Iron Rangers Train with Romanian Allies during Justice Eagle

SMARDAN, Romania -- Infantry Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, participated in Justice Eagle, a combined bilateral exercise with Romanian allies, at Smardan training area, Romania May 30, 2019.

The main event of the operation was a force on force exercise that included mounted maneuvers and a breach and seizure of follow on objectives by dismounted soldiers of both nations. Two companies from two different Romanian battalions were attached to the 1-16th Inf. for this event.

"Big training events such as this allows us to test our readiness, test our ability to get our vehicles out to the line of departure, test our communications, and ultimately our ability to maneuver," said Lt. Col. Drew Conover, battalion commander of the 1-16th Inf. "When you include another nation, it adds a level of complexity that's required in the modern fight today. It really provides an opportunity to test how we communicate from one nation to another both technically and also verbally, how we can break through that language barrier."

Individual soldiers from both nations received the opportunity to maneuver and communicate as an allied team, relying on the assets of both armies to accomplish the mission, said Conover.

"The Soldiers benefited from this exercise tremendously," said Conover. "They got to work with soldiers from another nation. Everybody has a different area of expertise and I think they learned a lot from each other."

Both nations were able to work as a team, highlighting the benefits of NATO allies across Atlantic Resolve.

"We're never going to fight alone anymore," said Conover "We can't wait until a fight breaks out to test that ability to work together, we have to get that ready now."