Multinational engineers build up capabilities of opposing forces

By Ms. Lacey Justinger (USAREUR)November 21, 2017

Building defense
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Emplacing fences
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Blending in
3 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sappers in the Czech Republic's 15th Engineer Regiment adjust their vehicle's camouflage as augmentees to Joint Multinational Readiness Center's 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment's opposing forces in exercise Allied Spirit VII at Hohenfels Trainin... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Digging in the dirt
4 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Engineers in the Czech Republic's 15th Engineer Regiment consult with Joint Multinational Readiness Center's 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment while they dig antitank ditches and obstacles during exercise Allied Spirit VII at Hohenfels Training Ar... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Defensive plan
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GRAFENWOEHR TRAINING AREA, Germany (Nov. 21, 2017) -- The Soldiers were mere shadows in the fog and mist, digging in the dirt, emplacing concertina wire and building perimeter fortifications. Preparations for coming battle.

Except, these particular service members were the opposing forces (OPFOR) in this training rotation and they were preparing to defend the town from the expected attackers -- the blue force combined from multinational participants in Allied Spirit VII, a U.S. Army Europe-directed exercise at Hohenfels Training Area.

The Czech Republic's 15th Engineer Regiment was attached to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center's 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, the permanent OPFOR at HTA.

"Without the 15th Eng. Regt. augmentees, we would not have been able to provide a realistic defense for the rotational unit to train against," said Lt. Col Michael Condon, commander, 1st Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., explaining that there is only one engineer in the battalion and no engineer equipment. "They were able to emplace over 5,000 meters of counter mobility obstacles, which provided the rotational unit practical exercises in attacking through enemy-emplaced obstacles."

Capt. Vesely Radim, 15th Eng. Regt. said the unit provided engineer support through a company-sized task force unit, mainly in developing the engagement area.

During training rotations at 7th Army Training Command's JMRC, the multinational engineers are mainly used in the OPFOR's defensive plan -- like digging antitank ditches, putting in concertina wire and building mine fields. If they do have breaching elements, 1st Bn., 4th Inf. Regt. may also include this capability in an offensive attack.

"We are here for supporting the OPFOR with ambushing, with breaching obstacles, and in defense action in building obstacles to support the infantry guys," said Cpl. Pavel Rehak, a Sapper engineer with the Czech Republic army. "That is stuff we usually do not do. That is very exciting for us."

He explained the sappers and combat engineers in the Czech Republic army are mainly used for defense, so learning breaching techniques from the U.S. Army was especially exciting.

"We are in NATO. Everyone here is in NATO," he said. "So we have to learn from each other and know the tactics and know what other nations expect from us, and we have to know what we expect from them."

"The Czech Republic soldiers are learning how to act in a complex environment, in a bigger scale," said Radim.

Platoon leader 2nd Lt. Martin Sedlacek seconded this thought, explaining that the 20 people in his platoon are not the same group he works with at home. Here, his platoon has more people, combining personnel from three platoons and creating a learning environment in the unit itself, as they have to learn to cooperate together while also integrating with other countries like the U.S.

"It's important because we learn from each other and the main thing is just building trust," said Sgt. Rudy Chavez, the lone engineer in 1st Bn. 4th Inf. Regt. "It's a big factor when we have multinationals that we're not used to working with and still manage to accomplish the mission."

The Allied Spirit series allows rotating allied countries to take the lead, serving as the brigade headquarters and higher command of the day-to-day exercise. The participating countries learn to integrate and work side-by-side with one another while answering to a partner nation -- building interoperability, partnerships and trust throughout the alliance.

"Allied Spirit VII was an exercise in multinational interoperability for both the rotational unit and for us on OPFOR," said Condor. "Multinational units provide us a unique capability that our organic assets cannot replicate and provide 1st Bn., 4th Inf. Regt. Soldiers valuable training by working with partners and allies.

"These exercises strengthen our readiness by sharing and validating tactics, techniques and procedures, and doctrine across NATO," he said.

Related Links:

U.S. Army Europe

7th Army Training Command

Allied Spirit VII