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HOHENFELS, Germany -- Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division and other multinational forces conducted a scenario-based non-combatant evacuation operation of U.S. and host-nation citizens here, June 17, 2016. This evacuation fulfilled a critical training objective of Exercise Swift Response 16.
In the scenario, U.S. citizens and select host-nation personnel entered the U.S. Consulate, taking only what they could carry based on a predefined list. Aghjabadi City, the fictional town where this evacuation took place, was under threat of attack from the enemy, and citizens on the list with the U.S. Consulate had the opportunity to evacuate the city during a joint effort by allied forces.
U.S. Army Spc. Tad Pierce, of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, said that during the evacuation, Soldiers had to see through "smoke and mirrors" to weed out potential troublemakers from those citizens who were on the U.S. Consulate list and genuinely needed help. He said the process was time consuming, but necessary.
All steps of the evacuation required Soldiers to work as swiftly as possible. It involved multinational forces including the British, French and Polish working with the U.S. Army and other non-governmental organizations, to successfully remove the citizens from impending danger.
"Speed is always great to take the enemy off its heels, but with the non-combatant evacuation operation, speed is definitely an important piece," said U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Randolph De La Pena, 127th Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. "All the individuals coming through this process have been pulled from their homes, pulled from their families, and some of them have seen war happen in front of their homes. It seems almost like they're in shock initially. So the ability to process them, get them comfort and aid as fast as we can and onto a plane allows them to reset from that stress before they get back to the States."
"This is the bumper sticker of readiness," said U.S. Army Col. Colin Tuley, 1st Brigade commander, 82nd Airborne Division. "Operations here have their own complexity, their own challenges, but again at the end of the day it brings that reassurance to our NATO allies and shows a united front, because at the end of the day we will always do it alongside our NATO allies."
For those citizens not evacuated, Civil Affairs personnel are trained to work with the local populace to help alleviate stress.
Just like in a real humanitarian emergency, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) took the lead on humanitarian assistance, with military forces operating in support of those efforts.
"We put the right people, the right leadership, in the right place," said U.S. Army Capt. Steven Rose, Civil Affairs team leader, 82nd Airborne Division. "We're right alongside the government and are here to help them, not to disrupt their way of life."
Exercise Swift Response is one of the premier military crisis response training events for multi-national airborne forces in the world. The exercise is designed to enhance the readiness of the combat core of the U.S. Global Response Force -- currently the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team -- to conduct rapid-response, joint-forcible entry and follow-on operations alongside Allied high-readiness forces in Europe. Swift Response 16 includes more than 5,000 Soldiers and Airmen from Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United States and takes place in Poland and Germany, May 27-June 26, 2016
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