1-28th Mechanized Infantry completes JMTG-U rotation

Photo By Staff Sgt. Anthony Jones | Ukrainian Lt. Col. Yuriy Krupko, commander 1st Battalion, 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, presents his soldiers with their individual training certificates after the battalion completed its 55-day rotation with the Joint Multinational Training Group - Ukraine at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center on the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, near Yavoriv, Ukraine, on April 4.  

YAVORIV, UKRAINE

04.04.2017

Story by Sgt. Anthony Jones 

45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

Soldiers of Ukraine’s 1st Battalion, 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade graduated from a 55-day training rotation with the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine, at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center on the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, near Yavoriv, Ukraine April 4.

The 1-28th is the first of four Ukrainian battalions scheduled to train at the Yavoriv CTC with the JMTG-U this year. Training at Yavoriv focuses on individual skills like marksmanship and combat first aid, and builds to platoon and company level live-fire training.

Col. David Jordan, the JMTG-U commander and commander of the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard, told soldiers of the 1-28th that while they have honed their skills at the combat training center, the most important thing they have learned is how to work together.

“Trusting the soldier in the foxhole next to you is the most important thing in combat,” Jordan said. “The tactics you learned here may be modified, but the cohesion that you’ve gained through your time here is invaluable.”

This training rotation marks the first time a National Guard unit has operated as both the JMTG-U headquarters and the training battalion. In January, Citizen-Soldiers of the 45th IBCT arrived and assumed the mission that had been previously conducted by both active-duty and National Guard units joined by international partners.

The 45th is working alongside troops from Canada, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland and the United Kingdom at Yavoriv CTC to bring a standard program of instruction to the Ukrainian army, develop the combat training center, and build professionalism in the Ukrainian Army.

“We’re thankful to the Canadian, Danish, Lithuanian, Polish and British staff who have helped us in our mission,” Jordan said. “We’re proud of the achievements of the Ukrainian instructional cadre at the Combat Training Center, and thankful to them for making this training rotation successful.”

• Date Taken: 04.04.2017
• Date Posted: 04.04.2017 07:58
• Story ID: 229078
• Location: YAVORIV, UA
• Hometown: NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, US
• Hometown: OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, US
• Hometown: STILLWATER, OKLAHOMA, US
• Hometown: TULSA, OKLAHOMA, US