U.S. Army Col. Kevin Jackson, V Corps Chief of Staff, awards Sgt. Eddie Hopkins the Army Commendation Medal for his exceptionally outstanding performance as an Intelligence Analyst during V Corps’ Command Post Exercise 1, May 15, 2025, at Camp Kościuszko, Poland. Jackson recognized multiple Soldiers for their hard work and dedication after the exercise and emphasized the importance of V Corps’ posture in Europe to remain combat credible by training and prioritizing modernization and lethality. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Devin Klecan)

U.S. Army Soldiers representing different staff sections within V Corps review intelligence reports as Col. Kevin Jackson, V Corps Chief of Staff, left, briefs strategies and operations May 13, 2025, at Camp Kościuszko, Poland. The primary mission of V Corps is to conduct operational planning, mission command, and oversight of rotational forces in Europe. It also provides additional capabilities in support of allies and partners in the region, such as deterring aggression on NATO’s Eastern Flank. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Devin Klecan)

U.S. Army Pfc. Dakota Baer, an infantryman with the 82nd Airborne Division, and a native of Ohio, gathers his equipment after a parachute insert during exercise Swift Response 25 in Bardufoss, Norway, May 12, 2025. The Marine Corps is providing direct combat service support to the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division to enable sustainment of multi-domain operations. Swift Response 25 is part of the DEFENDER 25 series and allows the rehearsal, deployment, employment, and integration of U.S. forces to focus on the expansion of critical capabilities on the battlefield in the High North and Baltics. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Franco Lewis)

POZNAN, Poland – U.S. Army V Corps, America’s only forward deployed corps, conducted a Command Post Exercise (CPX), May 6-15, 2025. The exercise provided V Corps an opportunity to conduct their first full exercise as part of their training progression leading up to Warfighter 2026, which will be conducted next Spring.

Swift Response 25 is a complex scenario involving multinational forces from the United Kingdom, Spain, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Latvia, and Lithuania who are conducting airborne and air assault operations in five countries as part of the exercise. Working closely with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division Headquarters, V Corps has used the opportunity to exercise command and control in the operations environment to train the staff, rehearse and refine staff processes, and build interoperability with NATO allies while simultaneously planning and executing operations.

V Corps’ role in Swift Response was to serve as the higher headquarters for the Airborne, Air Assault, and Special Operations forces organized under the 82nd Airborne Division. The Corps also supported U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) as the exercise control.

In order to provide a robust training scenario and to link the exercise to real world plans, V Corps also incorporated rotational forces (1st Armored Division) to simulate large scale combat operations on the ground simultaneously with real-world airborne and air assault operations.

“We had some challenges during this CPX,” said Col. Aaron Dixon, V Corps Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Training. “One of them being the use of the Maven Smart System [an Artificial intelligence enabled platform for the geospatial visualization of data] in a way where we are fighting with it not against it. We know it is the standard moving forward with NATO, so we have to get our systems in place to teach, coach, and mentor our NATO partners as they bring their systems on board.”

In addition to NATO partners and allies in Poznan, the 41st Field Artillery Brigade and the Kentucky National Guard’s 138th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB) participated in the exercise.

“Targeting officers along with warrant officers and logistics specialists traveled from Germany to Poland for the exercise,” said Capt. Jarod Davis, an artillery officer from the 41st Field Artillery Brigade, providing assistant fire support for V Corps. “We are also working with the 138th FAB to streamline the planning process. We synchronize targeting and shape the deep fight for the corps. With us being in Poland, we can provide the most up to date planning guidance to our unit.”

Part of exercise Swift Response 25, CPX1 demonstrated multinational power projection and the expansion of critical capabilities on the battlefield in the High North and Baltics through airborne operations and integration of technology in support of the Army Modernization Strategy and DoD Arctic Strategy. Swift Response 25 involves five near-simultaneous airborne insertions, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System Rapid Insertion training, a field hospital exercise, and live-fire exercises conducted with NATO networks in Finland, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden, from May 11 to 31, 2025.

Swift Response is one of three exercises under DEFENDER 25, a U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) conducted exercise that consists of three exercises: Swift Response (SR25), Immediate Response (IR25), and Saber Guardian (SG25). The Primary training audiences within DEFENDER 25 is U.S. Army V Corps, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, 173rd Airborne Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, and more.

“Our end-state goal is to assure and deter here in the theater, and be prepared to deny the effects of our enemy,” said Dixon. “Everything we are doing is planning for a war plans-footing, all the way until our Warfighter exercise in the spring and embedded in the real world in which we are going to fight. This exercise is another steppingstone for unified plans for both ourselves, our subordinates and Allied partners.”

The primary mission of V Corps is to conduct operational planning, mission command, and oversight of rotational forces in Europe. It also provides additional capabilities in support of allies and partners in the region, such as deterring aggression on NATO’s Eastern Flank.