Photo By Staff Sgt. Mariah Jones | Alexandropoulos, Greece- Sgt. Delilah Chapa leads her HUMVEE to a fuel point conducted...... read more read more
Hellhound Battery Concludes Saber Guardian 19
Mihail Kogălniceanu (MK) Air Base, Romania- Headquarters, Headquarters Battery of 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade completed an 850-kilometer tactical road march (TRM) traversing three countries across Europe in three days. The convoy was a part of the biannual exercise Saber Guardian testing the capabilities of combined NATO forces. Many units participating in this exercise conducted the same objectives but utilized different routes to reach their destination.
For the Hellhound battery, the road march started at the port of Alexandroupolis, Greece with a briefing conducted by the Greek police, border control and customs, May 30.
"At the port of Alexandroupolis, we got ready for the convoy. We verified our equipment was in great condition and ready to go through the mountainous and difficult terrain. This was a route that no unit has ever used before," said Cpt. Rony Thakkar, HHB Commander. Not only was this a first for the unit, so was utilizing newer software. The unit recently was fielded with a Joint Battle Command- Platform (JBCP) back in March and was able to utilize and communicate with it throughout their three-day TRM.
As the Hellhound battery maneuvered over three days, they interacted with Greek, Bulgarian and Romanian military who assisted with mobility operations including fueling their 12 tactical vehicles and providing a military police escort that leads the convoy to each border. "The tactical road march allowed our unit to build interoperability and enhance our readiness with other NATO countries. It was a great opportunity to interact with customs, border control along with military entities on this mission," explained Thakkar.
Soldiers of the Hellhound Battery operated seamlessly with host nation support while overcoming cultural differences like language, road signs, terrain features and more. Some Soldiers experienced a convoy for the very first time away from home. "Everyone sees us in America, so to be able to be in a U-S labeled vehicle and see the civilian national's wave was very welcoming. Everyone was friendly; it was a great feeling driving through each country," said Sgt. Delilah Chapa.
The unit arrived at their final destination point of MK Air Base, Romania on June 1 safely without any vehicular maintenance issues. Saber Guardian kicked off June 11 and ended June 21st as one of EUCOM's summer fighting season exercises.
| Date Taken: | 07.08.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 07.08.2019 13:45 |
| Story ID: | 330490 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 156 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Hellhound Battery Concludes Saber Guardian 19, by SSG Mariah Jones, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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