On today's battlefield, approximately four to five support soldiers back up each combat-arms soldier, especially in an armored brigade task force. The reason for this becomes clear when considering the fuel, food and ammunition required on a daily basis by these units. As it has been throughout history, support units are vital lifelines to a successful campaign.
As the U.S. Army moves beyond counter-insurgency training to preparing to fight a near peer competitor in unified land operations, the need for fully modernized and tactically sound support units is crucial.
During Combined Resolve VII, which is a 7th Army Training Command, U.S. Army Europe-directed exercise taking place at the Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels Training Areas, Aug. 8 to Sept. 15, 2016, the 3rd Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division personnel train to face the fight head-on with new and improved techniques.
The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Will Arnold, likes what he is seeing in his unit, especially as they train with multinational forces from NATO allies and partner nations. Since last summer, Arnold' entire brigade has been the Regionally Allocated Force to Europe. This mission has brought them to Europe several times over the last year.
"One of the basic challenges we face when working with multinational forces are units of measurement," said Arnold. "We think in gallons while they think in liters. Though seemingly trivial, it is an issue that we need to be cognizant of and work through."
For communication issues, the Army relies on the trusty PACE principle, which stands for Primary, Alternate, and Contingency and Emergency capabilities. This allows all allied forces to share intranet, satellite communications and FM communications across the battlefield.
Support battalions stock and distribute the full gamut of immediate needs for a frontline unit, spanning engineer support and spare parts, to medical assets.
Capt. Antoinette King is the battalion's deputy supply support operations officer, who sees the interoperability first-hand.
"We place U.S. personnel directly into the multinational battalions to work along side their personnel and vice versa. Their unit members come work directly with us," said King. "This way we can learn each other's way of life and the way we fight and support each other."
During Combined Resolve VII, the 3rd BSB is working directly with their Polish and Romanian counterparts towards a common goal of fulfilling the mission's needs.
For interoperability to effectively work, a lot of preplanning is required, which can be challenging when there is a language barrier. To overcome some of those barriers sign language is used, along with smart cards for simple words and phrases such as "Move Forward," "Move Left," "Move Right," and so on. In addition, interpreters are frequently used if they are available.
Arnold added that bridging the gap of interoperability between nations is progressing at a great pace.
"We are integrating their doctrine and their capabilities into our U.S. force structure and synchronizing it on the battlefield," said Arnold.
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