HOHENFELS, Germany (Aug. 26, 2015) -- More than 1,000 paratroopers, from the U.S. Army's 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, and six other allied nations including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom conducted an Airborne Joint Forcible Entry mission as a part of Exercise Swift Response 15 at Hohenfels Training Area, Aug. 26.
Joint Forcible Entry is a joint-decisive action to seize operational initiative in a crisis, and it is one of the most challenging and complex missions assigned to the U.S. Army.
"Deterrence is all about demonstrating capability, and what you see here today is a combined effort of allies working together as was envisioned at the Wales summit to give assurance to allies and deterrence to Russian aggression," said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe.
Swift Response 15 is the U.S. Army's largest multinational airborne training event in Europe since the end of the Cold War.
Forcible entry exercises evaluate brigade and battalion size elements on the execution of strategic deployments along with allies through the use of intermediate staging bases where they will then begin follow-on missions.
The 82nd Airborne, which is currently serving as the Army's Global Response Force, or GRF, will build up rapid combat power including artillery, mechanized and motorized forces, and other support elements.
This training event provides participants with the opportunity to integrate multiple allied nations' high readiness forces to train as a cohesive and interoperable team and demonstrate the capabilities of the GRF and high readiness or multinational forces.
"This exercise is intended to demonstrate what this Alliance is capable of, what makes it strong, and what makes it fast," said Brig. Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, commanding general of the 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command.
Related Links:
STAND TO!: The Rapid Equipping Force
STAND TO!: Joint Forcible Entry (JFE) Exercise
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