Photo By Lt. Col. Kevin Hynes | A member of the Czech Armed Forces' 7th Mechanical Brigade takes to the air while...... read more read more
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Over the past 24 years that the Czech Republic has been matched with the Nebraska and Texas National Guard through the State Partnership Program, there have been numerous accomplishments as the relationship between the Czechs and their American teammates has matured and deepened.
However, there have been few summers like 2017.
This past summer the Nebraska Army National Guard hosted a total of 55 Czech service members at three separate two-week annual training sites in the United States. This marked the single-largest engagement of Czech-Nebraska Soldiers since the start of the partnership in July 1994.
According to Lt. Col. Mary Mangels, Nebraska SPP coordinator, this year’s annual training event is part of a continuing growth of annual engagements between the Czechs and Guardsmen from Nebraska and Texas. Still, this year’s number was pretty astounding.
“To have as large a group as this train with us at three separate annual training sites…this is the first time that it has happened,” said Mangels.
During the month of June – which served as the essential annual training period for the Nebraska Army National Guard– the Czech Republic sent 19 members of the 601st Czech Special Force Group to Camp Bullis, Texas, where they trained with members of Nebraska’s Omaha-based 195th Forward Support Company (Special Forces) (Airborne); 15 members of the Czech’s 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Regiment to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to train with Nebraskans from the 126th Chemical Battalion and the 67th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade; and 26 Soldiers from the 7th Mechanized Brigade to Fort Riley, Kansas, where they trained with members of the Nebraska Army National Guard’s 1-134th Cavalry.
To put this into perspective, Mangels said that when she first became Nebraska SPP coordinator in 2013, there were typically four to five formal exchanges per year. Now, she said, the partners are conducting roughly 20-30 events annually.
According to Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, Nebraska adjutant general, this shows how important the SPP relationship has become for each of the partner organizations. “The strategic value of having greater participation by members of the Czech Armed Forces and members of the Nebraska National Guard in mutually beneficial training cannot be over-stated,” Bohac said.
“The better we know each other today means the better we will integrate tomorrow when asked to serve together in contested environments. It means that as allies who have trained together we will be better prepared to defend our mutual interests whenever they are threatened by those who want to eliminate our democratic way of life and governance,” Bohac added. “Against those threats we must be vigilant and we are stronger together in our vigilance against those threats.”
The exchanges have definitely become reciprocal in their importance.
“(It’s been) outstanding,” said Lt. Col. Tom Golden, commander of Nebraska’s 1-134th Cavalry during this year’s annual training. According to Golden, his unit made a conscientious effort to integrate teams of Czechs throughout 1-134th Cavalry and include them in their crew-served weapons qualification training, conducting maintenance on vehicles, manning the squadron’s gun trucks and participating in dismounted reconnaissance missions.
Many of the Czechs even had the opportunity to participate in a unique helocast training exercise that saw them jumping from the rear of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter into Fort Riley’s Milford Lake, where they then swam to awaiting Zodiac rafts for a ride back to shore.
According to Maj. Jan Kominek, his Czech Soldiers enjoyed training with the Nebraska Cavalrymen during their time at Fort Riley, Kansas.
“All of us have a great times here,” he wrote in an email to Mangels. “U.S. and Czech soldiers really enjoy to work together. It makes the exercise attractive.”
Kominek added that it didn’t take long for some friendly competition to develop during the training, either. “(Lieutenant Colonel Golden) motivated A and B boys to beat Czechs in shooting, because one of our crews is winning all tables,” he wrote in his email.
Golden said the Czech seemed to enjoy the opportunity to train with the Nebraska cavalry and infantry Soldiers, adding that he was told the Czech didn’t feel like visitors to Fort Riley, but were rather part of the Army Guard squadron. “They have become part of the squadron,” Golden said. “They are doing P.T. with us. They’re eating with us. It’s great.”
Mangels said that sentiment was common among the Nebraska Soldiers who interacted with the Czechs during this year’s annual training season. This was especially true during the 126th Chemical Battalion’s annual training where the Czechs actually gave classes to the Nebraskans and talked about NATO and their individual experiences.
“I think initially the American Soldiers thought they would be doing a lot of training for the Czech, but what happened was it was more reciprocal than they had imagined.”
Mangels added that she envisions the program continuing to deepen and grow in the years ahead.
| Date Taken: | 09.01.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.08.2017 16:00 |
| Story ID: | 258086 |
| Location: | LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 170 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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