GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - Members of the Washington Air National Guard, Pennsylvania Army National Guard and the Michigan Air National Guard have been taking part in "Saber Strike," a multi-national training event, June 10-22, at the Ādaži Training area, near Riga Latvia and at facilities in Estonia.
Saber Strike is one of the largest multi-national military exercises in the region, said officials from the Joint Multi-national Training Command. About 2,000 personnel from Canada, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuanian, the United Kingdom and the United States engage the enemy, as they overcome challenges in interoperability during the two-week exercise.
Annually, the three Baltic nations, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania rotate hosting responsibility, and share resources and capabilities to meet the training requirements of organic units and elements, who may deploy in support of contingency operations in Afghanistan.
"The main reason these countries are operating together is to build a better operational understanding between the separate organizations and improve command and control systems and processes at the tactical level," said Tony Bonarti, JMTC's lead exercise planner. "In pursuing operational cohesiveness, these nations expect to achieve vast improvements in their respective defense and host- nation governments that allow them to be prepared to address both national and international crisis events."
During the exercise, participants will take part in a number of scenarios, including defending a forward operating base as well as other operational type missions.
"There are two live-fire lanes established for the unit to conduct dismounted and mounted-counter attacks just like they could potentially do in Afghanistan," said Wil Alston, JMTC's chief of Regional Training Support Division-Expeditionary "We provide everything we need including the containers to ship equipment, said Alston. "All of this helps the units achieve their desired training objectives."
During training, an Estonian maneuver brigade is being augmented by multi-national participants from both NATO and non-NATO members, while the command post exercise, which is led by the Estonian military is supported by subject matter experts and tools to enhance the training environment.
Because of its forward-based proximity to European partners, the JMTC is the only U.S. Army Training command to regularly train U.S. and multi-national forces together.
The exercise, officials from JMTC said, is a cost-effective way to train multiple units environment, while allowing a commander to train, then retrain, while integrating live, virtual and constructive elements into training scenarios.