The dim cargo bed of a Lithuanian military truck. Boots on the Ground: Vital in Peacetime,Too

Transcription

1 USAREUR at the Vanguard of Multilevel Multinational Engagement Boots on the Ground: Vital in Peacetime,Too The dim cargo bed of a Lithuanian military truck served as the unlikely nexus of U.S. military strategy as it applies to foreign military engagement and multinational training, but as raindrops thudded against the cargo bed s taut cover on the first day of exercise Saber Strike 2012 s situational training phase, there was no better example of the exercise s purpose. Saber Strike, which focuses on the NATO partner states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, is one of the premier annual joint Top left, CPT Michael Adams from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard s (ARNG) 2nd Squadron, 104th Cavalry (2/104th Cavalry), 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, offers advice to a Lithuanian reservist during exercise Saber Strike Right, exercise observercontroller SSG Matthew Doerr from U.S. Army Europe s (USAREUR) 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, reviews a situational training event with a Latvian platoon leader. 32 ARMY September 2012

2 A U.S. soldier from the 2/104th Cavalry maneuvers alongside a Lithuanian soldier as role players pose a threat during the situational training exercise (STX) portion of Saber Strike. Text and Photographs By Dennis Steele Senior Staff Writer An American soldier s assault pack displays badges and flags (Canada and Lithuania in bottom row) of five Saber Strike participants. September 2012 ARMY 33

3 Chris Curry, a trainer from US- AREUR s Seventh Army s Joint Multinational Training Command (JMTC), conducts a counterimprovised explosive device (IED) class. JMTC s training team specialties range from individual and small-unit tactical training to advanced simulation training for senior leaders. multinational training events staged by U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR). (Canada, Finland, France and the United Kingdom also sent personnel to participate in Saber Strike, making it an eight-country NATO exercise.) Above, soldiers from Canada and Latvia go through an urban combat STX lane during Saber Strike. Center, Canadian soldiers from a Highland regiment wear traditional headgear during the exercise s opening ceremony. USAREUR conducts or supports more than 20 multinational exercises annually and stages many other engagement events such as courses, conferences and symposia. USAREUR s exercise and training program is sophisticated and complex, but each element depends on a simple and proven formula American soldiers directly working with international forces to build relationships and interoperability. Under the refocused U.S. national strategy announced earlier this year, the importance of multinational training and engagement events will increase. Such events are based 34 ARMY September 2012

4 Top left, Pennsylvania ARNG SGT Michael De Benedetto assists Lithuanian reserve PVT Vida Riukiene as she fires the.50- caliber machine gun mounted on his Stryker reconnaissance vehicle on the first day of Saber Strike. Top right, an Estonian soldier carries his company guidon during the exercise. Bottom left, a U.S. soldier prepares to start his Stryker vehicle. on face-to-face encounters and rapport-building in a personal way, proving that even in peacetime, America needs boots on the ground. On that rainy morning in Latvia, a pair of those boots belonged to Pennsylvania Army National Guard CPT Michael Adams, who was fitting into the role of liaison officer. He is the commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd Squadron, 104th Cavalry (2/104th). During Saber Strike he was attached to a headquarters company from the Lithuanian National Defense Volunteer Forces, the reserve component of the Lithuanian army, which was preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan to serve in NATO s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and support a provincial reconstruction team in the German army sector. One of the purposes layered within Saber Strike is helping to tactically prepare NATO units for ISAF deployments. A Latvian regular army company also was training for an ISAF rotation during the exercise. A composite platoon from 2/104th Cavalry, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, was partnered with the Lithuanian company during Saber Strike. Lithuania and Pennsylvania are paired under the National Guard s State Partnership Program, which had its start in the three Baltic states more than 20 years ago as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia regained their independence. The program now extends to more than 60 countries worldwide, and USAREUR uses assets under the program to bolster its training/engagement program. In Europe, 27 countries are partnered with 27 states. CPT Adams sat on a bench inside the truck listening to radio chatter from the Lithuanian and U.S. platoons. Lithuanian PVT Vida Riukiene operated the company radio, responding to calls from platoon leaders and relaying messages to the exercise control cell in NATO English (serviceable general English comprehension laced with an September 2012 ARMY 35

5 Right, CPT Daeius Vizinis, commander of the Lithuanian company participating in Saber Strike, receives firing limit instructions. The Lithuanian company was training for an upcoming deployment to NATO s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Below, SGT Brandon Shoemaker gets instruction on the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle from a Lithuanian NCO. understanding of military-specific terminology). When PVT Riukiene got stuck on a word, CPT Adams came to her rescue. While coordinating with the American side, his job as he saw it was to be available to the Lithuanian company s leadership, the commander and executive officer, answering their questions, mentoring when it was appropriate and butting out of their business when that, too, was appropriate. One of the higher-level strategic objectives of all multinational missions relates to the area of assurance that a U.S. presence at routine training events, for example, builds trust among allies that the United States will also show up when the alarm bells are ringing. RFF is the acronym for request for forces, which a U.S. theater commander would use when asking for additional troops to respond to a contingency. As LTG Mark P. Center right, a Lithuanian soldier goes through the urban combat STX lane during Saber Strike. Right, a Latvian soldier responds to a situation on the counter-ied STX lane. 36 ARMY September 2012

6 Right, SSG Quentin Hoover, a 2/104th Cavalry squad leader, offers tactical advice to a Lithuanian platoon leader. Center, CPT Adams listens to a suggestion from his Lithuanian counterpart. Bottom, 1LT Byron Stouffer, a 2/104th Cavalry platoon leader, goes over plans with Lithuanian CPT Dazius Sezenas. Hertling, the USAREUR commanding general, often reminds his staff: You can t RFF trust. LTG Hertling means, of course, that trust must be built long beforehand and at all levels of command structures. Trustbuilding, therefore, is an important component of USAREUR s multinational engagements, and trust takes root at the personal level. CPT Adams was proving that in the back of the rain-splattered truck. The truck was the Lithuanian company s mobile command post, and it was parked on a fan of damp sand that extended from the berm of a live-fire range in the training area of Camp Adazi, Latvia, which is the largest training area in the Baltic states and traditionally hosts the situation training exercise (STX) and field training exercise (FTX) portions of Saber Strike. The exercise s command post exercise (CPX) elements were held in Estonia this year. Vestiges of the past dotted the Adazi training area dank bunkers, tumbledown buildings, jagged shards of concrete signs and eroding sumps of foxholes and tank fighting positions, all of which were constructed during the Soviet occupation of the Baltics. Adazi Base served as a Soviet armor brigade s camp throughout most of the Cold War. The American and Lithuanian soldiers had been together for little more than a day and the fit was already comfortable. It was apparent that the Lithuanian troops liked CPT Adams. PVT Riukiene drew a cartoon character between radio transmissions. Adding the day s date and the greeting Best Wishes from Lithuania to the bottom of the drawing, she handed it to CPT Adams and said, This is for you. As he thanked her, a big, gregarious Lithuanian platoon leader clamored into the back of the truck and started rooting around in his pack, eventually hauling out a big hunk of smoked bacon and whipping out a particularly large combat knife to carve off generous slices, which he handed out all around. From home, he told the American captain. When the lip-smacking was done, CPT Adams asked for the radio handset and called the American platoon sergeant. How much ammo have you got left? (The U.S. Stryker platoon was conducting live-fire training with its vehicle- 38 ARMY September 2012

7 Below, SFC Matthew Morgan readies his Stryker vehicle for movement during Saber Strike. Right, a Latvian army reserve soldier receives instructions during the field training portion of the exercise. Bottom, Lithuanian soldiers help a simulated casualty aboard an American Stryker. The Lithuanians lined up and one by one rattled a healthy burst through the American.50-caliber machine gun, and deciding that wasn t enough, gathered all the magazines they could find and let several American troops fire their brand new Heckler and Koch service rifles. They then piled up training rounds for their Carl Gustav recoilless rifles and conducted a makeshift class on the weapon s operation for the American guardsmen. mounted weapons on the range next to the Lithuanian company.) Upon receiving the answer, he told the platoon sergeant to shut down the training, load the remaining ammo into the back of a Stryker and roll it over to the Lithuanian side. You want to shoot our guns? CPT Adams asked the lieutenant. Beaming, he replied, Ohhhh yeah! It was the Americans from home offering. Before the day was done, each side had shot pretty much everything the other side had, and they were all shaking each other s hands and having a good time in the aftermath of a soggy rain shower. It all had started with a drawing and a hunk of smoked bacon in the back of a truck the first step toward building the kind of trust that you just can t RFF. The U.S. Army will be increasingly engaged in building relationships and trust with foreign armies under the post-iraq/afghanistan conflict strategic guidance that emphasizes strengthening alliances and partnerships across all regions. The guidance, released last January, stated, Whenever possible, we will develop innovative, low-cost, and small-footprint approaches to achieve our security objectives, relying on exercises, rotational presence and advisory capabilities. The guidance included such missions among the priorities set as military planners looked at the way forward to sustain U.S. global leadership, stating, U.S. forces will conduct a 40 ARMY September 2012

8 Above, Estonian soldiers use their Humvee to enter a building on an urban combat training site. Right, U.S. soldiers cover the flank of their Lithuanian counterparts during training. Below, CPT Adams (right) answers questions from Lithuanian soldiers during a training break. sustainable pace of presence operations abroad, including rotational deployments and bilateral and multilateral training exercises. These activities reinforce deterrence, help to build the capacity and competence of U.S., allied, and partner forces for internal and external defense, strengthen alliance cohesion, and increase U.S. influence. Standing in the sand of the Adazi live-fire range as U.S. A-10 aircraft made gun runs and dismounted Latvian troops peppered targets with small-arms fire, LTG Hertling noted that the strategic guidance emphasis on building partnerships has been US- AREUR s emphasis for many years. Concerning USAREUR, the commanding general said, It s not the way forward because we ve been building partnerships for a long time, but it s the way we MUST continue. We ve been doing exercises with a lot of forces over the last 10 years, and it has built all of our European allies to the point where they can fight. Using the Baltic states as examples of progress over that decade, he added, Because of the progress they ve made, they have a good, capable military. They still need assistance in the enablers joint tactical air controller (JTAC) training, engineers, intelligence and now we re getting to those pieces. So, the multinational exercises we do along with the multinational training because it s more than exercises, we have to train these guys first, and those are two different things cause them to have a pretty capable military and fight above their weight class. LTG Hertling added that the work done by USAREUR in the past, particularly with the former Soviet Bloc countries that are now NATO members, has resulted not only in improving military capabilities for those countries but also in creating some of America s best allies from what had been potential enemies. These are the guys who are with us in Afghanistan, he said. One of the points that I continue to try to make with anybody who says we re still fighting the Cold War is by saying, Seriously, have you been over here lately? Do you see what kind of Cold War is here? All the people we were prepared to fight against are now on our side, and, in fact, are providing [many of] the forces that we re using in Afghanistan. LTG Hertling continued, The figure I use is: Of the 40,000 [non-u.s.] ISAF forces in Afghanistan, 91 percent of them come from Europe. They have to train before they get to combat, and they train and exercise with us. That s the criticality of U.S. Army Europe. 42 ARMY September 2012

9 Above, a Latvian army convoy stops to assess an IED threat during Saber Strike. Right, SGT Bradley Herron, 2/104th Cavalry, goes on patrol with the Lithuanian reserve company. Below, a Lithuanian radio operator checks in with her squad leader. 44 ARMY September 2012

10 SSG Hoover (left) and SGT Herron demonstrate a rifle technique for the Lithuanian company. Right, a Lithuanian platoon leader assesses a training situation. The general indicated that USAREUR approaches maining two-star command under USAREUR. USAREUR s partnership and trust-building in a holistic manner, providing an overarching orchestration ele- its current ISAF deployment, and under current force-cut V Corps headquarters will be inactivated after it completes ment that uses the command s organic assets and plans, USAREUR also will lose two of its brigade combat assets such as those currently provided by the teams (BCTs) as the 170th and 172nd Infantry BCTs will be State Partnership Program. That function will remain critical in the employment of rotating eliminated, leaving USAREUR with only two ground matraining units that could be provided for multinational exercises in the future as USAREUR forces are downsized. We plan the exercises. We conduct the training at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center. We provide the training support facilities in the different countries. Our guys are force multiplying training. USAREUR controls and pulls it all together. That s where USAREUR contributes. It s a very intricate choreography of many different organizations, LTG Hertling explained. USAREUR has endured significant force reductions in the past several years. The division headquarters and their tactical formations previously assigned to USAREUR have returned to the United States, leaving the 21st Theater Support Command as the only re- A Latvian army scout prepares for a mission during Saber Strike. September 2012 ARMY 45

11 neuver BCTs: the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Stryker) based in Germany and the 173rd Airborne BCT based in Italy. The USAREUR commander said that the command can still accomplish its multinational training and engagement mission with the impending reductions, but he cautioned against imposing further reductions as more cuts could undermine the efforts. When the training packages fall apart, LTG Hertling said, then you don t have the allied support for operations as we have in ISAF. They didn t get there on their own; we were the ones who helped them do that. We will still have a significant-size force over here when those two brigades eventually leave; we will still have 30,000 soldiers here in Europe. It s going to be tight in terms of continuing the kinds of things we need to do, Above, members of USAREUR s 160th Forward Surgical Team treat a mock patient during a mission rehearsal exercise conducted during Saber Strike. The team soon will deploy to Afghanistan. Right, Americans and Lithuanian team members participate in a tug-of-war contest during the exercise s games day. Below, an Estonian soldier shouts commands. but we can do it after Afghanistan rolls down a little bit more. But it is something we must continue to do or we are going to lose the alliance capabilities. We are an economyof-force effort here in Europe right now, and I think we re contributing significantly to the training of other countries. USAREUR s area of responsibility (AOR) covers 51 countries across an expanse that stretches from the Black Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Scandinavian ice cap to the Mediterranean, including Israel and Turkey. The Iron Curtain once marked its eastern boundary and defense line during the Cold War, but with the breakup of the Soviet Union two decades ago, many of the former Soviet Bloc countries are now partner nations that, like Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, made the hard climb to NATO membership. (continued on page 50) 46 ARMY September 2012

12 A Latvian soldier takes position to cover his squad during an STX event. We are only 20 years from the Soviet times. We started from zero not even weapons, said Lithuanian CPT Dazius Sezenas, the company executive officer with whom CPT Adams was working. But we grew up and joined NATO, and exercises like Saber Strike are how you grow up. NATO is not just something that exists on paper. It really works. CPT Daeius Vizinis, the Lithuanian company commander, added, During Saber Strike, our commanders and soldiers for the first time are working in the field, not just on their own but with coalition forces and partners. Mainly, it s exchanging experiences, and it involves not just officers but soldiers, with all of us learning how to adapt to different situations. While the 2/104th Cavalry element was working with the Lithuanian company during Saber Strike, a composite Stryker unit from USAREUR s 2nd Cavalry Regiment (CR) was partnered with an Estonian company. The 2nd CR also was in the early stages of preparing for an Afghanistan deployment during the exercise, conducting individual and small-unit training. USAREUR s 160th Forward Surgical Team also was preparing for an ISAF deployment during Saber Strike, conducting its final mission rehearsal exercise at Adazi Base, using part of the base hospital. Other U.S. participants in Saber Strike included a Marine Corps Reserve weapons company and JTACs from the Air Force Reserve. An Air National Guard contingent flew A-10 attack aircraft and KC-135 tankers to support the exercise. USAREUR s 21st Theater Support Command played an important role in Saber Strike, directly supporting American personnel at the exercise sites while also conducting reception, staging, onward movement and integration training and providing U.S. Army senior leadership to the CPX phase. Seventh Army s JMTC supplied the exercise s training foundation deploying training and support teams and gear ranging from advanced simulation equipment for the CPX to sensors and range targeting systems for the STX/FTX. JMTC is the pivotal piece in USAREUR s training program, providing training assets at the Hohenfels and Grafenwoehr training areas in Germany. (Hohenfels is home to the U.S. Army Joint Multinational Readiness Center.) JMTC has the capability to deploy a wide range of training teams and sophisticated training equipment packages throughout USAREUR s area of responsibility. Training teams from the command arrived in Latvia with 19 containers filled with equipment for the exercise. While conducting or participating in multinational exercises throughout its AOR, USAREUR hosts many other An American soldier checks for targets, using his rifle s scope. 50 ARMY September 2012

13 training activities that range from international symposia for senior officers and NCOs to basic leadership training for international soldiers at the Seventh Army NCO Academy. Above, a Stryker from the 2/104th Cavalry moves through the woods in the Latvian training area. Below, SSG Sean Caruso, Company I, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, makes a radio call while on checkpoint duty. Many exercises and other training events are conducted under a mix of authority and funding. Saber Strike, for example, was simultaneously a U.S. European Command (EUCOM) exercise (meeting NATO responsibility criteria), a U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) exercise (meeting the criteria of U.S. multiservice training) and a USAREUR exercise (under the criteria of training its units for deployment and meeting its general Title 10 responsibilities to provide trained and ready forces for the nation s defense). Within the Title 10 construct, USAREUR also must coordinate interoperability of systems such as mission command or communications systems with the partner countries. This interoperability also is promoted during the exercises. The complex training calendar is planned at USAREUR headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. (USAREUR Headquarters is slated to move to Wiesbaden, Germany, in the future as facilities are constructed.) Currently, COL Bill Williams oversees the program as the USAREUR G-37 (training plans). 52 ARMY September 2012

14 Pennsylvania National Guard CPT Adams discusses various routes with his Lithuanian counterpart. The top three USAREUR-planned annual regional exercises are Immediate Response, held in Croatia; Saber Guardian, currently held in Romania; and Saber Strike, with the tactical portions traditionally held in Latvia because of the available facilities but with overall responsibility rotating among Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Added to USAREUR s calendar this year is exercise Saber Junction, which will be held at the Joint Multinational Training Center and involves soldiers from 12 countries training alongside the 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Grafenwoehr in a decisive-action/full-spectrum JCS exercise, according to COL Williams. In general, the overall program that we re accomplishing here is based on a EU- COM strategy of active security, COL Williams said. We have two higher headquarters in USAREUR, EUCOM and the Department of the Army, and we have two focuses. One is to get our units ready for war for the Department of the Army or for any other operations worldwide our Title 10 responsibilities. The other focus is how we do that in this theater to also meet the EUCOM commander s goals. He said that those goals not only involve building partner capacity shifting more toward sustaining partner capacity that we built over the past 10 years with some of our Eastern Bloc countries they involve interoperability, assurance and access. Assurance is for places where they may have concerns about their safety from neighbors. They sure feel good when the United States shows up with some troops once in a while demonstrating that we are willing to protect them. It reinforces our position. In addition, he noted, It s not easy to come into another country, go through customs, follow their laws and regulations, work under established status of forces agree- Left, Canadian soldiers enter an urban training site building. Above, a Lithuanian soldier stands watch during the exercise. September 2012 ARMY 53

15 and that dwell time has allowed us to use the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the 173rd Airborne Brigade a little bit more than we have in the past 10 years just because we ve had time with them. He said USAREUR maintains a schedule of home and away games. Away games are multinational training exercises in other countries; home games are exercises conducted at the Joint Multinational Training Center. We can invite multinational forces to be a part of the home games, COL Williams noted. That s one example of how we ve blended together the Title 10 responsibility and the strategy of active security. USAREUR s exercise program is entering a post- ISAF focus stage, he said, moving beyond the maneuver unit levels to develop exercises and engagements that increase interoperability at higher levels of command. To that end, USAREUR added another level of interoperability training this year, conducting its first Combined Force Land Component Commander (CFLCC) course in July for the most senior level of allied leadership, a war college-level interoperability training opportunity. Speaking from his headquarters after Saber Strike ended, the USAREUR commanding general said, This is critically important because we are stepping up to the next level of leader development within USAREUR for our allied partners. Over the last 15 to 20 years we ve been doing theater security cooperation at the unit level to help forces develop their countries militaries. After 10 years of war, where Top, Estonian soldiers dismount to check for IEDs during the field training exercise portion of Saber Strike. Center, a 2nd Cavalry gunner covers the perimeter during training. Right, American soldiers salute during the Saber Strike 2012 opening ceremony. ments and handle important details like getting services, water and food, ensuring that they meet the standards that we require for our soldiers. He explained that to do all that in two countries simultaneously, as with Saber Strike, is even more difficult. Preparing units for a NATO ISAF deployment rotation has been the primary training objective for USAREUR training exercises since the war in Afghanistan began. ISAF has been our focus preparing for NATO operations in Afghanistan but what you re about to see is a shift, COL Williams added. We ve had more dwell time, we ve had a lot of multinational forces contributing to coalition operations, leaders are realizing that there s an importance in understanding one another s leadership style, leadership techniques and mission command potential. In USAREUR, he added, we have Joint Multinational Readiness Center where units come together to train to- 54 ARMY September 2012

16 Left, SPC Chris Storie from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment attends a counter-ied class during the exercise. Right, a Latvian army soldier returns fire during an opposing force attack as his unit goes through a Saber Strike STX lane. gether, and we ve been expanding that. We have the exercise program where we re doing regional partnerships working together. We have our NCO academy, where we re bringing young soldiers from other countries to train with our specialists to become junior NCOs. Over the last eight years, we ve had close to 1,100 NCOs from other countries attend our Warrior Leader Course, where they really get experience with multinational partners at the youngest of levels. Because we work in joint interagency and multinational environments, it s also necessary to train senior leaders to work in those environments before they get to an operation. Using the Army War College s CFLCC course as the model, USAREUR developed a course adapted to a coalition environment and gained JCS approval, issuing invitations to European allies. The officers attending are not only rising officers from their militaries generals and senior colonels many are future chiefs of staff of allied armies, LTG Hertling noted. The participants engage in learning how to manage as a CFLCC in a combined/joint/interagency coalition environment through discussions with leaders from the military and government sectors who have experience in that environment. USAREUR is leading the way in multinational engagement, LTG Hertling said. We re always expanding what we do with our allies. We have 26 NATO countries here in Europe and a total of 51 countries some NATO, some not in our area of responsibility. So it s important when we talk about how we conduct operations out of theater or even within a NATO Article 5 arrangement to understand what leaders are thinking and how they re doing business. The importance is understanding each other and continuing to gain trust and how to conduct operations and knowing each other before you potentially hit the battlefield. While in Latvia during Saber Strike, LTG Hertling said that American soldiers at all levels gain something through multinational training experiences. Here s what they get out of this, he said. We hear the Chief of Staff and Vice Chief of Staff of the Army say that we need to broaden our soldiers. We need to give them broadening experiences. We need to give them more cultural exchanges. Training in Europe, U.S. soldiers for the first time could be talking to Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles or Georgians, and they understand cultures and they understand how to work alliances when they come together in combat. When you re here, working with coalition partners, you have to work through languages. You have to work through cultures. You have to work through the way they do it. You can t simulate that back in the United States. So I would suggest and I know I m biased that soldiers who train over here get a much better training experience. They are much more broadened in terms of leadership. They have to actually deploy to places within their training; they actually have to bring equipment across multinational lines and get through customs and get into a country. Those are the kinds of thing we do in U.S. Army Europe. 56 ARMY September 2012