Soldiers from the Royal Netherlands Army 13th Infantry Battalion move silently through the woods to save a notional wounded allied U.S. Army Civil Affairs team who has been ambushed and taken a casualty.
The training mission, Wednesday, May 18, was part of a five-week long field exercise involving about 120 Soldiers from the 13th Infantry Battalion. The joint training is in conjunction with the Royal Netherlands Air Force 302nd Squadron and the U.S. Army's 120th Infantry Brigade of First Army Division West -- who took over the training mission at the base in June, 2015.
First Army Division West is responsible for running the ranges, live-fire exercises and force-on-force training during the Dutch field operations.
"I think it is great anytime you can bring some foreign military forces over here and co-train," Casey Carson, a training support specialist contractor and retired U.S. Army sergeant major of Sweetwater, Texas, who has been working with the Royal Netherlands Air Force for six years.
The contractors and U.S. Army opposing forces keep the training realistic for the Dutch Soldiers.
As Soldiers reached the casualty on the ground, the unit was almost immediately ambushed by a three-man team with AK-47 rifles and rocket propelled grenades.
A few minutes later, an enemy vehicle approach for a second assault. Both are repelled with Dutch small arms fire and an anti-tank weapon.
The untamed Texas terrain is another advisory for the Dutch infantrymen.
"Here at Fort Hood we have a lot of trees, rolling hills and wide-open spaces, which is good for (the RNAF) training," Carson said. "Plus, we have the different environment factors with the Central Texas heat, the heavy rains and weather the have to navigate while on foot."
Lt. Col. Gert Strick, commander for the 13th Infantry Battalion base in Assen, Netherlands, says Fort Hood provides an environment simply not possible in the limited space available in his country.
It also affords the allied militaries with the ability for interoperability.
"In operations, for example in Iraq and other locations, we see that in combined and joint environments, we work more and more together -- especially with the United States," Strick said. "Last year, I was in Northern Iraq working closely with the U.S. side in Operation Inherent Resolve -- the fight against (ISIS). It is of great value that we meet here in these kind of training locations to make operations easier."
During the next three weeks, the Netherlands military elements will continue to complete more and more complex combine-fire exercises and ultimately leading to a certification for future operations abroad, similar to the U.S. Army's field training exercises at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin.
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