BAULMHOLDER, Germany - Members of 4th Infantry Division Mission Command Element and 10th Armored Division (Bundeswehr) met to discuss future partnership and training opportunities during a two-day planning session at the 4th ID MCE Headquarters on Smith Barracks, Baumholder, Germany Nov. 12-13, 2015.
Maj. Jason Meier, assigned as the 4th ID MCE engineer and partnership officer, said the meeting was the third between the two partnered units.
"The aim of this planning conference was to identify partnership opportunities for 2016," Meier, a native of DuBois, Pennsylvania, said. "For 2016, we looked at event such as field training exercises and command post exercises to identify opportunities where our units and headquarters can conduct combined training."
Meier said the partnership allows the two units to learn from each other and gain new experiences that can be applied across all of Operation Atlantic Resolve which ultimately allows for better understanding of Europe and the strengthen of the alliance.
"This partnership aligns with our role in Operation Atlantic Resolve to reassure our European allies and this is another way that we can demonstrate our commitment to Europe through partnering with our host nation," Meier said.
Lt. Col. Manfred Wienecke and Lt. Col Ralph Köhl, both assigned as G-3 training and exercise planners with 10th Armored Division, said the conference was a positive, productive experience.
"We [want to] try to start some lasting cooperation between the two divisions," Köhl, a native of Munich said. "4th [Infantry] Division is part of Europe, so we will start to train together, to join common exercises, to exchange people or observers and to host the 4th ID in Europe."
Köhl said they discussed and identified training exercises and themes to include command post exercises and live fire exercises for 2016.
"I think that it is a good opportunity for both nations to restart cooperation because the US forces [downsized] out of Germany and now they [are coming] back," Köhl said. I think it's very important to reinforce that cooperation and to train together in the future."
"I'm very happy about this partnership because the 10th Armor Division is a new division with different brigades which were part of other divisions and only one of our brigades has a partnership," Wienecke, a native from Nuremberg said. "We as Germans want to improve the partnership with the Americans. I think this is one step for all divisions to partner in the future, especially with the special conditions in eastern Europe right now."
Day one of the conference focused on identifying tactical training partnership opportunities while the second day focused on identifying headquarters partnership opportunities. Additional activities included a 4th ID MCE hosted BBQ and a Baumholder community 5K fun run.
The nearly 100 Soldiers who make up the MCE serve as an intermediate headquarters for U.S. Army Europe under the Army's Regionally Allocated Forces concept. The 4ID, based out of Fort Carson, Colo., is the first division-level headquarters to deploy to Europe as part of the RAF concept.
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