Exercise Rock Shock II Sharpens Battle Drills

Photo By Spc. Ryan Lucas | U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade wait for signal to move during Exercise Rock Shock 2 in Grafenwoehr Training Area, August 12-13, 2019. The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army’s Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to Europe, Africa and Central Commands areas of responsibilities. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies and partners to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance.  

GERMANY

09.03.2019

Story by Spc. Ryan Lucas 

173rd Airborne Brigade

Grafenwoehr, GERMANY – From Aug. 5 – 15, the four companies of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade qualified on every weapons system in the inventory and enhanced the proficiency of individual and team level tasks paving the way for a successful Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEX), the culminating event of Exercise Rock Shock II.

After mastering soldier and squad-level tasks, the battalion fit the various pieces together and executed their four-day CALFEX at the company level.

“Everyone is trained at their specific task and this is where we put it all together,” said Cpt. Aaron Waller, Assistant Operations officer for the battalion, one of the primary planners of the exercise.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army’s Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to Europe, Africa and Central Commands areas of responsibilities. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance.

With new personnel joining the battalion every month, Exercise Rock Shock II is designed to make every paratrooper a master of their craft. This training brings each individual into qualification standards, properly integrating them into their respective companies and ultimately forging them into an effective paratrooper of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

The exercise also gave the battalion an opportunity to integrate their new Army Ground Mobility Vehicles into the fight.

“It’s a fast and lethal way to get to the objective,” said Spc. Jean Montaudy about the vehicle. “We’re able to surprise the enemy.”

Part of the exercise consisted of two platoons of paratroopers driving to a designated location on the range where they would begin moving through the dense forests of Grafenwoehr Training Area en route to their objective.

Rounds soon began to fly through the air, being fired by the northern element towards a fortified compound they had been tasked with overwhelming. After they had broken through a concertina wire fence surrounding the objective, forward teams stormed the breach and systematically cleared each building in the area.

Once everything within the northern objective was clear, fire teams laid down suppressive fire as engineers made their way towards the fence of the southern objective. Within minutes, the concertina wire had been breached and the southernmost element began storming and clearing their own objective.

The exercise prepared 2-503 Inf. Regt. for next month’s Exercise Saber Junction in Hohenfels, Germany. To be successful, squads and teams must be proficient at their battle drills and paratroopers must be highly trained on their assigned weapons. After Rock Shock II, the battalion knows they are.

• Date Taken: 09.03.2019
• Date Posted: 09.03.2019 06:47
• Story ID: 337536
• Location: DE