are the same and that were ultimately trying to accomplish the same goal.”
Weigel also said the training has given him the opportunity to perform his combat skills by integrating with an infantry unit during the exercise.
“Flexibility is huge,” he said. “Whenever we're deployed or we're in in the field, being able to adapt to whatever comes at us is really important.”
DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO’s Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD’s Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (U.S. Army Reserve Photo by Staff Sgt. Angela O'Hearn)
| Date Taken: | 05.14.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.16.2024 08:50 |
| Photo ID: | 8407094 |
| VIRIN: | 240514-A-GP509-1112 |
| Resolution: | 6240x4160 |
| Size: | 15.87 MB |
| Location: | SMILOV, CZ |
| Web Views: | 208 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Know Your Defender 24: Spc. Levi Weigel [Image 3 of 3], by SSG Angela Ohearn, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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