Shock exercise highlights 10th AAMDC speed of assembly

Baumholder, Germany--Soldiers from Bravo Battery, 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment conduct Reconnaissance Selection and Occupation of Position and March Order and Emplacement operations November 2 in order to validate mission readiness and rapid deployment capability.

At 0400 November 1st, the Soldiers on staff duty at 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command Headquarters on Rhine Ordnance Barracks, received a call that shook up their, until this point routine shift. 10th AAMDC was being tasked to shock one of their batteries from 5-7th ADA as part of a series of deployment readiness exercises being executed by USAREUR units throughout the European theater. These exercises are designed to validate mission readiness and rapid deployment capability in an ever increasing desire to deter enemy aggression in the USAREUR Area of Operations.

"Rapid deployment exercises, or shocks, like these are an excellent way to demonstrate our unit's speed of assembly," said 1st Lt. Henry Rosario, a battalion operations officer with 5-7th ADA. "The added stress of being on the clock really drives home the importance of always being prepared for the possibility of a Fight Tonight Scenario."

After an extremely efficient recall process, Bravo Battery's RSOP team was deployed to secure and prepare the Baumholder Army Airfield for follow on movement from the main body just over 24 hours after 10th AAMDC received the shock notification. After thoroughly searching the planned emplacement site for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear contaminants and conducting final preparation, the all clear was given and movement for the main body commenced.

"The RSOP's biggest challenge during a shock like this is finding the proper balance between speed and a thorough site search," said 2nd Lt. Isaac Murray, the RSOP platoon leader. "Our Battery emplaced with plenty of time to spare today so we definitely found that balance."

Once the main body arrived it was flury of movement and after only a matter of minutes the initial set up of the site was complete. The smoothness of the occupation was truly a testament to the unit's prior training and attention to detail. Once the Battery was in place and the site was secured all that was left to do was camouflage the equipment. By 1700, just 37 hours after the initial alert, Bravo Battery was fully emplaced and prepared to conduct operations, successfully demonstrating their unit's incredibly fast speed of assembly and validating their mission readiness.