Exercise Allied Spirit IV is a U.S. Army Europe-direct... VIEW ORIGINAL
Hohenfels, Germany (Jan. 23, 2016) -- For one Michigan National Guard Soldier, attending Allied Spirit IV, in Hohenfels, Germany is an amazing opportunity in itself; but it has also become a great learning experience in working with a member of Michigan's State Partnership program.
This National Guard Soldier and his Latvian counterpart are both in a foreign country, but are working together side by side on the same mission and building a friendship at the same time.
According to the National Guard website, "the State Partnership Program (SPP) has been successfully building relationships for over 20 years that includes 70 unique security partnerships involving 76 nations around the globe. SPP links a unique component of the Department of Defense -- a state's National Guard -- with the armed forces or equivalent of a partner country in a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship."
Sgt. Aaron Burnside, Michigan Army National Guard, is working as an all source analyst (ASA) during Allied Spirit IV. He takes in intelligence from multiple sources on the battlefield, analyzes it and turns it into usable and specific intelligence for the commander, giving him a big picture of the enemy on the battlefield. Burnside is working with Maj. Guntars Galauskis, a Latvian Army officer, who is the intelligence officer for the exercise's higher control team.
They are both working in the NATO Rapid Deployment Corps-Hohenfels (NRDC-H), a composite team of Michigan Army National Guard Soldiers, Latvian National Armed Forces and the 350th Psychological Operations Company, from Ohio, taking part in the exercise.
While Burnside has seven years in the military, Galauskis has over 20 years, but Galauskis says their age difference and experience is no barrier for their working together.
When working with international Soldiers, the language barrier is often the biggest challenge. Written communications are often more understandable than spoken communication.
"The language barrier is the only real difference in working with Maj. Galauskis rather than any other member of my Michigan National Guard team," said Burnside. "Understanding each other's terminology is the hardest part.
"Learning about Latvian culture and history while working together, makes it very interesting working this way," Burnside said.
"I enjoy working with the National Guard, this is my first time," said Galauskis. "I am a full time soldier in Latvia, but most of these Soldiers have other jobs during the week and go to drill on the weekends. I am impressed how prepared and ready they are for an exercise at this level."
"I am very impressed with the exercise in general," continued Galauskis. "I am excited to take what I have learned here back to my country, and put it to work in the Latvian Army. My heart belongs to my country, and I am in the Latvian Army in order give back to my country what it has given to me."
Burnside and Galauskis say they will keep in touch after this exercise is over.
"The military world is a small one, and you never know when we will be working together again," said Galauskis. "I now have new military colleague and friend from the U.S."
Exercise Allied Spirit IV is a U.S. Army Europe-directed, 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command-conducted exercise focused on multinational, unified land operations, and promoting both the interoperability and integration of multinational partners. The participating U.S. units include the 2nd Cavalry Regiment; 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne); 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment; 3rd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment; 1st Air Cav. Div.; and the Michigan Army National Guard. It also includes units from the NATO nations of Canada, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.
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