"It's very important for us to train together with our partners," said Col. Arturas Radvilas, the commanding officer of the Lithuanian army’s Motorized Infantry "Griffin" Brigade.
"For us, this is the most important thing because it's a multinational exercise," Radvilas added.
Radvilas is talking about Allied Spirit VII, a 7th Army Training Command-conducted multinational exercise that focuses on tactical interoperability and testing secure communications among NATO members.
The exercise, which began Oct. 30, is being held here until Nov. 22. There are approximately 4,000 participants from 13 nations: Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Working Together
"The importance of Allied Spirit is to bring our NATO partners together in a cohesive exercise where we can test and exercise our alliance together to prove interoperability, have situational understanding, learn tactics and maneuver, and increase our ability to integrate these forces to work together as a full team," said Brig. Gen. Jeff Smiley, the deputy commanding general of the 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard.
The three-week exercise integrates different forces into one multinational brigade, with Lithuania taking the lead as the higher command. Lithuania provides mission command of fire support, offensive, defensive and stability tasks, while concurrently operating a command post exercise at the Warfare Training Center in Nemencine, Lithuania.
In the first week, the participating nations spent time getting to know each other's procedures, capabilities and systems through improvised explosive device awareness training, route clearance and vehicle recovery. Some of the other training objectives included media engagements: civilian-military integration; medical training; and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense.
Integrated Training
This integrated training was an invaluable asset for the California Army National Guard unit to take home as the soldiers don't often receive many opportunities to train with allied partners, Smiley said.
"We have a lot of experience in working with law enforcement, fire services, local government, and county and state governments," Smiley said. "Well, those experiences really play out very well over here in this complex environment where we get to interface."
After a week of refresher training, the units familiarized themselves with the training area by moving into their fighting positions as they prepared for the main exercise days to begin.
‘Totally Different’ Training
"It was totally different from what we normally do because most of our training is conducted in Canada on wide-open prairies," said Lt. Col. Jez Lamb, the United Kingdom's 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment Fusiliers, first-time participants in the exercise. "But here, maximum ranges are about 50 meters, so it's very close. We can't form nice open formations, so the whole thing is totally different."
After familiarization with the training area’s terrain, and understanding everyone's involvement and capabilities, the Fusiliers and the rest of the multinational brigade were ready to take on the opposing forces.
Exercise participants are challenged to apply their training and integrate their skills to conduct recons, dismounts, attacks and defensive operations as one interoperable fighting force.
"This is a unique opportunity for us to be trained here," Radvilas said. "Being able to learn from our partners and understand them is very important for us."