US, Polish Soldiers send rounds down range in team live fire exercise

By Sgt. Brandon AndersonJuly 28, 2015

US, Polish Soldiers send rounds down range in team live fire exercise
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US, Polish Soldiers send rounds down range in team live fire exercise
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – A U.S. Soldier, of P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, and a Polish soldier, of the Polish army's 16th Airborne Battalion, 6th Airborne Brigade, make their way to the rear of a formation during a training exercise at the Nowa Deba Training A... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
US, Polish soldiers send rounds down range in team live fire exercise
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US, Polish soldiers send rounds down range in team live fire exercise
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NOWA DEBA, Poland (July 27, 2015) -- After training together for weeks, U.S. and Polish Soldiers got one last chance to see how effectively they could communicate and work together in an exercise, which would demonstrate their ability to send hot lead down range.

U.S. Soldiers, assigned to P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, and Polish soldiers, assigned to the Polish army's 16th Airborne Battalion, 6th Airborne Brigade, joined together for a joint tactics training event at the Nowa Deba Training area, July 23.

The culminating exercise combined Soldiers from both nations in a scenario, where they reacted to contact from an enemy while moving to neutralize the threat. They utilized machine gun fire to provide suppressive fire while moving forward and pulling security as they moved to a more secure location.

U.S. Army Spc. Hunter Dent, a cavalry scout assigned to P Troop, said their two militaries had been working together over the past couple of weeks, so the communications gap wasn't a hindrance to the teams.

"With our job, we use a lot of hand and arm signals instead of talking in order to maintain stealth, so the language barriers aren't that big of a deal," Dent said. "We've been involved in a lot of training together, so at this point we all have an idea of what to expect from each other."

As the two elements moved toward the targets, maintaining situational awareness was critical, since they were using live ammunition.

"During training the last thing you want to happen is for an accident to occur," Dent said. "We have to constantly be aware of where our weapons are pointed to ensure we don't put our guys in potential danger."

With safety at the forefront of their minds, the allies built on their cohesiveness by having a Soldier from each country's army engage the targets, and then proceed to the rear of the group.

This continued until the group was once again at their starting point.

Polish starszy kapral, or senior corporal, Adam Lewkowski said he really enjoyed working with the U.S. troopers during this exercise as it proved the weeks of training together had paid off.

"We've been able to learn and share with each other during our time together, and this exercise proves we can work as a single unit," Lewkowski said. "We all have different ways we do things in our two armies, but those things don't hinder our ability to participate in events like this."

For these particular Polish and U.S. Soldiers, this exercise would be one of the last training events they would do together, as the Polish 16th Airborne Battalion would soon be leaving Nowa Deba, replaced by another unit from their brigade.

The U.S. and Polish troops are part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, an ongoing multinational partnership focused on joint training and security cooperation between NATO allies.

This journey of joint interoperability between these Polish-U.S. allies began over three weeks ago, not knowing how they would work together, but ultimately ending up as friends and fellow professionals.

They started by getting familiar with each other's tactics and equipment, spending time building friendships through tough joint training and having fun playing sports together in their down time. Both groups agreed they're coming away from this training time as friends and allies that have confidence in each other's professionalism.

"We've worked and played together so often that I think we can unite as allies if given the need or opportunity, and face whatever comes our way," Lewkowski said.

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