WEDRZYN, Poland - Every Polish soldier deploying to a combat environment has to undergo rigorous training to prepare them for the situations they may encounter. One of the possibilities that can occur in combat is being captured by an enemy that doesn't speak the soldier's language.
In order to help the Polish troops be more ready to handle this possibility, they have to take part in a Survive Escape Resist and Evade (SERE) portion of their preparation.
The Polish troops had the added benefit of U.S. Soldiers of P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, pretending to be enemies in order to make the training more realistic Aug. 27 at the Wedrzyn Training Area.
The U.S. troops were asked to participate in the training in part due to the ethnic diversity of the American Military, as one soldier was a native Spanish speaker and another was fluent in German.
For the last portion of the SERE training, the Polish troops were led away by the U.S. Soldiers in a simulated kidnapping, where the U.S. troops stopped speaking English and began using a variety of other languages in order to confuse them.
Aibonito, Puerto Rico, native U.S. Army Sgt. Jose Gonzalez, a soldier assigned to the 515th Transportation Company, 39th Transportation Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, said it was a good experience for him to be able to use his native Spanish language to help the Polish soldiers train.
"I never thought that I'd be here in Poland, working with our Polish allies using my native language to help them train," said Gonzalez. "It's definitely been a good experience helping these guys get ready to deploy."
Gonzalez said this was the second time he and the two other U.S. Soldiers participated in the training since arriving a few weeks earlier.
"After working with the instructors the first time, we were asked to come back because of the effect our group had on the training," said Gonzalez.
A Polish Special Forces soldier, 'Kapitan Mike,' said having the U.S. Soldiers that spoke different languages participate in the training brought an added element of confusion to further disorient the Polish "prisoners."
"Hearing the other languages makes you feel strange," said Mike. "You don't hear Polish, you hear German and Spanish. Most Polish soldiers know English, but we don't know the other languages being spoken."
One of the Polish instructors that underwent the U.S.-supported training two days prior, Podporucznik (2nd Lt.) Piotr Borkowski, said having the U.S. Soldiers speaking different languages also enhanced his own experience.
"Although I understand the English language, some of my friends that have gone through this training with the U.S. Soldiers are not familiar with English," said Borkowski. "For them it was very dis-orienting."
Borkowski said having the U.S. soldiers there showed the level of commitment between these Polish and American allies.
"All the things we wanted to arrange for our training was no problem," said Borkowski. "There have been no issues getting the support we needed. It shows we can always rely on the U.S. Soldiers."
The U.S. military presence in Poland is part of Atlantic Resolve, an ongoing multinational partnership focused on combined training and security cooperation between NATO allies. Led by the 4th Infantry Division Mission Command Element and in conjunction with European partner nations, Atlantic Resolve is intended to improve operational capacity in a range of missions and ensure continued peace and stability across Europe.
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