Photo By Sgt. Matthew Marcellus | Soldiers assigned to 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment,...... read more read more
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HOHENFELS, Germany --
The first rays of sunlight broke over the gentle rolling hills of Hohenfels Training Area (HTA), Germany, illuminating the frigid landscape and highlighting the heavy and visible breath of Soldiers from the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade (4CAB), 4th Infantry Division (ID) and the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), 1st Cavalry Division (CAV), as they participated in exercise Combined Resolve XI (CBRXI) in Hohenfels, Germany.
The two units are part of the U.S. Army’s Regionally Allocated Forces (RAF) in Europe.
Since April 2014, the RAF in Europe, numbering approximately 6,000 Soldiers, have rotated on nine-month cycles in support of the Department of Defense's Atlantic Resolve. Atlantic Resolve is an effort to build readiness and lethality in RAF units as well as to foster cooperation and better synchronized working relationships between U.S. Army Europe and their partner nations.
“We’re increasing our interoperability by working with our multinational partners,” said Capt. Theodore Ivanco, an operations officer and assistant planner for 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, 4CAB. “We’re working together in Europe to train and increase our combat power.”
These deployments of ready, prepared and capable U.S. forces to Europe in support of Atlantic Resolve demonstrate the unwavering and enduring commitment of the United States to NATO and the European continent.
“Working with our European partners is important,” said 1st. Lt. Eric Wicks, the platoon leader for Company A, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, ABCT, CAV. “For the future, it will be essential to rely on our partnership with European nations such as Moldova, Lithuania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia and all of our multinational allies that we train with.”
The cyclical and rotating nature of the RAF units in Europe allows for U.S. Army assets to adapt to new mission standards while they train to maximize their efficiency.
“As forces rotate in and out of Europe, it exposes more units to that multinational mission set,” said Ivanco. “It takes you out of the United States and it presents a list of different challenges and opportunities to train, giving new chances to succeed.”
Training exercises such as CBRXI give the RAF units in Europe the opportunity to maximize their lethality, effectiveness and cooperation through the U.S. Army Combat Training Center (CTC). Combined Resolve is an essential exercise which is developed by the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) and is a key training mission that each RAF rotation experiences.
The CTC Program provides realistic combined arms training opportunities for RAF and emphasizes the importance of multinational cooperation with European partners.
“These exercises allow us to train to be able to operate on a large scale,” said Wicks. “It shows us what our capabilities are and demonstrates our ability to work with other forces in a unique environment.”
The ability to be able to rapidly deploy and maximize readiness is an essential component to ensuring the capabilities of RAF units in Europe.
“The different opportunities and situations here that we haven’t seen back in the United States increases our readiness,” said Ivanco. “But coming over to Europe, you enter foreign airspace where you have different rules and you must adhere to host nation laws, so it requires us to learn and become better at what we do.”
The integration of RAF into the European theater is a key goal for the rotational units and the CTC Program in order to assess the success and capabilities of the deployed forces in a controlled and monitored environment.
“From the beginning of the rotation, it’s allowed us to show everyone that the United States military can amass combat power on a different continent very rapidly,” said Capt. Matt Wright, the forward support medevac platoon leader with 2-4 GSAB, 4CAB, as he discussed how CBRXI is the culminating event of the rotation. “From port operations in the United States to port operations arriving in Europe and moving into the continent, we accomplished it and demonstrated that we can project power very quickly both in Europe and the United States.”
In addition to the RAF unit’s participation in CBRXI, multinational partners supporting the exercise include Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, The Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Further U.S. Army assets, including elements from the 18th Military Police Brigade, the 407th Civil Affairs Battalion, the 325th Psychological Operations Company, the 191st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, the 174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the 3673rd Ordnance Company, provided support during CTC missions.
This rotation is consistent with the Army's regionally allocated forces concept, aligning units to support theater requirements. Regional alignment is also synchronized with the Army's new operational concept of winning in a complex world.
“Working with the other partner nations has been beneficial,” said Wright. “Our partners want to learn from us, and at the same time, we want to learn from them. Everyone has different tactics, techniques and procedures; and during conflicts we’d all be working together, so it’s good to integrate and train together.”
| Date Taken: | 12.10.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 12.11.2018 10:46 |
| Story ID: | 302827 |
| Location: | HOHENFELS, BAYERN, DE |
| Web Views: | 885 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Regionally Allocated Forces in Europe enhance partnerships and capabilities during Combined Resolve XI, by SGT Matthew Marcellus, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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