JOHVI, Estonia - As the sun came up May 10, in a remote field surrounded by giant pine trees, Soldiers with Anvil Troop 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, began day one of Operation Siil, at the Johvi Training Area.
"This is the first day of Operation Siil and is the culminating training event for the Estonian Defense Forces' annual training," said 1st Lt. Joseph Davey, red platoon leader with Anvil Troop.
The Sky Soldiers' red and white platoons, along with a tank platoon with 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, of Fort Stewart, Georgia, played as opposing forces for the EDF, said the Libertyville, Illinois, native.
Operation Siil is a part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which is an ongoing training exercise designed to build relationships, trust, and interoperability between the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and other allies.
As part of a Reconnaissance Surveillance Target Acquisition squadron, red platoon employed the Raven, a small-unmanned aircraft to scan the battlefield.
"In today's mission, we were supposed to assault on objective Arvila, so we did some reconnaissance with the Raven to try and clear it," said Sgt. Eric Cole, of Biloxi, Mississippi, truck commander with Anvil Troop.
"We try to avoid putting people on the front lines and do it smarter not harder," said Sgt. Justin Trumble, heavy machine gunner with Anvil Troop.
With a thermal and day camera, global positioning system and portable design, "The Raven helps a lot," said the Fairbanks, Alaska, native.
Despite the slow operation tempo, Anvil trucks continued moving towards the objective.
"Once we got close to the main objective," he said. "We received fire from a platoon of anti tank personnel in the wood line. We ended up losing two trucks and pushed to the objective itself with only three vehicles."
In a training environment, it is the opposing forces job to ultimately be defeated, but this didn't discourage the Sky Soldiers.
"Every body needs practice. It's our job as combat arms to scout ahead and if necessary destroy the enemy," Trumble said. "We have to know how to act in all situations."
As part of OAR, Anvil Troop Soldiers were glad to support the EDF's training efforts. For Davey, this was a good opportunity for both countries to learn from each other, he said.
"It's good when a country trains with its own forces but I think you learn a lot more when you go out with another group, unit, or nation."
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