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Support units help NATO Soldiers prepare for potential deployment

Photo By Troy Darr | Chief Warrant Officer 3 Claudia Ramirez, Allied Forces South Battalion, updates human...... read more read more

VALENCIA, SPAIN

02.01.2024

VALENCIA, Spain -- Dozens of U.S. Soldiers assigned to three NATO units headquartered in Spain and Portugal participated in Regulator Week Jan. 23-26 to ensure they meet all the Army’s training, medical and administrative requirements.

“We are here in Valencia, Spain, for Regulator Week to make sure the NATO Soldiers here are ready whenever they’re called upon,” said Lt. Col. Ebrima F. M’Bai, Allied Forces South Battalion commander. “In a complex, dynamic and everchanging world, it is essential for the military to maintain a high level of readiness to ensure our folks are trained and equipped and when called upon they can rapidly deploy.”

In the past, Allied Forces South Battalion brought Soldiers to Naples, Italy, for individual readiness training because all the facilities and capabilities were available in one place. Recently, the battalion has worked on increasing their capability to ensure Soldier readiness closer to their home stations.

“The reason we are doing this here in Valencia instead of Naples (Italy) is to test our own capability to provide our Soldiers with all the expertise they need rather than them coming to us,” said M’Bai. “This is a proof of concept. We will see what the future looks like, and we will probably replicate this process through our other locations across our formation.”
The training was a combined effort of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Allied Forces South Battalion, U.S. Army NATO Brigade, and NATO Rapid Deployable Corps-Spain with assistance from the TRICARE Overseas Program.

“In coordination with the NRDC-Spain and the HHC leadership we were able to bring in all the expertise from legal to human resources to provide our Soldiers with the support they need to ensure a high level of readiness across their formations,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Michael J. Asuncion, Allied Forces South Battalion.

The three units that received training during Regulator Week were the NATO Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices Center of Excellence headquartered in Madrid, the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, and NRDC-Spain.

“I think that having Regulator Week here in Valencia was beneficial to us because it gave us a chance to pause our operations, what we normally do day-to-day, to focus on readiness, administrative tasks, things that we need to be in compliance with the Army that honestly tend to be put on the back burner here as we focus more on NATO tasks,” said Lt. Col. Tim Martin, NRDC-Spain. “This was a great opportunity.

“Readiness is important because at any moment, especially with the situation globally, at any moment we could be called on to do missions outside of the Spain AO (area of operations),” said Martin. “And if that was the case, then we need to focus on having our own unit readiness and especially our family readiness in line, so we could focus on our NATO mission going forward.”

For Master Sgt. Dewon Crumpton, C-IED COE, the training was especially valuable for the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the chaplain and other representatives who often provide resources online or telephonically.

“In addition to focusing on the Soldier Readiness Program processes and access to medical personnel for regular checkups, this week was a great opportunity to put names to faces of our various counterparts spread across multiple countries,” said Crumpton.

Another advantage to Regulator Week is that the Soldiers have a few free hours each evening to enjoy the local culture and get to know each other in social settings.

U.S. Army NATO supports about 1,000 Soldiers assigned to NATO billets at 81 locations in 22 countries.

“The U.S., Army makes a difference in global security by initiating and maintaining strong alliances and partnerships,” said Col. Troy V. Alexander, U.S. Army NATO Brigade commander. “The brigade’s role is to conduct individual Soldier and Family training, logistics, human resources, and administrative agent support at NATO locations to ensure U.S. Soldiers are fully prepared to support NATO force structure units’ commitment to defend every inch of allied territory.”