Perspectives On Saber Junction-II

Soldiers of 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry , U.S. Europe, stage at a village in Germany before enter - ing one of the area’s major civilian roads during Saber Junction 2012 last October. It was the largest joint, multi - national military exercise of its kind in Europe since 1989, involving some 6,000 personnel from 19 nations.

46 ARMY I March 2013 USAREUR Exercise Promotes Interoperability Among U.S. Army and Allied Nations

By SSG Brooks Fletcher elcome to Atropia! This fic - tional region in eastern Bavaria, Germany, recently served as the Wtraining environment for Saber Junction 2012, U.S. Army Europe’s (USAREUR) premier training event hosted by the Joint Multinational Training Command in Grafen - wöhr and Hohenfels. Roughly 6,000 personnel from 19 nations participated in the exercise de - signed to train the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Decisive Action Training Environment, as out - lined in the U.S. Army’s new Unified Land Op - erations doctrine. Saber Junction, conducted last fall, is the largest joint, multinational mili - tary exercise of its kind in Europe since 1989. “To adhere to the U.S. Army’s unified doc - trine, 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 Multina - a r d

e tional Readiness Center (JMRC) rotational i P

o l b a planner. “We created this fictional land by P

G S S /

y taking real-world data and overlaying it on m r A

. S . the Maneuver Rights Area [MRA].” U

March 2013 I ARMY 47 Right, PFC Alexan - der Robinson, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, awaits the order to move his Stryker vehicle to support an assault during Saber Junction at Grafenwöhr Train -

ing Area, Germany. o d a g

Below, soldiers l a S

from the Slovenian l e o J Armed Forces G S

prepare to assault S / y

an enemy fighting m r A

position during . S .

the exercise. U Location, Location, Location The exercise used the MRA, a 1,200-square-mile expanse of land located between USAREUR’s Grafenwöhr and Ho - henfels 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 offi - cer. “What that did was replicate the complexities that are found in the current operations that we conduct in and elsewhere, as well as what our future op - erations 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 com - posed of elements such as sports fields, mosques, water towers, train stations, gas stations, municipal buildings, fac - tories and market areas, all of which contribute to the envi - ronment’s realism. When you combine this environment with JMRC’s pro - fessional opposing forces (OPFOR), the 1st , 4th In - d r

a fantry Regiment, an array of military weaponry and equip - n o e ment, contractors and local nationals acting as a community L a u of cultural role-players, you add further realism to the train - h s o J ing, which not only prepares 2nd Cavalry Regiment for pre - C P

S sent-day operations but also for a range of future missions, / y m

r said Reginald Bourgeois, JMRC Deputy S-3. A

. S

. “The enemy is as smart as you are. They’ll speak any lan - U guage except the one you want them to,” said Bourgeois. “When you add all that, it becomes a very realistic town.” SSG Brooks Fletcher has been in the Army since August 2005 With such a complex battlefield, Bourgeois explained, to - and currently serves with U.S. Army Europe in Heidelberg, day’s operations require joint, interagency, intergovern - Germany. His other assignments include the 31st Air Defense mental and multinational participation. , Fort Bliss, Texas, and the 20th Public Affairs Detachment and 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Wain - Joint, Multinational Partnership wright, Alaska. He has a bachelor’s degree in communication Augmenting the warriors of 1-4 Regiment OP - studies and graduated from the Defense Information School as a FOR were task forces from the Federal Defense Forces of public affairs specialist/photojournalist. Germany and the Army of the Czech Republic, as well as el -

48 ARMY I March 2013 Left, an opposing force from the Joint Multinational Readiness Center’s 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment fires a rocket-pro - pelled grenade during a firefight.

h Below, soldiers c s n i from the Italian e R l “Folgore” Airborne e a h c Brigade load up on i M ammunition before T G

S engaging opposing / y

m forces in a mock r A

. terrorist training S .

U camp.

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 dis - advantage to the “Dragoons” of 2nd Cavalry Regiment, multinational partners have come in force to assist them in this exercise. With the U.S. Army 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 to - gether in one unique training environment. The FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug En - forcement Administration; Department of Homeland Secu - rity; Department of State; and U.S. Agency for International Development also participated in Saber Junction. “We validated things that were known to be true through - out USAREUR,” said MAJ Watson. “Over the years we have r worked with our various multinational partners. The multi - e h c t e national military forces bring a number of diverse strengths l F

s k

that are value added to operations and organizations.” o o r B Additional elements such as host-nation security and spe - G S

cial operation forces, provided by , Bulgaria, S / y m

France and the United States, were included in the training r A

. S

situations and scenarios, all contributing to the idea that . “we train how we fight.” U cluding personnel from the United States, Belgium, Geor - Evaluate and Validate gia, Sweden and France, everything happening in Atropia At the heart and soul of the exercise are JMTC’s observer- is under evaluation. coach-trainers (OCTs). Forged from sergeants first class and “Our main job is to observe how [training units] apply tac - platoon sergeants, all the way to a brigade commander, they tics and procedure during the engagement; when they make are hand-selected to accompany every leader in the field mistakes, we coach them,” said ’ Maj. and mentor them in tactics, techniques and procedures, said Mihaa Cueta, a senior OCT from Romania’s Combat Train - Bourgeois. ing Center. “We are here to ensure that they do things right.” With more than 470 trained OCTs on the battlefield, in - “Saber Junction is a great opportunity for me, my OCT

March 2013 I ARMY 49 Left, Bulgarian spe - cial forces soldiers prepare to conduct a raid on the mock town of Ubungs -

h dorf. Below, a Ro - c s n

i manian soldier e R

l keeps an eye on a e a h weapons cache c i M

discovered during T

G a patrol throughout S / y the Grafenwöhr m r A

Training Area dur - . S .

U ing Saber Junction.

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 en - vironment 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 every - thing that is going on in the field and bring it into an after-action o d a

review,” Bourgeois said. “This al - g l a S

lows us to stop participants and l e o J

ask, ‘What do you think hap - G S S

pened?’ We tell them what really / y m happened and three things that r A

. S can be fixed for the future.” . U The exercise also served as a communications test between allied and joint forces in Vi - Interagency and Interoperability cenza, Italy; the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, According to Jim Derleth, JMRC senior interagency train - Calif.; and the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, ing advisor, the U.S. Army’s doctrine notes that strategic La. This integration isn’t limited to joint and multinational success in modern and future operations requires fully inte - military organizations; it applies to governmental organiza - grating the effort of interagency and multinational partners tions as well, as they provide expertise in stability opera - in U.S. military unified land operations. tions of the exercise. “Anywhere we go in the world we are going to interact

March 2013 I ARMY 51 r e h c t e A German soldier with the 104th Panzer Battalion talks to l F

s

an American observer-coach-trainer after his tank was hit k o o r

and designated as disabled. Below, British soldiers with B

G

the Mercian Regiment’s 3rd Battalion based in Falling - S S /

bostel, Germany, clear a jam from an M249 during training y m at Grafenwöhr before taking part in Saber Junction. r A

. S . U 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 under - standing and train the OCTs in understanding the dynam - ics 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 co - hesion 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 d r a

of participants—opposing forces, observation teams, and n o e L interagency and intergovernmental organizations— a u h wrapped up in the dynamic, geographical confines of US - s o J

AREUR’s training center, cultural barriers become almost C P S /

nonexistent and interoperability certain, making Saber y m Junction more than just a training exercise. It is the future r A

. S of military training. ( . U

52 ARMY I March 2013