12th Combat Aviation Brigade soars during Noble Partner 22

VAZIANI, Georgia — Four AH-64D Apache Longbow and two HH-60 Black Hawk medevac helicopters, pilots, and crews from the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade participated in exercise Noble Partner 22 from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9 in the country of Georgia.

“12th CAB is here in Georgia training with our partners, the Georgian military, as well as other NATO allies and partners,” said Col. Patrick Schuck, commander of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade.” Ultimately, we're building readiness while also getting after interoperability, which is critical to the theater and our military.”

Noble Partner 22 is an exercise cooperatively led by the Georgian Defense Forces and U.S. Army Europe and Africa hosted at the Vaziani and Camp Norio training areas. The exercise involves participation from approximately 2,400 military members from the United States and 19 other nations. Noble Partner allows participants to conduct situational training exercises, live-fire exercises,and combined mechanized maneuvers.

“Noble Partner is incredibly important for 12th Combat Aviation Brigade because we're the only forward permanently assigned CAB in Europe,” Schuck added. “Doing exercises like this allows us to build relationships with those we anticipate fighting alongside if there is a conflict in the future.”

Exercises like Noble Partner enable 12 CAB Soldiers to learn and grow. They build multinational interoperability between allied and partner nations, increasing readiness and improving multinational command and control capabilities.

“These exercises are hugely important for the Soldiers of 12 CAB because it teaches and builds on repetition,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Zane Hansen. “Some important functions we have to execute to conduct our tactical operations are strategic air deployments, field craft maintenance, and aviation flying and medevac operations.”

Noble Partner 22 provides unique training for the 12th CAB's HH-60 medevac Black Hawk helicopters and crews.

“Our HH-60 medevac aircraft have had a unique opportunity here at Noble Partner to integrate our allies and partners,” said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Robert Slider, command chief warrant officer. “You get to work through the communication aspect from an event happening on the ground from notification through our operations while maintaining the U.S. medevac standard for launch and response times.”

Mission success always depends on the professionalism of 12 CAB Soldiers and their families.

“I’d like to add my thanks to the talented and professional aviation Soldiers of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, particularly their families, who often wait for the Soldiers to return from these exercises but offer their support during and after.

U.S. participation included elements from 2d Cavalry Regiment, 18th Military Police Brigade, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Army Training Command, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, 409th Contracting Support Brigade, 598th Transportation Brigade, and the Georgia National Guard's 122nd Tactical Support Detachment, 1-54th Security Force Assistance Battalion and 1-214th Field Artillery Battalion.

Exercises like Noble Partner 22 continue to demonstrate that NATO Allies and Partners stand stronger together and U.S. commitment to stability and security in the region.

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The 12th Combat Aviation Brigade is among other units assigned to V Corps, America's Forward Deployed Corps in Europe.

They work alongside NATO Allies and regional security partners to provide combat-ready forces, execute joint and multinational training exercises, and retain command and control for all rotational and assigned units in the European Theater.