NOWA DEBA, Poland (July 9, 2015) -- U.S. Soldiers, with P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, conducted a live-fire exercise with Polish soldiers at the Nowa Deba Training Area in Poland, July 8.
During the exercise, U.S. Soldiers integrated with the Polish 6th Airborne Brigade to experience each other's weapons systems.
"It makes me feel good that we can train with our NATO allies and be on the same page and fire different weapons systems and be able to have the same endstate mission," said Staff Sgt. Jeffery Taylor, a platoon sergeant with P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. "The most important thing for me personally is ensuring that our Polish allies are comfortable with our weapons systems, and comfortable training with us, as well as us being comfortable with them."
Building a level of comfort not only applies to the Polish training on the U.S. weapons systems.
While training on the range, some of the U.S. infantrymen participated in Polish-led reflexive and stress firing drills.
"We have different SOPs [standard operating procedures], so it's cool learning how they do it and showing them how we do it," said Spc. Michael Collins, an infantryman with P Troop. "If we ever went to war, you want to know how to fight side-by-side."
Collins, who's worked with Polish soldiers while deployed in Afghanistan, said had he received this training before deploying, it would have made working with the Polish back then easier.
However, learning how to work with one another is only half the challenge. For senior-enlisted soldiers, the opportunity to teach U.S. NATO allies presents new challenges.
"Some of the things, going through my mind while teaching them, are fundamentals first, just the pure basics, because they've never fired these weapons systems, so we have to make sure safety is first, and then once the safety issue is addressed, move onto little tips and tricks to shoot easier and get them comfortable," Taylor said.
Although the language barrier presents a problem, he said, training the Polish on the M240B machine gun isn't very different from training his own Soldiers.
"Basically it's almost the same thing because, as a noncommissioned officer, I'm training my Soldiers who don't particularly know about the M240," Taylor said. "Same thing with the Polish - they've never fired one, so you just break it down, fundamentals first, and build off of that. The end result is usually good."
Building on the fundamentals allows Soldiers to not only see what's different, but recognize what is similar as well.
"For me, it's very important because we can share each others experiences, compare the difference between SOPs, and can gain more knowledge," said Polish Pfc. Marcin Banera, a soldier with the 6th Airborne Brigade. "I hope in the future we have the chance to practice together more often."
The training is part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, an ongoing multinational partnership focused on joint training and security cooperation between NATO allies. Aimed at ensuring stability across Europe, the training is designed to improve joint operational capability in a range of missions.
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