Photo By Spc. Halani Broderick | U.S. Army Soldier with the 173rd Airborne Brigade jumps into the Vaziani Training...... read more read more
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The combined forces of the United States Army and United States Marine Corps took to the skies in Vaziani, Georgia for a joint airborne exercise on August 23, 2023. The jump marked an important moment for exercise Agile Spirit, as this is the first joint airborne event in the exercise’s history.
Col. Joseph Bilbo, Senior Defensive Official and Defense Attache, United States Embassy, has been involved with exercise Agile Spirit for three years. He was present in-person for the first time at the joint exercise.
“Agile Spirit has grown over multiple iterations,” said Bilbo. “The complexity that we’ve added this year was conducting an airborne drop that combines the forces of the United States Army and United States Marine Corps. For the partners involved in this jump, it creates an opportunity to not only support the fight together, but to also get to know one another and establish important bonds.”
Soldiers and Marines left Turkey in a military aircraft and were transported to a drop zone in Vaziani, Georgia. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade and Marines from 2D Landing Support Battalion participated in the jump exercise, which entailed leaping from a passing aircraft at a minimum of 1,250 feet above the ground.
Corporal Cole Giampaola, an airborne-qualified United States Marine who participated in the jump, had a positive impression of working with the United States Army for the first time.
“It was a great learning experience, figuring out how the Army does things and comparing it to the procedures we have learned in the Marines,” Giampaola said. “It was nice to have the Army teach us something for a change.”
United States Marines are allowed to attend the school, which has its own Marine Corps instructors alongside those from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, in order to provide quality instruction from four military branches. Once a service member has graduated from this prestigious program, they are entitled to wear the coveted “jump” wings on their uniform.
Bilbo added that, by allowing this jump, it brings to light the importance of the Army’s capability to expand interoperability across multiple borders.
“The complexity that we’ve added this year was conducting an airborne drop that combines the forces of the United States Army and United States Marine Corps,” said Bilbo. “For the partners involved in this jump, it creates an opportunity to not only support the fight together, but to also get to know one another and establish important bonds.”
| Date Taken: | 08.23.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 08.23.2023 10:28 |
| Story ID: | 451947 |
| Location: | VAZIANI TRAINING AREA, GE |
| Web Views: | 277 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Historic Joint Airborne Jump for Agile Spirit, by SGT Allison Gilstrap, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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