Perspectives On Saber Junction-II

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1 Perspectives On Saber Junction-II Soldiers of 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army Europe, stage at a village in Germany before entering one of the area s major civilian roads during Saber Junction 2012 last October. It was the largest joint, multinational military exercise of its kind in Europe since 1989, involving some 6,000 personnel from 19 nations. 46 ARMY March 2013

2 USAREUR Exercise Promotes Interoperability Among U.S. Army and Allied Nations By SSG Brooks Fletcher U.S. Army/SSG Pablo Piedra Welcome to Atropia! This fictional region in eastern Bavaria, Germany, recently served as the training environment for Saber Junction 2012, U.S. Army Europe s (USAREUR) premier training event hosted by the Joint Multinational Training Command in Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels. Roughly 6,000 personnel from 19 nations participated in the exercise designed to train the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Decisive Action Training Environment, as outlined in the U.S. Army s new Unified Land Operations doctrine. Saber Junction, conducted last fall, is the largest joint, multinational military exercise of its kind in Europe since To adhere to the U.S. Army s unified doctrine, we attempted to create a scenario that supports the two core competencies, wire security and combined arms maneuver, said U.S. Army CPT Matthew Todd, Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) rotational planner. We created this fictional land by taking real-world data and overlaying it on the Maneuver Rights Area [MRA]. March 2013 ARMY 47

3 U.S. Army/SPC Joshua Leonard Right, PFC Alexander Robinson, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, awaits the order to move his Stryker vehicle to support an assault during Saber Junction at Grafenwöhr Training Area, Germany. Below, soldiers from the Slovenian Armed Forces prepare to assault an enemy fighting position during the exercise. SSG Brooks Fletcher has been in the Army since August 2005 and currently serves with U.S. Army Europe in Heidelberg, Germany. His other assignments include the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade, Fort Bliss, Texas, and the 20th Public Affairs Detachment and 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He has a bachelor s degree in communication studies and graduated from the Defense Information School as a public affairs specialist/photojournalist. Location, Location, Location The exercise used the MRA, a 1,200-square-mile expanse of land located between USAREUR s Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels training areas, which required units to maneuver through actual German villages and roadways. It brought a level of realism and depth to the scenario, which would otherwise not be able to be replicated, said MAJ Andy Watson, 2nd Cavalry Regiment operations officer. What that did was replicate the complexities that are found in the current operations that we conduct in Afghanistan and elsewhere, as well as what our future operations will be as military forces from around the globe continue to reduce and restructure. There are six mock cities in Atropia: Aghjabadi, Yevlakh, Aran, Barda, Kibirli and Mechradly. They are composed of elements such as sports fields, mosques, water towers, train stations, gas stations, municipal buildings, factories and market areas, all of which contribute to the environment s realism. When you combine this environment with JMRC s professional opposing forces (OPFOR), the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, an array of military weaponry and equipment, contractors and local nationals acting as a community of cultural role-players, you add further realism to the training, which not only prepares 2nd Cavalry Regiment for present-day operations but also for a range of future missions, said Reginald Bourgeois, JMRC Deputy S-3. The enemy is as smart as you are. They ll speak any language except the one you want them to, said Bourgeois. When you add all that, it becomes a very realistic town. With such a complex battlefield, Bourgeois explained, today s operations require joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational participation. Joint, Multinational Partnership Augmenting the warriors of 1-4 Infantry Regiment OP- FOR were task forces from the Federal Defense Forces of Germany and the Army of the Czech Republic, as well as el- U.S. Army/SSG Joel Salgado 48 ARMY March 2013

4 U.S. Army/SGT Michael Reinsch ements from the Norwegian Armed Forces. We ve attempted to create a highly complex opposing threat, said CPT Todd. Not only do we have conventional forces, but we have insurgent forces, criminal elements and terrorist elements all within that formation. While having such a diverse OPFOR may seem like a disadvantage to the Dragoons of 2nd Cavalry Regiment, multinational partners have come in force to assist them in this exercise. With the U.S. Army Special Forces and Air Force, as well as British, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Serbian, Slovenian and Ukrainian armed forces providing assistance and serving as rotational training units, the exercise brought a variety of military equipment, weaponry, vehicles and aircraft together in one unique training environment. The FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; Department of Homeland Security; Department of State; and U.S. Agency for International Development also participated in Saber Junction. We validated things that were known to be true throughout USAREUR, said MAJ Watson. Over the years we have worked with our various multinational partners. The multinational military forces bring a number of diverse strengths that are value added to operations and organizations. Additional elements such as host-nation security and special operation forces, provided by Romania, Bulgaria, France and the United States, were included in the training situations and scenarios, all contributing to the idea that we train how we fight. Left, an opposing force from the Joint Multinational Readiness Center s 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment fires a rocket-propelled grenade during a firefight. Below, soldiers from the Italian Folgore Airborne Brigade load up on ammunition before engaging opposing forces in a mock terrorist training camp. Evaluate and Validate At the heart and soul of the exercise are JMTC s observercoach-trainers (OCTs). Forged from sergeants first class and platoon sergeants, all the way to a brigade commander, they are hand-selected to accompany every leader in the field and mentor them in tactics, techniques and procedures, said Bourgeois. With more than 470 trained OCTs on the battlefield, including personnel from the United States, Belgium, Georgia, Sweden and France, everything happening in Atropia is under evaluation. Our main job is to observe how [training units] apply tactics and procedure during the engagement; when they make mistakes, we coach them, said Romanian Land Forces Maj. Mihaa Cueta, a senior OCT from Romania s Combat Training Center. We are here to ensure that they do things right. Saber Junction is a great opportunity for me, my OCT U.S. Army/SSG Brooks Fletcher March 2013 ARMY 49

5 U.S. Army/SGT Michael Reinsch colleagues and the battalion, Maj. Cueta said. The operational environment is very realistic and professional. It s not only good for the 2nd Cavalry Regiment but also for secondary training units like the [Romanian Land Forces ] 300th Infantry Battalion. With a large-scale training environment involving thousands of moving pieces, execution and coverage require not just radios and a map but also an eagle-eyed view of the entire MRA. JMTC has the ability to lay a communication umbrella over the entire MRA and capture everything that is going on in the field and bring it into an after-action review, Bourgeois said. This allows us to stop participants and ask, What do you think happened? We tell them what really happened and three things that can be fixed for the future. The exercise also served as a communications test between allied and joint forces in Vicenza, Italy; the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif.; and the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La. This integration isn t limited to joint and multinational military organizations; it applies to governmental organizations as well, as they provide expertise in stability operations of the exercise. U.S. Army/SSG Joel Salgado Left, Bulgarian special forces soldiers prepare to conduct a raid on the mock town of Ubungsdorf. Below, a Romanian soldier keeps an eye on a weapons cache discovered during a patrol throughout the Grafenwöhr Training Area during Saber Junction. Interagency and Interoperability According to Jim Derleth, JMRC senior interagency training advisor, the U.S. Army s doctrine notes that strategic success in modern and future operations requires fully integrating the effort of interagency and multinational partners in U.S. military unified land operations. Anywhere we go in the world we are going to interact March 2013 ARMY 51

6 A German soldier with the 104th Panzer Battalion talks to an American observer-coach-trainer after his tank was hit and designated as disabled. Below, British soldiers with the Mercian Regiment s 3rd Battalion based in Fallingbostel, Germany, clear a jam from an M249 during training at Grafenwöhr before taking part in Saber Junction. U.S. Army/SSG Brooks Fletcher with the government, said Derleth. The long-term goal of the U.S. government is to stabilize that country. One of the things we have done [during Saber Junction] is to take a very holistic approach to interagency participation. Effectively integrating these agencies requires that the military leaders understand their interagency partners: who they are, how they operate and what their resources are. They then work to build scenarios to test their understanding and train the OCTs in understanding the dynamics of interagency operations so they can report if the lessons learned by the units are being applied, Derleth said. What [units] do tactically has strategic consequences, Derleth said. We have to train in integrating all the parts of the U.S. government, state policy and working with the various government organizations to smooth things over in the various countries. This realistic interaction with external agencies and U.S. and multinational allies is an essential part in building cohesion and interoperability among all organizations. Training for future conflicts through exercises like Saber Junction ensures that both U.S. military and interagency partners have the mutual experience of dealing with one another, which better prepares them for operations. * * * With a uniformed, joint and multinational architecture of participants opposing forces, observation teams, and interagency and intergovernmental organizations wrapped up in the dynamic, geographical confines of US- AREUR s training center, cultural barriers become almost nonexistent and interoperability certain, making Saber Junction more than just a training exercise. It is the future of military training. U.S. Army/SPC Joshua Leonard 52 ARMY March 2013