CODRU TRAINING AREA, Moldova -- U.S. Army signaleers from the Regimental Engineer Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment (RES, 2CR), stationed out of Grafenwoehr, Germany, and the Moldovan Engineer Battalion communications team came together to train and validate the capability to enable mission command between the two partnered forces at Codru Training Area in Moldova, May 6-12, 2016.
The challenges began when identified that both forces would be operating with incompatible radio systems due to different frequencies, waveforms and encryption.
As the Soldiers of RES, 2CR worked with the U.S. Army Europe Command chief communications officer, a solution was developed to utilize a Tactical Voice Bridge, which enabled U.S. and Moldovan Army radio systems to integrate with each other despite the varying system configurations.
"Communication is one of the pillars that enables mission command to take place," said U.S. Army Capt. Derrick Dejon, the communications officer with RES, 2CR. "Being able to communicate directly with the Moldovans over the Tactical Voice Bridge strengthens our Squadron's ability to conduct exercises and operations with each other more effectively," he said.
The training and validation began with the U.S. and Moldovan signaleers familiarizing their counterparts with the capabilities of their tactical radio systems. Once familiar with each other's radio systems, a joint technical analysis was conducted, which set the conditions to employ the Tactical Voice Bridge and communicate across different frequencies. After only a few hours of training, the U.S. and Moldovan signaleers were able to successfully communicate with one another despite the different radio systems in use.
"Working together, sharing best practices, and demonstrating our tactical communication capabilities has been a phenomenal experience," said U.S. Army Sgt. Joshua Martinek, the Signal Service Support noncommissioned officer with RES, 2CR. "The Moldovans have strong technically capable signal Soldiers that are great to work with. The Tactical Voice Bridge was easy to use and the technical expertise of the Moldovans made overcoming the interoperability challenges very easy. I really hope I get the opportunity to continue to train with them in future exercises," continued Martinek.
The RES, 2CR Soldiers took part in the communications exercise during Dragoon Pioneer, which is part of an ongoing bilateral cooperation between the U.S. Army and the Republic of Moldova.
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