HOHENFELS, Germany -- Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment is one of many units from the 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division taking part in exercise Combined Resolve at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC). But United States Army Europe had other plans and missions in mind for the Soldiers of Delta Company.
Operation Freedom Shock is an event that takes place separate from a rotational exercise, but is executed as part of the overall plan to train the Regionally Aligned Brigades (RAB) that rotate into Europe from the United States.
A Freedom Shock tasking tests a unit's ability to receive a short notice tasking, prepare for and deploy to an unfamiliar location, and rapidly integrate with Allied soldiers in order to execute a specific training mission.
"The purpose is to ultimately improve interoperability, working with other units and developing partnerships," said Sgt. 1st Class Jammie Tucker, JMRC S3 Maneuver / Planner NCO about Operation Freedom Shock.
Delta Company's mission is to partner with two Bundeswehr companies; 130th Engineer Battalion and the 9th Armor Battalion, and cross the Elbe River in Klietz Training Area near Havelburg, Germany. Delta Company loaded a few M-1 Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and some support vehicles onto a train to head to the operations area Jun. 2. Tucker explains, "There is no live fire involved with it, or any OPFOR based scenarios. It's just exercising interoperability of their equipment and the partnership piece."
OCT's from JMRC's Timberwolf and Raptor teams were assigned to support Operation Freedom Shock. Tucker says, "There are three OCTs going and they will serve as Observers. The OCTs will go out and partner with their counterparts there and help build that capacity in the future for JMRC to partner with the other training units to Observe exercises."
Not many units get the chance to receive training like this. Tucker believes, "historically this is the first time…..that we've worked together with the Bundeswehr and their equipment to cross a river."
Given the value of this training and the future plans for the RABs, we can be assured that this is only the beginning of the road for Operation Freedom Shock.
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