Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Brett Miller | Maj. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, commander of the Danish Division, visits his Soldiers...... read more read more
ADAZI TRAINING AREA, Latvia - Danish Maj. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, commander of the Danish Division, came to Adazi Military Training Center, in Adazi, Latvia, to tour the training area and visit with military personnel participating in the Saber Strike 2014 exercise, which is scheduled to end June 20. This is the first year Denmark and Canada have participated in the exercise.
The Danish Division has been training with the brigades from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania for more than ten years; however, this is the first year they have engaged in Saber Strike exercise. Lollesgaard said he hopes to continue participating in the exercise in years to come.
“We started out after the independence of the three Baltic nations, establishing a battalion sized unit and supporting them and following that we started on supporting the buildup of brigade sized units and brigade staff,” said Lollesgaard. “Now for the last four or five years we’ve had a close partnership between the Baltic Brigade and my division where we are training together on a day-to-day basis.”
Saber Strike 2014 is a joint, multinational military exercise that began June 9, 2014. The exercise spans multiple locations in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and involves approximately 4,500 personnel from 10 countries. The exercise is designed to promote regional stability, strengthen international military partnerships, enhance multinational interoperability and prepare participants for worldwide contingency operations.
“The exercise is going very well, it is full of strong, robust command and control,” said Lollesgaard. “The motivation, engagement and willingness to work together to overcome language barriers is excellent to see.”
This year’s exercise includes participation from: Canada; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; Latvia; Lithuania; Norway; Poland, United Kingdom and the United States.
“Right now we are focused on the brigade level, but I hope in the future we could be mixing companies together from different nations,” said Lollesgaard. “This is the way to go in the future to continue to understand multinational issues.”
The exercise trains participants on command and control and interoperability with regional partners. It is comprised of a brigade-level command post exercise and computer-assisted exercise occurring at various sites in Lithuania and Estonia, including locations near Tartu, Vilnius, Pabrade, Amari and Tapa, as well as company-level field and situational training exercises taking place at the Adazi Training Area, Latvia as well as Gaiziunu Training Range, Lithuania.
“I think the exercise is very well organized by the host nation of Latvia and well supported by U.S. Army Europe. They are doing a great job both here and in Lithuania,” said Lollesgaard.
There are just under one thousand Danish troops participating in the exercise across the Baltic States.
“We’re very used to working in a multinational environment and we work together to understand each other,” said Lollesgaard. “And we are very pleased to work together in this environment of partnership.”
| Date Taken: | 06.17.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.17.2014 12:30 |
| Story ID: | 133365 |
| Location: | ADAZI TRAINING AREA, AIZKRAUKLES APRINKIS, LV |
| Web Views: | 330 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, New to Saber Strike, Denmark hopes to continue participation in the future, by SPC Cassandra Simonton, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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