UJDOROGD, Hungary - U.S. Army Soldiers from the Apache Troop, 1st Squadron, 2d Cavalry Regiment, successfully met their objective for the field training exercise during Saber Guardian 2019 at Ujdorogd, Hungary, June 7-8, 2019.
SG19 is an exercise co-led by the Romanian Land Forces and U.S. Army Europe as part of the summer 2019 series of exercises to improve the integration of multinational combat forces.
After a tactical road movement, Apache Soldiers arrived at their starting point location, organizing their gear, equipment and assigned weapons and attending mission briefs before commencing with movement by foot to their objective.
Urgency and low visibility were key to the success of the FTX movement.
"This field training exercise was designed to allow us to conduct an attack," said 1st Sgt. Tanner Welch, infantry senior sergeant and troop first sergeant, Apache Troop, 1/2CR. "It trains us on how to coordinate as a squadron between companies involving outside assets such as aerial observation, close air support, ground maneuver forces and sustainment to maneuver on an enemy, conduct actions to destroy that enemy and be set to conduct follow on operations."
While carrying over 100 pounds of equipment in their ruck sacks, Soldiers from the Apache Troop would spend the entire movement dismounted where they conducted land navigation, pulled 360 security, moved from their objective to the trench line, cleared buildings, and ran scenario lanes and concluded by 11:30 a.m. the following day, making it a 24-hour operation.
"My troop had one platoon that was responsible for helping to secure mortars as well as overwatch a suspected location for enemy armor asset," said Welch. "Once they completed that mission, they reconsolidated with the troop, and the troop as whole was responsible for assaulting the trench line with suspected armor support."
Apache Troop also worked with other troops within their squadron to include Bull Troop and Comanche Troop in addition to a squad of Soldiers from the Regimental Engineer Squadron, 2CR.
"Interaction with the RES was that we had them attached to us to help reduce and eliminate obstacles as needed," explained Welch. "The other two troops in the squadron were ahead of us, so we had to interact with them in that we had to bypass forward of their lines."
According to Welch, the forward passage of lines includes "understanding what their location was, how they were raided and where the points were to get through that without fratricide, injury or damage to any vehicles."
UJDOROGD, Hungary - U.S. Army Soldiers from the Apache Troop, 1st Squadron, 2d Cavalry Regiment, successfully met their objective for the field training exercise during Saber Guardian 2019 at Ujdorogd, Hungary, June 7-8, 2019.
SG19 is an exercise co-led by the Romanian Land Forces and U.S. Army Europe as part of the summer 2019 series of exercises to improve the integration of multinational combat forces.
After a tactical road movement, Apache Soldiers arrived at their starting point location, organizing their gear, equipment and assigned weapons and attending mission briefs before commencing with movement by foot to their objective.
Urgency and low visibility were key to the success of the FTX movement.
"This field training exercise was designed to allow us to conduct an attack," said 1st Sgt. Tanner Welch, infantry senior sergeant and troop first sergeant, Apache Troop, 1/2CR. "It trains us on how to coordinate as a squadron between companies involving outside assets such as aerial observation, close air support, ground maneuver forces and sustainment to maneuver on an enemy, conduct actions to destroy that enemy and be set to conduct follow on operations."
While carrying over 100 pounds of equipment in their ruck sacks, Soldiers from the Apache Troop would spend the entire movement dismounted where they conducted land navigation, pulled 360 security, moved from their objective to the trench line, cleared buildings, and ran scenario lanes and concluded by 11:30 a.m. the following day, making it a 24-hour operation.
"My troop had one platoon that was responsible for helping to secure mortars as well as overwatch a suspected location for enemy armor asset," said Welch. "Once they completed that mission, they reconsolidated with the troop, and the troop as whole was responsible for assaulting the trench line with suspected armor support."
Apache Troop also worked with other troops within their squadron to include Bull Troop and Comanche Troop in addition to a squad of Soldiers from the Regimental Engineer Squadron, 2CR.
"Interaction with the RES was that we had them attached to us to help reduce and eliminate obstacles as needed," explained Welch. "The other two troops in the squadron were ahead of us, so we had to interact with them in that we had to bypass forward of their lines."
According to Welch, the forward passage of lines includes "understanding what their location was, how they were raided and where the points were to get through that without fratricide, injury or damage to any vehicles."
While one operation of the FTX is complete, it is not yet over for 1/2CR. On June 10, 2019, a portion of the War Eagles Squadron will work with the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade as their opposition force, going from working with the air support asset to training against them.
Next week, the squadron will conduct a joint defense FTX with the Romanian Land Forces.
"We plan to operate off of U.S. military doctrine," said Welch on the FTX mission in Romania. "We're going to take lessons learned from this training exercise, conduct after actions reviews and, then, implement changes needed."
According to Welch, planning and executing a squadron attack during a FTX increases the U.S. Army's understanding on how allies and partners work; it allows for the U.S. to operate with a host nation who may not have the economy or manning to come to the United States.
"A lot of times, they say the proof is in the pudding," said Welch. "This is us showing our NATO allies and partners what we are capable of, that they're not in the world alone and that the United States is capable, willing and going to be here to support them."
This year, Hungary and Romania celebrated their 20 and 15 year anniversaries respectively as members of NATO.
"At the end of the day, [this] adds to a better understanding of how we can go forward in our partnership through the future," said Welch. "It's great to be partners with our NATO allies and partners. It's great to see Soldiers, not just American, but across the board all Soldiers interacting, learning and growing."
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