HOHENFELS, Germany (July 21, 2015) -- When hosting airborne operations, the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, or JMRC, has to do a lot more than just ensure the airspace is clear and the winds are slow.
Due to the multinational nature of training at JMRC, safety and environmental stewardship play a huge role in creating a drop zone, which meets the standard for all multinational allies.
As Exercises Allied Spirit II and Swift Response grow near, JMRC is rigorously preparing to host allies and partners in the first-ever multinational combined tactical jump at the training center. One of the projects JMRC has undertaken is to revitalize the Hohenburg Drop Zone.
To comply with the airborne safety standards for Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, JMRC has undertaken some serious earth-moving measures.
"Out here on the drop zone, we filled in a lot of old tank ditches, we went through tree lines cutting down stumps," said 1st Lt. Robert Rose, platoon leader of the 282nd Engineer Company, an Army Reserve unit out of Colorado, and the unit responsible for the drop zone revitalization. Rose said his platoon also cleared the drop zone of large boulders and other obstacles, which could harm jumpers.
The drop zone revitalization is just one of many projects, which engineers from the National Guard and Army Reserves, work on as part of the troop construction program at JMRC. The Troop Construction projects serve locations throughout U.S. Army Europe, or USAREUR.
The partnership between USAREUR and the reserve component ensures high-quality construction capabilities for the command, and great training opportunities for the reservist, said Maj. Chuck Pinto, officer-in-charge of the troop construction program at JMRC.
Construction on the Hohenburg drop zone had to be coordinated with the German forest service to ensure the safety of the flora and fauna, which call the Hohenburg Drop Zone home. Multiple species of trees and shrubs, frogs, birds, lichens and wild boar thrive in the training area, especially open areas like the drop zone.
"Our relations with the [forest manager] is really good," Rose said. "We focused a lot on conservation of the land out here, and try to do as little damage to the environment as we can."
As so often happens at the JMRC, what started out as a simple project to clear a few trees and fill in a couple of holes, turned into something much greater. Pinto said revitalizing the Hohenburg drop zone will "allow us to integrate all nations across Europe for the jump, and is going to be a great show of force that we can work together and that not only can we jump with our NATO allies but we also utilize our National Guard and Reserve forces to support the active component."
Exercise Swift Response 15 will be held August 17 - Sept. 13 in Germany, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy and is the first iteration of a multinational training event designed around a U.S. Army brigade-level multinational Joint Forced Entry operation involving approximately 4,500 NATO personnel.
The exercise is part of U.S. European Command's Joint Exercise Program designed to enhance joint combined interoperability among allied nations.
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