YAVORIV, Ukraine -- Sgt. 1st Class Michael Deleon never expected to play such a big role supporting Ukraine. He's been assisting the Ukraine mission for the last five months.
Deleon is one of the key players supporting the mission here, and he's in company with a list of players that include the National Guard and active duty Soldiers, U.S. Army civilians, and representatives from Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, and United Kingdom.
Assigned to 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command, in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Deleon is taking a lead role in the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine, or JMTG-U.
The JMTG-U mission is part of ongoing efforts to contribute to Ukraine's long-term military reform and professionalism and to help improve the country's internal defense capabilities and training capacity.
Additionally, efforts are underway to enhance the International Peacekeeping and Security Center's training area.
Deleon, an M1 Abrams Tank Crewman, has been assigned to improve range operations for the 391-square-kilometer training ground. As the appointed range operations Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, Deleon faces many challenges.
"The training area, bordered next to Yavoriv National Park was the grounds for multiple battles with limited continuity of range maintenance," he said.
We've defined major priorities to help provide an efficient way of training for years to come, Deleon said.
Priorities range from safety to reorganization. Deleon is working alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces to work through issues such as unexploded ordnance clearance, command and control implementation and training area boundary identification -- a job that not only requires experience, but people skills.
"My skills that I learned as a recruiter helped more than I could've ever imagined. You must build rapport, build friendships, and develop those relationships -- which has helped in the progress of the training area. I've learned from this experience. It's not only testing my abilities as a master gunner but my understanding of Ukraine's capabilities, their limitations and how I can help assist with those limitations," said Deleon.
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