LARNACA, Cyprus — “Sky Soldiers” of the 173rd Airborne Brigade recently conducted military-to-military training alongside Cypriot troops during Exercise Silver Falcon 23 in the Republic of Cyprus. This partnered training not only enhanced the readiness and combat proficiency of these paratroopers, but also introduced an opportunity to learn new tactics, weapons and strategies from the Cypriots, as they were warmly greeted as new partners.
Exercise Silver Falcon, conducted from Feb. 12 through Feb. 17 of this year, is a bilateral exercise between the United States and Cyprus and is designed to enhance interoperability between both nations’ militaries to ensure they are prepared for any contingency, particularly those involving crisis response and non-combatant evacuation operations.
The relationship and interoperability between the paratroopers of Able Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment and Cyprus National Guard was built as they participated in force-on-force training exercises, weapons familiarization, tactical combat casualty care, medical evacuation procedures and a partnered 20-kilometer march.
Within hours of landing in Cyprus, the paratroopers lined up with their Cypriot counterparts to march 20 kilometers or 12 miles up a mountain to visit a local monastery and learn about their host nation’s culture.
As the tactical training began, leaders had the opportunity to emerge and test their abilities while squads strengthened and diversified their tactics, cross training with Cypriot troops.
1st Lt. Zane Martinez, a platoon leader in Able Company, observed that the two different units were very compatible in their training. “It’s great that we’re able to teach them [Cypriot soldiers] and we’re also learning things too, we’re seeing tactics we haven’t seen before, and ways to communicate that we haven’t seen before, so that will definitely help us to better improve our skills in the future.”
“We’ve been working on conducting a squad-level ambush and react to contact with the Cypriots. Tactically speaking, I think we’re pretty similar in the way that we act and react to certain things, for example, battle drills and [standard operating procedures].”
Following a final force-on-force squad blank fire exercise, Maj. Gen. Jessica Meyeraan, the U.S. European Command Director of Exercises and Assessments, and Lt. Gen. Dimokritos Zervakis, the Cyprus Chief of Defense, visited both units to observe their training.
Silver Falcon 23 is a bilateral exercise between the United States and Cyprus and is designed to enhance interoperability between both nations’ militaries to ensure they are prepared for any contingency, particularly those involving crisis response and non-combatant evacuation operations.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army's Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to the United States European, African, and Central Command areas of responsibility. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies and partners to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance.
(U.S. Army photograph by Staff Sgt. John Yountz) VIEW ORIGINAL
The last day of the exercise gave both the U.S. paratroopers and the Cypriot soldiers the opportunity to get hands-on proficiency training with weapons from both sides. As Cypriot soldiers trained on the M4A1 and M240B, the paratroopers were able to get familiar with Cypriot weapons such as the Negev 7.62, MG3 and Tavor X95. As a culminating event, both forces engaged targets with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, or RPG.
“It was pretty cool seeing their weapons, and they were pretty amazed seeing our weapons, how we use them. Together, we’ve been conducting squad live fires, squad blank, night iterations and also day iterations,” said Spc. Donald Plazola, an infantryman in Able Company.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army's Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to the United States European, African and Central Command areas of responsibility. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies and partners to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance.
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