Photo By David Overson | Lithuanian Army Lt. Col. Viktoras Bagdonas, chief of staff for the Lithuanian Army...... read more read more
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RUKLA, Lithuania – As the morning sun rose about the trees at the range control station for the Great Lithuanian Hetman Jonusas Radvila Training Regiment here, U.S. Army and Lithuanian Land Forces Soldiers started suiting up for a Foreign Jump Wings event that would culminate in an awards ceremony presided over by Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno.
As U.S. Army Jump Masters assigned to Dog Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) checked over the T-11 parachute packs alongside U.S. Army Riggers, Lithuanian Soldiers assigned to Algirdo Battalion donned the previously unfamiliar parachute system. Thanks to bilateral training though, the now combined U.S./Lithuanian force proved that through interoperability with NATO partnerships, barriers such as language and gear specifications could be overcome.
As final checks were made, the sound of helicopters slowly filled the air. Two UH-60M Black Hawk Helicopters swooped in from the west and landed gently in an open area upwind from the staged paratroopers and 12 jumpers made for the helicopters in single file, two Lithuanian Soldiers to every four American. Lithuanian Sgt. 1st Class Rolanidas Mencevicius smiled as he climbed into the Black Hawk.
“Because I have jumped with the Americans before, I know what to expect,” said Mencevicius. “But some of us [Lithuanian Soldiers] have not jumped with anyone else. This is a new experience for them and what they learn they can immediately put into practice.”
Back in the setup area, Soldiers continued to don gear, check, re-check and then have a battle buddy check it again. Only then would a Jump master do a final check to ensure the safety of that trooper. Spc. Sean Toohey checked to make sure his battle buddy Pfc. Willard Beaver’s harness has snug and hooking on Beaver’s reserve chute.
“We get to train a lot, said Toohey, a native of Leominster, Mass. “But when you throw in jumping with someone who barely speaks your language, it makes things very interesting. Fortunately, everyone speaks Army, and when you train together, the same way, it just works.”
The Jump Masters made final checks and secured their jumpers into the helicopters. The Black Hawks lifted off, ascending to around 1,200 feet and the paratroopers fell free into the open air above a disused airstrip now used for training in Rukla.
One at a time they fell from the helicopter, rip-cords were pulled and chutes opened, delivering the troopers back to terra firma. At once they began to repack their chutes into large bags designed to carry the entire load of harness, T-11 chute and reserve chute.
The jumpers walked a short distance to waiting trucks where they stowed their gear and made themselves for a rare ceremony on Lithuanian soil, made even more potent with the arrival of Odierno, who with the help of Lithuanian Land Forces Commander, Maj. Gen. Almantas Leika as well as U.S. Army Europe Commander, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges and 4th ID Mission Command Element commander, Brig. Gen. Mike Tarsa, presented the troopers with Foreign Jump Wings, respective to each nation.
“This is another example of the importance of us [NATO allies] training together,” said Odierno. “Small unit is where our training starts. That’s the most difficult part of being interoperable with other countries, being able to train at the lowest level.”
U.S. Army Europe is leading Atlantic Resolve enhanced land force multinational training and security cooperation activities taking place across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria to ensure multinational interoperability, strengthen relationships among allied militaries, contribute to regional stability and demonstrate U.S. commitment to NATO.
The United States of America and their NATO allies around the world, train together with the hope that if security becomes an issue, then those respective allies will be able to work with one another seamlessly.
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2015 14:59 |
| Story ID: | 169267 |
| Location: | RUKLA, LT |
| Web Views: | 253 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Jumping from a perfectly good helicopter: Multinational foreign Jump Wings event, by SFC James Avery, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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