GRAFENWOEHR, Germany -- The Grafenwoehr Burgermeister, or mayor, and city council members visited the 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command, April 21, 2016, here.
The distinguished guests visited the U.S. Army's largest major live-fire training area in Europe and its largest overseas training command to get a better understanding of 7A JMTC's mission and the relationship the organization has with the community.
"It's very important that we work together towards the future because we live in their community," said Col. William Lindner, 7A JMTC chief of staff. "The more that we know about each other, the more we appreciate one another, the less ignorance there is in terms of what one is doing or not doing."
During this visit these guests toured the Joint Multinational Simulations Center where they were shown how U.S. and multinational Soldiers utilize Virtual Battlespace 3 as an alternate form of training. VBS3 is a desktop tactical trainer and mission rehearsal software system that is similar to Call of Duty.
"Using the VBS3 allows Soldiers the opportunity to get the necessary training while also helping to reduce the noise disturbance caused at the ranges here in GTA," said Col. William Glaser, director of simulations.
At range operations, Colleen Bergmanis, Army Europe's Integrated Training Area Management coordinator, and Robert Shoemaker, deputy of Grafenwoehr Training Area Range Operations, explained land management practices that help sustain biodiversity while also allowing Soldiers to meet training requirements. Pop-up targets, three-dimensional maps and full-scale vehicles were just a few of the products on display at the Training Aids Production Center as the mayor and council members walked through the facility that builds training enablers for Soldiers preparing for deployments or special unit training.
Finally, the visit ended at the Grafenwoehr Army Airfield where the guests toured the control tower and got a close look at the U.S. Army HH-60 Medical Evacuation Helicopter.
"I have participated in several tours of the training area before seeing old villages and historical sites," said Lorenz Kraus, business manager of city of Grafenwoehr. "This time I really got an inside view of what the U.S. Soldiers do here and how they train."
"This has been really interesting, especially being a local citizen, to get a different perspective," he said.
Klaus Schmitsdorf, city council member, said, "I was surprised to see so many German civilians working here, I thought only military personnel worked here with the exception of commercial workers. I was also surprised to see how many of them were in management positions."
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