YAVORIV, Ukraine - Exercise Rapid Trident 17, a multinational training exercise conducted between Ukraine, other Partnership for Peace nations, the United States and its NATO allies ended during the official closing ceremony at the International Peacekeeping Center here, Sept. 22, 2017.
Rapid Trident is a planned, annually reoccurring exercise focused on defensive operations, validating training of units attending the Joint Multinational Training Group - Ukraine program, improving collective regional security operations, and enhancing joint and combined interoperability amongst participating nations.
To begin the official closing ceremony, Col. David Jordan, commander of the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine program, as well as co-commander of the exercise, addressed the multinational formation.
"I'd like to acknowledge all our multinational partners, our higher headquarters and the adjacent units who came specifically for this exercise," said Jordan. "Thank you all for being here and for helping to make Rapid Trident 17 a success."
"Over the last two weeks, nearly 2,000 soldiers, airmen and civilians from 14 different countries came together to execute both a computer-simulated command post exercise, a situational training exercise and a force-on-force field training exercise," he added.
The nations that participated in each portion of the international training exercise included Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Georgia, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
As part of Rapid Trident, each nation got the opportunity to share experiences to develop combined standard operating procedures and work alongside bilateral counterparts to enhance the capabilities of the unified force.
"Rapid Trident was full of events that required making quick decisions and taking personal responsibility, which allowed us to acquire new knowledge and skills," said Ukrainian Col. Serhiy Litvinov, co-commander of Rapid Trident 17. He added that he appreciated the attendees "diligence to synchronize our efforts while working shoulder-to-shoulder with our partners."
One of the main objectives of this training exercise was to enable partnered nations from across the world to work together to accomplish one mission: increasing interoperability amongst 14 different nations to build on the goal of establishing a unified and strong Europe.
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