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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Combat divers assigned to 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and the Swedish Amphibious Raiders (SAR) partnered together to conduct an annual dive requalification, Aug. 11 - Sep. 1, 2023. The joint training was conducted primarily on Camp Pendleton and the surrounding oceanic area.
This bilateral maritime exercise provided 10th SFG(A) and the SAR an opportunity to requalify on their diving skills and be exposed to advanced training, which helped improve lethality in other special operation areas. Close quarter tactics, fast rope insertion/extraction system training, and helocasting are the different skill sets the two teams focused on.
“With the influx of operations out east [in Europe] and in the Baltics, it’s vitally important that we continue to build the foundations with those partners,” said the Team Sergeant assigned to the 10th SFG(A) combat dive team. “If and when we conduct operations within that area, we have this relationship to fall back on.”
The two teams started dive week with boat familiarization on Camp Pendleton at the Del Mar Marina Boat Facility. With overcast skies, capsize drills were practiced with a Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC), an inflatable boat utilized by the U.S. Armed Forces for fast exfiltration/infiltration of an objective.
Capsize drills were practiced so the operators could be confident if a boat happened to turn upside down while in the water. Afterwards, they executed emergency and beach landing procedures before advancing to closed circuit dives and surf passage training. Surf passage training is a critical skill so that teams are capable of exfiltrating from a beach landing site and making it back out to sea through the incoming surf.
“One thing to note for the Amphibious Raiders - they have subject matter expertise in areas we don’t always get to operate in,” said the Team Sergeant. “They do a lot of diving into rockier or varied terrain on cliffs.”
The teams were also given the opportunity to field test the ArtemisPRO, an advanced navigation system that helps dive teams traverse hazardous locations with limited visibility. It utilizes sound navigation and ranging technology which aids in identifying targets underwater.
“ArtemisPRO is one of the applications that we could use for underwater integration, and we could take that technology and incorporate our communications and get live feed data,” said a Detachment Commander with the 10th SFG(A) combat dive team. “This helps the decision-making process for higher command levels.”
The Assistant Detachment Commander emphasized that this type of system helps increase operational efficiency even when not in a deployed setting and helps to give justification to the U.S. Army’s dive program.
As the U.S. Army adjusts to environments that stray from the Global War on Terrorism, the Special Forces Team Sergeant noted that getting hands on this technology helps his team develop new standard operating procedures as the operational landscape evolves.
The Team Sergeant commented that utilizing the SAR’s tactics makes them overall better divers. Exchanging tactics and techniques helps 10th SFG(A) and the Swedish Amphibious Raiders communicate more efficiently if they ever worked together in real-world missions.
“The intent [of this training] is to progress into cold weather exchange training and continuing the foundational knowledge with each other and also garnering the relationship and rapport,” said the Team Sergeant. “That way the first time we see each other is not in an operational environment.”
As a culminating event for the exercise, the 10th SFG (A) and the SAR executed a simulated operation titled “Pacific Serpent.” During Pacific Serpent, a two-man dive team dove subsurface and navigated to a beach landing site. While on the beach, they concealed their dive rigs and advanced to a reconnaissance position. Then they conducted reconnaissance on a mock village and sent confirmation of the presence of a high-value target (HVT) to a two-man assault team.
The assault team infiltrated the beach with a CRRC and proceeded to the mock village, searched for the HVT and extracted him onto a CH-53D Sea Stallion.
“The full mission profile demonstrated what we learned and accomplished in the first couple of weeks,” said the Team Sergeant for this 10th SFG (A) dive team. “Our big emphasis is really integration with our partners up into the next deployment.”
This three-week long exercise not only served as an introduction to the Swedish Amphibious Raiders, but as a path to increased partnership and cohesion between 10th SFG(A) and Sweden for future training opportunities. The 10th SFG (A) combat dive team Team Sergeant said the exercise helped set a long-term plan between 10th SFG(A) and their Swedish partners into motion.
| Date Taken: | 08.11.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.12.2023 16:29 |
| Story ID: | 453164 |
| Location: | OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 231 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, 10th SFG(A) teams up with Swedish partners for bilateral maritime exercise, by SGT David Cordova, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
