Senior land forces commanders discuss opportunities, challenges within Europe

By Peter Williams, Special to U.S. Army Public AffairsOctober 28, 2016

Senior land forces commanders discuss opportunities, challenges within Europe
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Senior land forces commanders discuss opportunities, challenges within Europe
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Senior land forces commanders discuss opportunities, challenges within Europe
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WIESBADEN, Germany -- During the 24th annual Conference of European Armies senior land forces commanders from 38 European nations, the U.S. and Canada gathered here to discuss future European cooperation in security operations, Oct. 24- 26, 2016.

Most of the participating countries have provided support to NATO's International Security Assistance Force and have taken part in recent Operation Atlantic Resolve exercises. They were mostly represented by their equivalent of the U.S Army's Chief of Staff.

Hosted by Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe, the conference focused on long and short term views of assuring allies and deterring threats to preserve a secure and stable Europe, future interoperability and the different view points on European challenges.

The three conference sessions were comprised of presentations and discussions led by different participants of the attending nations displaying multiple perspectives on current and future security threats and risks.

"We live in a dynamic set of circumstances, we need to share information, we need to learn from each other," said British Gen. Sir Nicholas Patrick Carter, chief of the general staff of the British Army, confirming the importance of multinational conferences to achieve a coherent, effective and efficient cooperation with NATO and its allies.

German Brig. Gen. Markus Laubenthal, U.S Army Europe's chief of staff, also talked about how important transparency and trust is between the European forces and their allies and how CEA has definitely improved these values.

In addition Romanian Brig. Gen. Constantin-Adrian Ciolponea referred to Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark A. Milley's last speech as "a powerful snapshot of the geopolitical situation in current days and in the future" concerning the path ahead for NATO to become a more adaptable and flexible force.

Milley also emphasized that U.S. Army Europe will play an "absolutely critical role" in the U.S. Army's mission to assure the U.S's allies and deter its adversaries.

Established in 1988 the CEA provides a fundamental setting for creating joint training opportunities and relationships between European ground forces, contributing to a regional and global interoperability to ensure a peaceful and stable Europe.

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About us: 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.

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