From left to right, Joseph Kelly, Mike Cormier, Brig. Gen. Gunter Engel and Col. Wolfgang Schraut discuss the layout of the local training area from the viewing platform during Engel's first time to Camp Robertson. Engel is the commander of the Germa...
CAMP ROBERTSON, Germany -- The commander of the German infantry and Germany's only infantry school met with U.S. Army officials April 12 to observe the landscape and attributes of the local training area here.
Brig. Gen. Gunter Engel, commander of the German Infantry and the German Infantry School in Hammelburg, joined members of Schweinfurt's Training Support Center team at the Pfändhausen local training area, commonly referred to as the LTA.
"Usually once a quarter the LTA has been used by the German military forces for pre-deployment training," said Michael Cormier, a partnership officer who for years has helped organize combined training between the Americans and Germans.
Pfaendhausen, sometimes known as Area Mike, is the 6,000-acre training facility just north of the U.S. Army Garrison Schweinfurt installation. It's operated by Schweinfurt Training Support Center and for both the German and American forces who regularly use it, it's become a real gem.
A German Ranger group of 75 soldiers, for example, will be using the LTA for extensive training in October, said TSC-Schweinfurt chief, Joseph Kelly.
Camp Robertson is located within Area Mike. The training area has been ideal for military training exercises. It has sleeping facilities for 300 Soldiers, a fully functional dining facility, classrooms, confidence courses, rappelling towers and fast rope rappelling, grease ramp and even an MRAP Egress Trainer.
Three of Engel's military advisors were also on hand for the visit. They included Infantry Group Commander, Col. Wolfgang Schraut, Deputy Commander of the German Infantry School and Commander of the Infantry School Staff, Col. Michael Uhrig, and 1st Sgt. of the Ranger Training Group, Sgt. Maj. Mark Mittelsdorf.
The relationship between the German and American armies, and among many other allied forces, rests on a sense of interdependency, particularly during times marked by cutbacks and downsizing. The training grounds, for example, are available to all those partner armies in need of training.
This was Engel's first time to the American facility. He was provided a tour of the area by Kelly. Engel also visited the center's IED highway, an engineer dig site, a certified drop zone, the Urban Operations facilities, ammunition storage facilities and a viewing platform.
The Infantry School, or Infanterieschule, is located only 30 kilometers west of USAG Schweinfurt. The LTA's close proximity allows for the German army, or Bundeswehr, to train their soldiers using standards mirroring the U.S. Army's. The Bundeswehr's most successful training has been achieved through realistic scenarios.
Elements of the LTA have the ability to provide military organizations like the Bundeswehr the capability to conduct scenarios with characteristics comparable to being deployed, Cormier said.
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