194th Engineer Brigade completes another successful year at Resolute Castle

By Staff Sgt. Micah VanDyke, 4th Infantry Division Public AffairsSeptember 12, 2016

194th Engineer Brigade completes another successful year at Resolute Castle
1 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Soldiers from the 913th Engineering Company, 194th Engineer Brigade, Tennessee Army National Guard use heavy construction equipment, including bulldozers, dump trucks, and hydraulic excavators, to construct an ammunition holding area and a tank firin... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
194th Engineer Brigade completes another successful year at Resolute Castle
2 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – A hydraulic excavator operated by military engineers from the 841st Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army Reserve moves rock near a road under construction on July 6, 2016 at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria during Operation Resolute Castle 2016. Soldiers ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
194th Engineer Brigade completes another successful year at Resolute Castle
3 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Nikolai Nankov, Nenchev (center), the Bulgarian Minister of Defense, poses with soldiers from the 913th Engineer Company, Tennessee Army National Guard after a brief on June 20, 2016 during Operation Resolute Castle. Minister Nenchev's attendance of... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
194th Engineer Brigade completes another successful year at Resolute Castle
4 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Airmen from the Tennessee Air National Guard paint and repair facilities at a local school in Kabile, Bulgaria on August 15, 2016 during Operation Resolute Castle. In addition to improving the military base at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria, the ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
194th Engineer Brigade completes another successful year at Resolute Castle
5 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Soldiers with the 16th Engineer Brigade, Ohio Army National Guard survey areas for additional training areas near Varpalota, Hungary on June 20, 2016 during Operation Resolute Castle. In preparation for future military construction in Hungary, the O... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

NOVO SELO TRAINING AREA, Bulgaria -- For many years to come, Eastern European countries will have vastly improved training ranges at military bases throughout the region. This stems from the ongoing U.S. military construction effort, Resolute Castle.

This year the 194th Engineer Brigade and Alabama National Guard led combined effort construction operations spread across Estonia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. More than $13 million dollars were spent on construction improvements to military training areas there.

Working with the Tennessee and Alabama National Guard were elements from the Tennessee Air National Guard, Ohio Army National Guard, Mississippi Army National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve, active duty soldiers, and U.S. Navy Seabees.

All of the units rotated service members, throughout the summer, into the operation seamlessly and provided U.S. Army Europe the engineers needed for Resolute Castle. There were even troop rotations conducted by Romania after they witnessed the effectiveness of the method the U.S. units used for rotations last year.

"Last year Romania had the same engineers on ground the whole time. After they saw how we rotated through last year, they changed their operation this year," Col. Robey "Doug" Brantley, a military engineer with the Tennessee Army National Guard, the Officer-in-Charge of the operation. "Every time our Soldiers rotated this year they rotated troops in. More of the Romanians were able to work with us by following our procedures."

Brantley said early on, in the first few rotations of U.S. and allied engineers, weather caused major delays creating possible setbacks in meeting the construction timelines and having the right mix of troops with appropriate skills available.

National Guard soldiers come to the fight with a variety of skills from their civilian life.

"That gives us our ability to see if we have any civilian expertise that we can plug in to some spots that we may be shorthanded in," he added.

The intent per Lt. Gen.Hodges was to have at least two non-standard live-fire maneuver lanes, said Brantley.

"We met his intent by completing two and we've gone above his intent to fulfill part of the other two that we knew we couldn't finish," he explained.

Brantley added that Lt. Gen. Hodges said 'if you put one piece of equipment on the ground and do anything that improved from what was there before -- I consider that a success'.

Though another year of Operation Resolute Castle has been completed the NATO and USAREUR commitment to this operation is far from complete.

"We participated in Resolute Castle 2015 and 2016, the way forward based on interacting with USAREUR is a continuation of what's been done -- to continue to look forward with improving facilities, range roads and training areas spread throughout the USAREUR area of operations," said Brantley. "Some of the locations we worked this year will not be worked next year."

"That's good because that's showing other NATO partners that we want to do things in their areas to improve training as well," Brantley concluded.

---

U.S. Army Europe is uniquely positioned in its 51 country area of responsibility to advance American strategic interests in Europe and Eurasia. The relationships we build during more than 1,000 theater security cooperation events in more than 40 countries each year lead directly to support for multinational contingency operations around the world, strengthen regional partnerships and enhance global security.

Related Links:

U.S. Army Europe

U.S. Army Europe on Facebook

U.S. Army Europe on Flickr

U.S. Army Europe on Twitter

U.S. Army Europe on YouTube