Photo By Maj. Jason Sweeney | California Army National Guard Commander Maj. Gen. Lawrence Haskins addresses U.S. and...... read more read more
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CHAUBATTIA CANTONMENT, India - Soldiers from the world's two largest democracies completed a two-week training exercise on Sept. 30 in the foothills of the Himalayas. The exercise, called Yudh Abhyas 2014, successfully integrated soldiers from the U.S. and Indian armies into a single brigade for a U.N. peacekeeping operation in a fictional African nation in crisis.
At the closing ceremony at Chaubattia Cantonment in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, California Army National Guard Commander Maj. Gen. Lawrence Haskins addressed a mixed formation of U.S. Army and Indian Army troops.
“Yudh Abhyas 2014 has enhanced our readiness and effectiveness as soldiers, as well as increased the interoperability between our two armies,” Haskins said. “This exercise should be seen as the foundation for increased exchanges between our two armies and our nations.”
Exercise Yudh Abhyas started out in 2004 as a small field training exercise between the U.S. Army Pacific Command and the Indian Army. Since then, it has expanded from platoon-level operations to battalion- and brigade-level. The California National Guard began participating in Yudh Abhyas in 2008 and has been a fixture in the exercise ever since.
While Yudh Abhyas means training for war in Hindi, the exercise has focused on interoperability between the U.S. and Indian armies for peacekeeping missions.
India has been a major contributor in U.N. peacekeeping operations for more than half a century, sending its soldiers everywhere from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Haiti, Lebanon and several other nations that have experienced crises.
About 190 U.S. soldiers hailing from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division; 3rd Battalion, 1st Group, U.S. Army Special Forces; and the California Army National Guard took part in Yudh Abhyas 2014.
U.S. soldiers trained side by side with troops from India's 99th Mountain Brigade out in the field and in a command post exercise that simulated operations for a deployed United Nations Force Headquarters.
Twelve Cal Guard soldiers played the role of U.N. Force Headquarters in the command post portion of the exercise.
Cal Guard Lt. Col. Kenneth Koop was the coordinator who pulled together the Cal Guard team for Yudh Abhyas 2014. He also played the role of the U.N. Police Commissioner for the exercise.
“The Cal Guard brings a lot of different things to the exercise, probably the biggest being flexibility,” he said. “We have the ability to reach down and pull out individual soldiers for specialized skills and capabilities. This is a U.N. peacekeeping exercise and the U.S. Army's peacekeeping experience resides in the National Guard right now.”
Several members of the Cal Guard team participating in Yudh Abhyas 2014 have deployed to Kosovo where the Cal Guard has been part of the peacekeeping mission there since 1999. The Cal Guard has also sent soldiers to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as part of the Multinational Force and Observers mission. It has done a lot of low intensity conflict, counter-insurgency-type missions that are relevant to peacekeeping, such as sending combat adviser teams around the world and taking part in various mentoring programs with Iraqi and Afghan forces, Koop said.
Lt. Col. Daniel Rydberg, who deployed twice to Kosovo, played the role of a civil affairs officer for Yudh Abhyas 2014. He said not only does the Cal Guard bring its peacekeeping experience in Kosovo to Yudh Abhyas, it also brings the civilian experience of being citizen soldiers.
“The National Guard has people who bring their civilian skill sets,” he said. “In my case, I work for a city, so I deal with government and neighborhood councils on a daily basis. That's something you're not going to get necessarily on active duty so I think you can bring those civilian skills to the operation.”
Retired Cal Guard soldier Scott Moreland works for the Center for Civil-Military Relations at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California, where he serves as deputy program manager for exercises. Moreland said the California National Guard has been an important piece of Yudh Abhyas for the past six years.
“I would say there are professional, cultural and personal values that are unique to the California Guard package,” Moreland said. He said the depth of peacekeeping experience that California Guard soldiers have, especially from the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, adds to their value.
“Peacekeeping is a rare skill found in the U.S. Army so to have that background really puts the California Guardsmen more on a par with their Indian counterparts and sets them up well to understand the principles and mechanisms under which we do peacekeeping operations.”
Moreland said the California National Guard's diversity is also an advantage. “On the multicultural side, almost every year that we've had this exercise, the Cal Guard has tapped into its Indian American soldier population. The Cal Guard's Indian American soldiers have really served as the cultural bridge between the United States and India. Everything as simple as translation all the way to encouraging a more sort of intimate level of interaction that we might not otherwise be able to achieve because they break that barrier—they create that sort of commonality between the two of us that serves to break the ice.”
Moreland said Yudh Abhyas has been growing in importance in the Asia Pacific region.
“India is emerging as a strong strategic partner,” he said. “The relationship and trust continues to grow and we're hoping that as time goes on we can forge a pretty strong partnership in the Asia Pacific where we have common security interests.”
During the closing ceremony for Yudh Abhyas 2014, Indian Army Maj. Gen. Ashwani Kumar addressed the mixed formation of U.S. and Indian soldiers. “Our friendship, especially in the military context, is steadily rising,” he said. “The interoperability achieved will enable us to operate together, if the need arises. Overall, I can say with conviction, that the exercise has been a grand success.”
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.03.2014 08:28 |
| Story ID: | 144151 |
| Location: | CHAUBATTIA CANTONMENT, IN |
| Web Views: | 1,021 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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