GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - Combat medics from Company C ("Charlie Med"), 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, are training and caring for Soldiers in two different countries as part of U.S. Army Europe's Atlantic Resolve mission.
Over the past two months, Charlie Med has emplaced its Soldiers at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, and Skwierzyna, Poland.
The Soldiers located in Germany have been training on camouflage techniques as part of the brigade's larger effort to develop a fighting force that can operate with agility and in concealment in austere conditions. The training is part of a build-up to force-on-force, unified land operations field exercises under the USAREUR-led Combined Resolve VIII multinational exercise here in June.
"In order for our guys to be able to perform well during Combined Resolve, we had to go back to the basics. By camouflaging ourselves and our equipment, we lessen our chances of being identified by our enemy," said Sgt. Chris Griffin, a medic with the evacuation platoon.
"The brigade is concentrating on fighting as a mobile and modular fighting force, so this will definitely help in our success. Plus the Soldiers enjoy putting on a 'camo face,'" said Griffin.
In Poland, other members of Charlie Med's evacuation platoon have spent the last week loading tracked vehicles used for medical evacuation and treatment onto rail cars for onward movement. The rail-load operations have been led by a junior officer, 1st Lt. William Nuessle, C Co. executive officer.
"For the 'evac' platoon to properly execute and establish ambulance exchange points (AXP) and to move patients safely from an AXP to a higher role of medical care, we need our tracked vehicles for the upcoming multinational exercises like Combined Resolve and Saber Guardian 17 in Romania," Nuessle said.
"We are working tirelessly to ensure that our Soldiers have the proper equipment needed for our company to support the 3rd Armored Brigade's mission. It's no small feat, especially given the brigade moves frequently for Atlantic Resolve training," he said.
The Soldiers in Skwierzyna are set to join their team at Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, for the Combined Resolve VIII training, which will include more than 3,400 participants from 10 nations uniting for a for a two-week combat training center rotation.
Upon completion of this exercise, Nuessle will spearhead the movement of C Co.'s vehicles to Romania for Saber Guardian 17, an annual, multinational exercise held in the Black Sea Region as part of the U.S. European Command Joint Exercise Program that involves more than 25,000 service members from 23 Ally and partner nations.
The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team is the current regionally allocated land force serving a nine-month Atlantic Resolve rotation as a demonstration of the U.S. commitment to NATO. Multinational training builds interoperability among NATO forces to strengthen the collective defense of eastern Europe and deter acts of aggression here.
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