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Parachutes deploy as service members take to the air during a dual Army and Marine airborne jump at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia on August 23, 2023. Exercise Agile Spirit 23 is designed to support theater security cooperation and interoperability among NATO Allies and partners to improve joint and multinational readiness, scale, and capabilities by exercising rapid mobility and posture combat credible forces across the European theater to the country of Georgia to bolster their defense and deter aggression in the Black Sea region while exercising the enduring U.S. State Partnership Program with the Georgia Army National Guard. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Allison Gilstrap.
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U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade Soldier jumps into the Vaziani Training Area, Georgia on August 23, 2023. Exercise Agile Spirit 23 is designed to support theater security cooperation and interoperability among NATO Allies and partners to improve joint and multinational readiness capabilities by exercising rapid mobility, and posture combat credible forces across the European theater to the country of Georgia to bolster their defense efforts and deter aggression in the Black Sea region while exercising the enduring U.S. State Partnership Program with the Georgia Army National Guard. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Halani Broderick)
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Cpl. Max Halpin of 2d Landing Support Battalion, United States Marine Corps walks with his recovered parachute after a triumphant landing as a part of the first Army-Marine airborne jump at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia on August 23, 2023. Exercise Agile Spirit 23 is designed to support theater security cooperation and interoperability among NATO Allies and partners to improve joint and multinational readiness, scale, and capabilities by exercising rapid mobility and posture combat credible forces across the European theater to the country of Georgia to bolster their defense and deter aggression in the Black Sea region while exercising the enduring U.S. State Partnership Program with the Georgia Army National Guard. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Allison Gilstrap.
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Pfc. Oluf Christensen of Alpha Company, First Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment looks to the skies while gathering his parachute at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia on August 23, 2023. Exercise Agile Spirit 23 is designed to support theater security cooperation and interoperability among NATO Allies and partners to improve joint and multinational readiness, scale, and capabilities by exercising rapid mobility and posture combat credible forces across the European theater to the country of Georgia to bolster their defense and deter aggression in the Black Sea region while exercising the enduring U.S. State Partnership Program with the Georgia Army National Guard. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Allison Gilstrap.
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U.S. Army Sgt. Theodore Armstrong, a soldier assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, disconnects a parachute concluding a jump in Exercise Agile Spirit 23 at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia on August 23, 2023. Exercise Agile Spirit 23 is designed to support theater security cooperation and interoperability among NATO Allies and partners to improve joint and multinational readiness, scale, and capabilities by exercising rapid mobility and posture combat credible forces across the European theater to the country of Georgia to bolster their defense efforts and deter aggression in the Black Sea region while exercising the enduring U.S. State Partnership Program with the Georgia Army National Guard. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Chasity Williams
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A U.S. Army soldier assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, walks out of the drop zone after deploying a parachute and landing during Exercise Agile Spirit 23 at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia on August 23, 2023. Agile Spirit 23 is designed to support theater security cooperation and interoperability among NATO Allies and partners to improve joint and multinational readiness, scale, and capabilities by exercising rapid mobility and posture combat credible forces across the European theater to the country of Georgia to bolster their defense efforts and deter aggression in the Black Sea region while exercising the enduring U.S. State Partnership Program with the Georgia Army National Guard. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Chasity Williams.
(Photo Credit: Pfc. Chasity Williams)VIEW ORIGINAL
The combined forces of the United States Army and United States Marine Corps took to the skies in Vaziani, Georgia for a joint airborne exercise on August 23, 2023. The jump marked an important moment for exercise Agile Spirit, as this is the first joint airborne event in the exercise’s history.
Col. Joseph Bilbo, Senior Defensive Official and Defense Attache, United States Embassy, has been involved with exercise Agile Spirit for three years. He was present in-person for the first time at the joint exercise.
“Agile Spirit has grown over multiple iterations,” said Bilbo. “The complexity that we’ve added this year was conducting an airborne drop that combines the forces of the United States Army and United States Marine Corps. For the partners involved in this jump, it creates an opportunity to not only support the fight together, but to also get to know one another and establish important bonds.”
Soldiers and Marines left Turkey in a military aircraft and were transported to a drop zone in Vaziani, Georgia. Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade and 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, and Marines from 2D Landing Support Battalion participated in the jump exercise, which entails leaping from a passing aircraft at a minimum of 1,250 feet above the ground. In order for any service member to become airborne-qualified, they must attend paratrooper training at Fort Moore, Georgia.
Corporal Cole Giampaola, an airborne-qualified United States Marine who participated in the jump, had a positive impression of working with the United States Army for the first time.
“It was a great learning experience, figuring out how the Army does things and comparing it to the procedures we have learned in the Marines,” Giampaola said. “It was nice to have the Army teach us something for a change.”
United States Marines are allowed to attend the school, which has its own Marine Corps instructors alongside those from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, in order to provide quality instruction from four military branches. Once a service member has graduated from this prestigious program, they are entitled to wear the coveted “jump” wings on their uniform.
Bilbo added that, by allowing this jump, it brings to light the importance of the Army’s capability to expand interoperability across multiple borders.
“The complexity that we’ve added this year was conducting an airborne drop that combines the forces of the United States Army and United States Marine Corps,” said Bilbo. “For the partners involved in this jump, it creates an opportunity to not only support the fight together, but to also get to know one another and establish important bonds.”
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