Photo By Staff Sgt. Victor Everhart | U.S. Army West Virginia National Guard Staff Sgt. Jacob Potts, and Georgia Defense...... read more read more
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The 119th Engineer Company (Sapper) out of Moundsville, West Virginia, partnered with Georgian Defense Forces and executed a multinational partnered demolition range as their opening training event for Noble Partner at the Vaziani Training Area in the country of Georgia, Aug 30, 2022.
Noble Partner is a cooperatively-led, multinational training exercise in its sixth iteration between the Georgian Defense Forces (GDF) and U.S. Army Europe and Africa. Noble Partner enhances Georgian, ally, partner and U.S. forces readiness and interoperability.
“We’re going to be a part of a combined arms breach with the Georgian Defense Forces,” said Capt. Richard Payne, commander, 119th Engineer Company (Sapper). “We’re fortunate to not only do interoperability training on a daily basis, but also to improve our processes to be more compatible with partner and allied nations. Putting those pieces together and showing everyone what it looks like when you’re actually working with foreign partners is pretty important.”
Throughout military history, combat engineers have played a vital role in the mobility, counter-mobility, and survivability of forces on the battlefield. The operability of engineers during wartime is a shared concept between the U.S. Army and the Geordian Defense Forces, which enables multinational training to be effective and rewarding for all involved.
Throughout the day, U.S. and Georgian Soldiers received hands-on training on how to tie knots for demolition charges and how to set and detonate charges from a safe distance. The multinational training also included confidence detonations, which give Soldiers new to the occupational specialty an opportunity to experience demolitions in a safe environment while also giving them the space to learn. This gives them the confidence to trust their training and their equipment to foster a positive attitude about this dangerous mission set.
The combat engineers of the 119th are eager to learn and grow from their new partnership with the Georgian Defense Forces.
“This is an enriching opportunity to work with our Georgian partners,” said Staff Sgt. Steven Anderson, combat engineer assigned to the 119th Engineer (Sapper) Company. “We get to do some things that we normally wouldn’t be able to do back in West Virginia, the larger training area here helps us conduct more real world training that will help both our Soldiers and our Georgian partners.”
Noble Partner is designed to enhance regional partnerships and increase U.S. forces readiness and interoperability in a realistic, multinational training environment. Training events like these foster the type of environment of learning, growth and partnership that breeds trust, cooperation and familiarity amongst partnered and allied nations.
“The Georgians have been very proactive in contacting us, even before the exercise,” said Payne. “We’ve had their leadership, including their battalion commander, take us out to the sites and conduct terrain walks to ensure this training is beneficial for both our Soldiers and theirs alike.”
Noble Partner gives commanders an opportunity to assess their Soldiers all while building the foundations needed to integrate additional elements and partnered nations. These assessments make it possible for everyone involved to learn and grow together which is one of the focal points of the training exercise.
“The leadership makes our training here with the Georgians fulfilling and rewarding,” said Sgt. Austin Cude, team leader, 119th Engineer (Sapper) Company. “This helps our Soldiers stay engaged, because they're having fun learning and growing alongside our counterparts as well as growing their own skill sets.”
| Date Taken: | 08.30.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.01.2022 01:17 |
| Story ID: | 428363 |
| Location: | VAZIANI TRAINING AREA, GE |
| Web Views: | 316 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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