POSTAJNA, Slovenia- A platoon of approximately 20 Albanian and Slovenian soldiers take cover and concealment beside a road, unseen and unheard, through the quiet foothills of southwestern Slovenia. The rest of their battalion waits near two dilapidated buildings, ready to capture an objective, assuming the platoon in front of them can get there first without incident.
Suddenly, the familiar "rat-tat-tat" of semi-automatic gunfire pierces the chilly afternoon's silence. The reconnaissance platoon makes contact with the "opposing force" of British and Slovenian soldiers. One Albanian Soldier attempts to rush to cover after the initial contact, but a British rifleman, through a cloud of smoke, pings the rear of his vest.
A voice erupts from the Albanian's Soldier's vest, "Killed."
Ten minutes later, the firefight is over. In this battle, every troop was a winner as the Albanian, Slovenian and British forces, with the help of U.S. Army Soldiers, worked together to increase their offensive and defensive capabilities as NATO allies during exercise Immediate Response 15 (IR 15).
Immediate Response 15 is a multinational, brigade-level exercise utilizing computer-assisted simulations and field training exercises occurring in Croatia and Slovenia. The exercise simulations are built upon a scenario designed to enhance regional stability, strengthen partner capacity and improve interoperability between partner nations.
The multinational forces participated in one of IR 15's situational training exercises (STX), commonly called "sticks lanes." This training provides focused, objective-oriented scenarios to train units, in this case infantry, on war-fighting skills. For the NATO forces involved, the training aimed to improve forest and mountainous terrain maneuvers and tactics while also testing the communication capabilities between the diverse platoons involved.
"The diversity of the company is the biggest strength and challenge of these STX lanes," said U.S. Army Capt. Ira Jordan, the exercise's observer, controller, trainer team leader. "All of these nations have different ideas and tactics they want to use, so finding the best practice while searching for an opposing force provides a great learning opportunity. However, communicating those practices through language barriers and different war-fighting concepts can be challenging."
Jordan said the interoperability of these multinational forces is paramount to stabilizing the region's defense. Improving individual and team skills, as well as sharing tips amongst the training cadre, ensures the continued success of exercise IR 15 and beyond.
"The immediate value added by this training is simply getting to know your fellow soldiers, no matter the nationality," said Jordan. "Once a [service member] understands his or her counterpart's operational mindset, they can jump into action together in the future and quickly achieve whatever real-world mission is before them."
Jordan also said relating to one another's experiences creates a bond that will last through wartime, which is a sentiment shared by one of his counterparts.
"Learning from our brothers and sisters-in-arms from across NATO only improves my team and everyone else as well," said British Army Maj. Ben Salt, A Company, 1st Rifles Battalion commander. "It is good to get away from the home and train in different environments with different nations because it tests our skills with someone who hasn't learned the same things."
Salt also said the "friction of war" blended with the diversity of force provides a breeding ground for improvement and shows a team why they fight.
"With an opposing force bearing down on you, even if it isn't necessarily 'real,' you start to feel pressured and it becomes difficult to remember what you've learned or what your next step should be," said Salt. "Placing ourselves in that pressure cooker, that mental friction, forces us to pass limits we didn't even know existed because we owe our allied teammates everything we've got. This training is the perfect opportunity for all of us to show each other, 'no matter what, I have your back.'"
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