Photo By Staff Sgt. Steven Colvin | Nora Pop, from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, wears a communications helmet while sitting in...... read more read more
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ARAD, Romania — At the feet of the Arad Primaria (Arad city hall), the freshly swept town square acts as an impressive setting for a joint static display of military vehicles and equipment from both U.S. and Romanian armies, Oct 25. Two rows of freshly washed and detailed military vehicles sit together, in a display of both capability and partnership.
Command Sgt. Maj. Christopher Prosser, native of New Castle, Pennsylvania and Squad CSM for 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, further explained the work that went into preparing for the static display, stating: “What we have here today is a static display of five of our Stryker vehicles that the Soldiers have spent the last 24 hours preparing after we came out of the field for the static display and the people of Romania.”
The static display is part of Exercise Dragoon River Crossing in Arad, Romania. Exercise Dragoon Crossing is in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a multinational combined arms exercise, which takes place across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania to enhance multinational interoperability, to strengthen relationships among allied militaries, to contribute to regional stability, and to demonstrate U.S. commitment to NATO.
Prosser stated that a lot of care and planning went in to organizing the static display, and even the placement of the military vehicles is not without meaning.
“Our vehicles are right next to the Romanian vehicles, which shows the solidarity of NATO nations and our ability to work together and create a good relationship of mutual trust,” Prosser said.
Combined training exercises like Dragoon River Crossing, with events like the static display, and the 4th Squadron’s participation in the Romanian wreath-laying ceremony, demonstrate a shared commitment to promoting a peaceful and stable Europe.
“I think that it’s extremely important to have these types of events for the Romanian public,” said Prosser. “It creates that level of trust between the two countries and that we are here to train with each other and show that we have each others’ backs. I think it’s important that the public be able to see that we are together, we are standing side by side and we are moving NATO forward.”
Prosser voiced his excitement for his soldiers who were able to participate in Exercise Dragoon River Crossing saying, “This is a great opportunity for our soldiers. I tell my soldiers all the time that this is a once in a lifetime experience to be able to come to Eastern Europe and NATO countries and be able to train with our NATO allied soldiers as well as positively interacting with the public. It’s a very good opportunity for them to get out here and show off what they do.”
Romanian citizen Nora Pop, native of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, participated in the static display and was very excited to get to sit in a Stryker military vehicle and talk to both Romanian and U.S. Soldiers. “I always wanted to see the U.S. Army equipment,” said Pop. “My father always watches war movies so I was interested in seeing how the U.S. Army equipment worked. I like it a lot.”
Sgt. 1st Class Juan Camacho, native of Newburgh, NY and platoon sergeant for 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, said that he was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the exercise.
“Getting to do this [static] display, here in Romania, is actually very exciting because this is only the second time that we have done this in Romania since World War II,” said Camacho. “The main thing is to show our NATO allies how our vehicles are, how they work and to open the doors to the public and let them get to see our equipment.”
“I’m really happy that I’m part of the 2nd Cavalry, I’ve been with them since March and I never expected that we were going to do things like travel all over Europe and work so closely with our NATO allies and I think it’s a great thing to do. I love to do this, especially for our NATO allies, and be able to build that cohesion between the countries in Europe.”
| Date Taken: | 10.25.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.26.2015 01:14 |
| Story ID: | 179886 |
| Location: | ARAD, RO |
| Hometown: | NEW CASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | NEWBURGH, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 110 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Static displays and solidarity: Romanian, US Soldiers participate in joint static display, by SSG Caitlyn Byrne, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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