NEMENCINE, Lithuania - The Lithuanian Land Forces Command conducted its first command post exercise with U.S. and Danish elements at the Warfare Training Center here April 6-7.
The two-day exercise, called "Thunder Strike," gave Lithuanian Land Forces brigades, including two newly formed units, a chance to execute staff operations and identify gaps in their internal processes.
"The idea of Thunder Strike is to give brigade commanders and staff an opportunity to train and exercise staff procedures, warfighting and ensure that formation-level battlespace management, synchronization and coordination is properly executed," said Lt. Col. Bo Anderson, deputy chief of staff, Danish Division Headquarters.
Anderson and his staff, along with members of 4th Infantry Division Mission Command Element and 2nd Cavalry Regiment, served as observer-controllers during the exercise to assist their Lithuanian counterparts with planning and executing operations but also gain valuable insight from their Lithuanian peers.
"As observer-controller/trainers (OC/Ts), we assist with ensuring that staffs are executing mission command effectively across all warfighting functions of the staff and provide mentorship to these developing organizations," said Maj. Royce Baker, chief of fires, 4th Inf. Div. MCE. "We're here to provide our experience and expertise across all warfighting functions to help the brigade staffs operate more effectively, individually and cohesively, to meet their training objectives."
Ultimately the training validated the ability of the Lithuanian 1st, 2nd and 3rd brigades to properly execute the military decision-making process as well as conduct command and control during unified land operations, said Maj. Vitalijas Anisimenko, a Lithuanian Land Forces Headquarters operations officer.
"This is a great opportunity for each brigade, especially our newer brigades, to share experience with you (U.S. forces) as well as gain experience from you," said Anisimenko.
He added that the 2nd and 3rd brigades are newly developed units.
"We are primarily focused on mentoring the newly developing 2nd "Griffin" Brigade and 3rd Brigade," said Baker. "3rd Brigade consists of instructors, officers, noncommissioned officers and Soldiers from Lithuanian TRADOC (training and doctrine command) who come together to form a staff for training and exercises.
"Taking all that into consideration, I think they made great strides during the exercise. In just two days they gained a better understanding of all the roles and responsibilities within their staff and how every staff member contributes to the military decision-making process, conducting operations, and executing effective mission command," Baker said.
Anisimenko added: "Our Iron Wolf (1st) Brigade has much more experience, but 2nd and 3rd brigades don't have as much experience. This gives them a chance to test their systems and figure out what they need to work on."
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