The U.S. Army with NATO Allies and partners will demonstrate how it can successfully employ military capabilities over distance and duration during Exercise Saber Strike 17, May 24 to June 24, in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Saber Strike 17 is an annual U.S.-led exercise that consists of five brigade Field Training Exercises and a Danish-led division-level Command Post Exercise. Eighteen NATO countries are participating in Saber Strike 17 with U.S. Army units from the Active, National Guard, and Reserve Components.
Two critical themes during Saber Strike 17 are interoperability and expeditionary sustainment. Interoperability is the ability of different national units to operate together coherently and effectively in order to achieve tactical, operational and strategic objectives. Expeditionary sustainment is how U.S. forces and NATO Allies and partners maintain and prolong military operations away from an established base over extended lines of communications to accomplish missions. Both of these critical concepts are being utilized in Saber Strike 17 with tactical bulk potable water production and distribution.
The first multi-national coordination occurred, April 7, when leaders from the Lithuanian Land Forces, the German-led enhanced Force Presence Battle Group, a Norwegian Water Purification unit, and the United States Army 1st Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, from Fort Riley, Kansas, met to conduct a multi-national reconnaissance. During the reconnaissance, they deconflicted space, agreed on the best site location for establishing the water purification system, and determined how to ensure interoperability of assets.
Demonstrating interoperability is the Norwegian water purification team working as part of a multi-national support area led by the 1st Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade. The four-person Norwegian water purification team's equipment consists of five 20-foot containers with a water purification system, and a 5,000 gallon tank to store purified drinking water. The system can purify up to 30,000 gallons per day from raw water sources such as seawater, brackish water, and freshwater. Once purified, this water will be transferred into 2,000 gallon tanks to store the potable water and then distributed to multi-national forces throughout Lithuania. This will not only reduce the amount of bottled water requirements, but will reduce the amount of trash, and is projected to save over $70,000 in bottled water and transportation costs.
In order to ensure the water safety of the open water sources to be used, a three person One Health Team from U.S. Army's 30th Medical Brigade assisted by the medical officer from the Lithuanian NATO Forces Integration Unit collected water samples from open water sources in Lithuania. These water samples were overnight expressed mailed at a controlled temperature to the U.S. Army Public Health Command Regional laboratory in Landstuhl, Germany, to test for biological, chemical, and radioactive contaminants. Additionally, local water systems were tested with a field incubator for the presence and absence of coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli (E.coli),along with screening for turbidity, pH and free available chlorine.
The One Health Teams are an initiative by the US Army's Medical Command to synchronize the capabilities of medical detachments, veterinary support unitsand preventive medicine to provide better support and improve mission efficiency.
U.S. forces will increase their operational reach during the upcoming Saber Strike 17 exercise by partnering with other NATO Allies, Norway, Germany and Lithuania, within the sustainment war-fighting function. This means that U.S. Army unit leaders will be able to successfully employ their military force across a farther distance, over a longer duration and continue to deter aggression against NATO.
---
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.
Social Sharing